James Paul Mitchell (November 12, 1900October 19, 1964) was an American politician and businessman from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...
in 1961, he retired from politics.
Early life and education
Mitchell was born on November 12, 1900, and was raised in
He began his political career in 1932 as the Union County supervisor for the New Jersey Relief Administration. Six years later, he was appointed to the New York City division of the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
.
When Brehon B. Somerwell went to Washington, D.C. to lead the Army Construction Program, he made Mitchell head of the labor relations division. In 1942, Mitchell became director of industrial personnel for the War Department, in charge of one million men. After World War II he returned to the private sector; in 1947 he was director for labor relations and operations at Bloomingdale Brothers. In 1948 he was hired by the Army for personnel work in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and was later responsible for a similar task in
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
. He also sat on the personnel advisory board of the first Hoover Commission.
Eisenhower administration
In 1953 Mitchell was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Army in charge of manpower and reserve forces affairs. Several months later, he was nominated by President Eisenhower to replace Secretary Martin P. Durkin, who had resigned in protest in September 1953.
On October 9, 1953, Mitchell became the eighth Secretary of Labor and served in that capacity for the remainder of the Eisenhower Administration. He fought against employment discrimination, and was concerned about the plight of migrant workers. He opposed right-to-work laws, believing they did more harm than good. During a top secret selection process in March 1958, President Eisenhower appointed Secretary Mitchell administrator-designate of the "Emergency Manpower Agency," making him one of the Eisenhower Ten.
Secretary of Labor
Mitchell encouraged management cooperation, supported labor's right to organize, and sought to improve conditions for marginal workers. He established the administrative machinery of the Landrum-Griffin Act, which weakened the ability of unions to conduct secondary strikes or picket to unionize a workplace. J. Ernest Wilkins Sr. was appointed Assistant Secretary of Labor for International Affairs in 1954, the first
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
to be appointed to the level of Assistant Secretary in American government. Representing Mitchell and the DOL, Wilkins attended Cabinet meetings—also a first for an African-American. In 1957, however, Mitchell determined to oust Wilkins. When in 1958 Wilkins resigned under pressure, Mitchell replaced him with George C. Lodge.
The Welfare and Pensions Plans Disclosures Act was established on August 28, 1958, followed by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act on September 14, 1959. Mitchell opposed raising the national minimum wage to $1.25. Yet, he supported establishing minimum wages for the soft-
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
industry and other industries according to the Walsh-Healy Act.
One of Mitchell's aides described his statements against state and national right-to-work laws in 1958 as causing "hell to break loose" in the right-wing of the Republican Party.
In April 1959, at a labor rally, Mitchell said that if, by that October, unemployment was not below 3 million, he would "Eat the hat you said I was talking through". On November 11, it was revealed unemployment in October was 3,272,000. In a ceremony, he ate a hat shaped cake. He blamed his error on a steel strike. He is a member of the Labor Hall of Fame.
1961 New Jersey gubernatorial election
After a bitter primary, Mitchell was elected Republican candidate for
Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...
with 43.7% of the vote, defeating State Senators Walter H. Jones and Wayne Dumont, Jr. He lost the general election to Democratic candidate Richard J. Hughes, receiving 1,049,274 votes versus 1,084,194 votes for Hughes.
Later career
Mitchell retired from politics and turned to the private sector. In 1961, he joined the Crown Zellerbach Corporation (at that time an American pulp and paper conglomerate based in San Francisco) as a director and adviser. A year later, he also briefly served as vice president for industrial and public relations, then as senior vice president for corporate relations until his death in 1964.
Unlike many of his fellow Republicans, Mitchell refused to support
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...
His uncle was the character actor Thomas Mitchell. Mitchell married Isabelle Nulton on January 22, 1923. On October 19, 1964, Mitchell died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...