NEWT
NEWT is one of my favorite stories from the North American Kansas plant. He is also a success story in the preservation of B-25 history. Not only does he safely reside at the Wyandotte County Historical Museum, there is good information on his background. Basically, NEWT was the plant mascot. He became more than that, and former bomber builders recounted stories of NEWT to me many years later.
NEWT's "birthday" was May 8, 1942. In a letter addressed to H. Schwalenberg (factory manager), Mr. B. Blackman of the Production Training Section in the Industrial Relations Department proposed a "Program for employee morale". In this proposal he noted: "Top management in National Defense plants throughout the country is vitally interested in keeping employee morale at a high pitch in order to meet the increased production demands of total war. This cannot be achieved without a well-organized, carefully planned approach to stimulate employee interest and bring home to him the vital part he is playing in this war."
Carved from a block of wood in the plant's wood shop, NEWT was given a lunchbox and an identification card. The photo gallery "Carving NEWT" contains pictures of NEWT's early days. Myself and others researching NEWT have been unable to identify the man that carved him. These photographs were publicity shots and as such may not show the actual craftsman.
The intention was to develop a program that could boost morale as well as express ideas in a non-threatening way. "NEWT will be able to say and do many things that no one from top management could express as effectively". To achieve this goal per Mr. Blackman, NEWT would have to become "one of the boys in the shop".
NEWT did indeed become one of the boys in the shop. Even prior to his arrival, There were "teaser" posters placed around the plant every Friday afternoon at 3 pm. Some of these posters are in the photo gallery "NEWT posters". The Friday afternoon posters continued. The first was hung on May 29, 1942. Cartoons of NEWT soon showed up everywhere. He was a regular in the plant newsletter the "North American Kansan". A sample of these cartoons is included in the photo gallery "NEWT cartoons". NEWT may have been a wooden doll, but to the employees of the North American Kansas plant he was so much more.
Mr. Blackman writes, "By appealing to every employee's sense of patriotism, spirit of competition, and good American sense of humor, much can be accomplished to achieve the height of efficiency in production, which will enable us to say honestly we are do a job." To me, NEWT represents the spirit of the "Bomber Builders". He was the youngest employee at the plant. Over 70 years later, he still represents their values: Integrity, Pride, Patriotism, and Teamwork.
You may have noticed that throughout this article I used all capital letters for NEWT's name. His name was commonly written that way. Notice his name embroidered on is uniform as well as on his name badge. I once had a former bomber builder tell me that NEWT was an acronym that stood for North American Employee Workplace Training. This would seem to make sense. I have not been able to confirm this information. Personally, I just think of NEWT as "one of the boys". The photo gallery "NEWT Today" contains photographs I took on August 20, 2014 of NEWT. I was honored by a photo shoot with NEWT as he is not allowed outside the glass very often.
