Oral History Interview with David Cole by Jerry N. Hess, 1972
Collection Number: 5737 OHT

David Lawrence Cole was a pioneering labor mediator in the United States who served as the second director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. He was appointed to this post by President Harry S. Truman. Mr. Cole, who was once described as "the world's greatest arbitrator" by Theodore W. Kheel (New York Times, obituary, January 26, 1978), was known for his even-handedness, his ability to listen to all sides in mediation and arbitration proceedings, and his emphasis on identifying the mutual needs of opposing parties.

David Cole was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1902, the son of a silk manufacturer. However, he also witnessed the deindustrialization of his home town and the impact that had on the workers. He graduated from Harvard University with a BS in 1921 and then received his JD from Harvard Law in 1924. Mr. Cole practiced law in Rochelle Park, N.J. from 1926 until his death as senior partner in the law firm of Cole, Berman and Belsky (now Cole Schotz PC).

David Cole had a distinguished career as a government arbitrator and mediator. He served on numerous state and federal boards and in various governmental agencies. He was chairman of the New Jersey State Board of Mediation; a public member of Region 2, United States War Labor Board; and chairman of the Presidential Boards of Inquiry in the bituminous coal industry (1948) and in the longshore industry (1953, 1968). Cole was also a member or chairman of numerous Presidential Emergency Boards which settled disputes in the railroad and airline industries (1948-1958); the chairman of the conciliation service for the New York City transit service (1961-1965); director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (1952-1953); chairman of the New Jersey Governor's Committee on Public Utility Strike Service (1952-1953); member of the President's Labor-Management Advisory Committee (1961-1964); and member of the New York Governor's Public Employee Relations Committee (1966-1968), which established the New York State Public Employee Relations Board. Cole was also appointed as chairman of the President's Commission on Industrial Peace in 1973.

Beyond his public service, Mr. Cole was active as a counsel for employer groups in the textile industry (1926-1942) and as an impartial chairman for other labor-management contract disputes. He was also impartial arbitrator for the AFL-CIO Internal Disputes Plan (1954-1976), served as a visiting professor at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University (1954-1955) and was Kestenbaum lecturer at Harvard in 1962. Mr. Cole was the author of INDUSTRIAL PEACE (1963).

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Oral History Interview with David Cole by Jerry N. Hess #5737 OHT. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Collections: 5122: David L. Cole Arbitration Transcripts 5588: David L. Cole Papers 5588 AV: David Cole Interviews 5588 mf: David Cole Additional Arbitration Records on Microfilm 6116m: David L. Cole Report on "Conscious Promotion in Practice of Better Labor-Management Cooperation"