List of Chairs of the National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has five Members, each of whom serves for a five-year term. Terms are staggered so that one Member's term expires each year (although delays in nominations and confirmation, as well as the use of recess appointments, can upset this schedule). Members are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. Traditionally, a majority of the board belongs to the President's political party. The President designates the Chair from one of the existing Members. The Chair serves at the pleasure of the President, and may be demoted without cause or warning at any time.
John Mills Houston
Houston's strong support for Roosevelt in Congress was rewarded when President Roosevelt appointed him on March 5, 1943, to succeed William M. Leiserson on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). His nomination was not well received. NLRB chairman Dr. Harry A. Millis had supported NLRB general counsel Robert B. Watts, and had urged Roosevelt repeatedly to appoint someone with extensive credentials in labor relations (which Houston lacked). Roosevelt also passed over Lloyd K. Garrison, Dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School and former chair of the National Labor Board (NLB) in the early 1930s; Dr. George W. Taylor, vice chairman of the National War Labor Board and a former NLB regional director; and Edward C. Witte, a noted professor of labor relations at the University of Wisconsin.