- Collection:
- Eastern Air Lines Collection
- Title:
- James R. "Jim" Ashlock oral history interview, 2010-09-28
- Creator:
- Ashlock, James R., 1932-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Drummond, Traci JoLeigh
- Publisher:
- Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 2010-09-28
- Subject:
- Labor unions
Air pilots
Air travel
Aircraft industry
Aircraft industry--Employees
Airlines
Airlines--Public relations
Airlines--Employees--Labor unions
Eastern Air Lines, inc., Strike (1989-1991)
Eastern Air Lines - Location:
- United States, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Miami, 25.77427, -80.19366
United States, Georgia, Clayton County, 33.54189, -84.35769
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798 - Medium:
- digital moving image formats
- Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- The James R. (Jim) Ashlock Collection, 1938-1991, undated, consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, annual reports, briefing notes, memoranda, and audiovisual materials. This collection provides broad insight into day-to-day operations, internal communication, history, and media relations at Eastern Airlines, Inc. The collection was accumulated by Jim Ashlock, who worked primarily in the Public Relations Department of Eastern's Operational Headquarters in Miami from 1966 until 1991. The documents in the collection include information about Ashlock's work with Eastern and also issues faced by the airline. The collection is divided into two series: Eastern Air Lines and Other Sources. The Eastern Air Lines series contains correspondence and memoranda (1973, 1987-1991), briefing notes (1989-1990), employee codacoms (daily news bulletins) (1989-1990), a Suspension of Service Plan (1991), articles and editorials authored by Jim Ashlock (1972, 1974-1984, 1988-1990, undated), a report entitled "Eastern Safety Backgrounder", airline industry salary growth and comparison charts for select positions, retirement information (1987-1989, 1991), and a corporate telephone directory (1990) provide information about the daily operations, promotions, and public relations of the airline. Annual reports (1938-1985) and an annual financial statement (1990) provide information about company earnings and growth. Audio-visual materials include VHS cassettes, which include interviews, news coverage of Eastern Air Lines' dissolution, and flight training. The Other Sources series contains newspaper and magazine clippings (1948, 1966, 1978-1983), a strike manual from the AFL-CIO entitled, "The Inside Game: Winning with Workplace Strategies" (1986), International Association of Machinists memorandum (1987, undated), Texas Air Annual Reports (1987-1991). All documentation provides insight to the operations of Eastern Airlines but was not created by the company. The oral history interview with Jim Ashlock, conducted by Traci JoLeigh Drummond, provides background on Ashlock's early life and education, his professional career as a reporter and public relations specialist. Ashlock also provides his opinion on Eastern's management, labor relations, bankruptcy, and eventual closure.
This oral history interview with Jim Ashlock, conducted by Traci JoLeigh Drummond, provides background on Ashlock's early life and education, his professional career as a reporter and public relations specialist. Ashlock also provides his opinion on Eastern's management, labor relations, bankruptcy, and eventual closure.
James R. (Jim) Ashlock was born December 3, 1932 in Baird, Texas. He graduated from Baird schools in 1950 and Texas A&M in 1954. In 1957, he received his M.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. After graduating from Columbia University, Ashlock held public relations positions at Trans World Airlines in New York; covered local politics for the Kansas City Times (morning edition of the Kansas City Star), and held reporter/editor posts at the San Angelo Standard-Times (Texas) and Pecos Enterprise (Texas). Ashlock also worked as the transport editor for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine, the premier journal of the aerospace industry, covering the international commercial and military transport scene. Ashlock worked for Eastern Air Lines, Inc., from August 19, 1966, to August 1, 1991, when the airline shut down. This covered most of the post-Rickenbacker era under the administration of two chief executives: Floyd D. Hall and Frank Borman. Ashlock joined Eastern Air Lines in its Washington, D.C., office as public relations manager for the airline's federal affairs staff. In 1968, Ashlock was transferred to Miami, Eastern's operating headquarters. Ashlock held various public relations titles over the next 14 years, focusing on media relations, promotion of new routes and aircraft, crisis response (crashes, hijackings, labor disruptions), employee communications, speechwriting and public affairs. In 1984, he was transferred to Tallahassee, Florida, to lobby against state taxation of airline operations, ultimately rising to Staff Vice President of Government Affairs. Following the shutdown of Eastern, Ashlock worked as Public Affairs Director for Palm Beach County, Florida; President of the Tallahassee Area Chamber of Commerce; Director of University Relations for Texas A&M University, and was Special Advisor to the VP and CEO of Texas A&M University at Galveston, after which he retired. Ashlock lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife, Elizabeth. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/eastern/id/58885
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Ashlock, James, interviewed by Traci Drummond, September 28, 2010, James R. Ashlock collection, Southern Labor Archives. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University. - Extent:
- 1:44:33
- Original Collection:
- SERIES III: Jim Ashlock Oral History Interview, 2010
Southern Labor Archives
James R. Ashlock collection
https://archivesspace.library.gsu.edu/repositories/2/resources/503 - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
