James C. Burns: Picture taken in 1973
I’ve only got one foot in the grave (and one foot on the pedal, as Tom Petty says). However, if I were six feet under, I’d have something else in common with my father (above).
From reading this blog, you know I’m one of many who is lamenting the critical situation of American newspapers in the Internet era. And today’s filing for bankruptcy protection by General Motors, the only employer my father ever had as an adult, undoubtedly has him shaking his head in the hereafter. (He died in 1982 after more than 20 years with the automaker.)
He was as dedicated an employee as the automaker ever had. A business school graduate from the U. of Chattanooga (now part of the Tennessee system), he started in a warehouse role in the 1950s in Birmingham, AL, where he and I were both born, and advanced into the white collar ranks.
He lived the party line that said “What’s good for GM is good for the country.” He’d often bring home 45 RPM promotional records by such big-time artists of the day as as Paul Revere and the Raiders, not to mention sales staples such as steak knives and nail clippers. Later in his career, all the family cars were purchased at a discount after he had driven them just a few thousand miles. (We moved to Atlanta in 1966 as part of a corporate reorganization. GM footed the house purchase and all moving expenses.)
No detail was too small in car care or safety. When I got rebellious in my college days and disconnected the safety belt system, I was found out within days and warned of a huge fine if caught. I tried to pass it off as saying I was just trying to avoid the alarm.
But when foreign competition became a real force in the late 1970s, his anxiety was evident. He did not like the fact that it was taking jobs away from Americans.
He died of a massive heart attack in 1982 at age 48 while working at a convention in downtown Atlanta. My anger was so deep at the automaker for what I perceived as undue sales pressure that I bought a Mazda in 1984 when time for a new car came. (Don’t worry, folks, I’ve calmed down. His smoking and high cholesterol count did not help.)
But what no one could dispute is that many foreign models got better gasoline mileage, had better repair records and generally offered more bang for the buck, because of non-union labor costs.
Too, a big problem that GM and the ailing news industry have in common is simple arrogance. The automaker kept building what they wanted people to have, rather than what people wanted.
SUVs are gas hogs and generally overpriced. In their early days, many SUVs were also unsafe. For so long, newspapers had no competition on their home turf, so they continued to “talk down” to readers as if they were a godly voice. Now, readers dictate what’s important.
Reality can bite sometime, but change can’t erase a strong legacy. I still have the watch that GM gave him in 1980 for 25 years of service. Still runs, too, though watch shops tell me it’s hard to find a battery for it now. His widow still gets medical benefits and investment income from GM, though both have shrunk mightily in recent years. (Signs of the times: GM has been replaced by Cisco Systems on the Dow Industrials.)
So whenever I crank up my Saturn (which has a Honda engine), or read a newspaper online, I simply try to have a “life goes on” attitude. Ultimately, life is still a good ride.
