46 Facts About Roger Putnam

Roger Lowell Putnam was an American politician and businessman.

For 40 years, Putnam was the sole trustee of the Lowell Observatory.

Roger Lowell Putnam was born on December 19,1893, in Boston.

Roger Putnam was the son of William Lowell Putnam II, a notable and wealthy Boston lawyer.

Roger Putnam graduated from the Noble and Greenough School in Boston, and then attended Harvard University.

Roger Putnam entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1916 and undertook graduate studies in mechanical engineering.

Roger Putnam took a job working for a New London, Connecticut, shipbuilding company.

Roger Putnam left that position after a short time to become a salesman for the Package Machinery Co.

Roger Putnam rose quickly within the company's ranks, becoming president in just eight years.

Roger Putnam instituted profit sharing, gave his employees life insurance and instituted a bonus plan.

Roger Putnam was named chairman of the board at Package Machinery in 1942, where he remained until 1948.

Roger Putnam named Harcourt Amory and his wife, Constance Lowell, executors of his estate.

The reluctant staff hesitated to spend the Observatory's limited funds on the new telescope until Roger Putnam forced the issue.

Roger Putnam paid the $6,000 replacement cost out of his own funds.

Lampland died on December 14,1951, and Roger Putnam decided to use the occasion to bring in some new blood.

When Wilson came under attack for laying off photoelectric research staff, Roger Putnam publicly reaffirmed his confidence in him.

Roger Putnam was initially receptive to the idea, but after consulting with several young astronomers, Roger Putnam decided against a collaboration with Harvard.

Roger Putnam used his extensive political connections to help Hall land lucrative federal contracts, which significantly improved the Observatory's finances.

In 1961, Roger Putnam managed to make an indirect contribution to the study of Mars.

Roger Putnam played a major role in securing a new 42-inch telescope for the Observatory in 1961.

Roger Putnam led the negotiations which permanently moved the 42-inch telescope to Lowell Observatory's Anderson Mesa site.

Roger Putnam brought Perkins's 69-inch telescope to the Arizona observatory as well.

In 1961, Roger Putnam convinced NASA officials to fund a major planetary research initiative at the Lowell Observatory.

Roger Putnam retired as trustee of the Lowell Observatory in 1967.

Roger Putnam switched parties and remained a Democrat for the rest of his life.

Roger Putnam became increasingly active in politics through his business ventures.

President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Roger Putnam to be deputy director of the Office of Contract Settlement of 1944.

Roger Putnam served in that capacity until the office was abolished by executive order 9809 on December 12,1946.

Roger Putnam faced an immediate crisis as head of the ESA.

Roger Putnam worked feverishly for six weeks to settle the steel talks.

Roger Putnam ordered his subordinates at OPS and WSB to meet with the union and manufacturers and to call meetings of both sides.

Roger Putnam coordinated settlement efforts with Cyrus S Ching, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, but the talks failed.

Roger Putnam then urged President Truman to personally intervene in the steel crisis and use his influence with union leaders, which he did on New Year's Eve.

Roger Putnam engaged in a public war of words with Wilson after Wilson testified that authority to hear labor disputes should be taken away from ESA, WSB and other stabilization agencies.

Roger Putnam was outraged by the steel manufacturers' behavior during the steel crisis.

Roger Putnam felt the steelmakers had held "a loaded gun poised at the Government's head" and that the employers' publicly stated reasons for forcing the union on strike were "hollow" and pretentious.

Roger Putnam was forced to give aluminum workers a 21.4 cents an hour wage increase just days later in order to avoid a strike.

Roger Putnam struggled to keep union representatives on the new board, and to find industry representatives willing to serve.

Roger Putnam succeeded in fully staffing the Board, but the wage stabilization program continued to disintegrate.

When Lewis balked at further delay, Roger Putnam threatened to rule against the union.

The coal pay dispute and the increasingly untenable position of the administration's wage and price control program led Roger Putnam to resign as ESA administrator on November 6,1952.

In 1953, Roger Putnam became president of WWLP, Springfield's first television station.

Late in life, Roger Putnam served on the board of the Third National Bank of Hampden County and the board of the Van Norman Machine Tool Company.

Roger Putnam believed higher education was the key to social uplift and the country's economic problems.

Roger Putnam received honorary degrees from Boston College, Saint Anselm College, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Roger Putnam died of a stroke at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 24,1972, aged 78.