Trucking's Trailblazers: Ted V. Rodgers
'The Father Of Motor Truck Transportation'
Ted V. Rodgers Unified A Fractured Industry, Giving Birth To Its Prosperity
By all accounts, that description is not much of a stretch, as Rodgers has been frequently described as someone who almost single-handedly united what was a fragmented industry in the 1930s. Starting with his tenure as president of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association and continuing as ATA's leader, Rodgers was not afraid to travel extensively and use his persuasive powers to ally different parts of the trucking industry.
J.R. "Bob" Halladay wrote in his book, "Partner in Progress: The Story of the American Trucking Associations," that Rodgers was "[s]mall in physical stature but a giant in character … [and] through his own dynamic personality inspired truck operators across the country to come together in common purpose."
The man who would become ATA's first president was actually born Edward V. Rodgers, but, according to the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association Bulletin of December 1932, "The nickname Ted attached itself so firmly that Edward V. was forced to adopt it."
Rodgers' famous work ethic was developed at a young age. He went to work in the Pennsylvania coal mines at age 11 to help support his nine younger siblings. When he was 18, he put himself through a stenography course at Philadelphia's Pierce School, a business college, and afterwards took a job at the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. After restocking his savings account, he started his own business as a rock contractor at the age of 23.
From then Rodgers held a variety of jobs: operating an accessory business and Ford agency and later a Maccar Truck Sales agency, which became his entry into the industry that would come to define him. He also became president of the Maccar Sales Corp. in Scranton, the city that had become his home.
In 1930, Rodgers formed Eshenbach and Rodgers, a contract carrying company for the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. Two years later he added to his trucking repertoire; when Maccar Truck Co. folded, he started Ted V. Rodgers Co., an Autocar and Federal truck sales agency. Rodgers also operated several service stations and a bulk petroleum plant to supply his fleets.
Rodgers established The Rodgers Motor Lines in 1935 and it quickly grew into a major general freight carrier serving the East Coast, with a fleet of 40 vehicles, a large number for that time.
Becomes PMTA Leader
Rodgers was active in Scranton business and an eager member of the Kiwanis Club and Chamber of Commerce. His work did not go unnoticed by his peers statewide. When PMTA wanted to organize a chapter in Scranton, its leaders turned to. He was later elected PMTA president, at a time when the state legislature was filled with "vicious anti-truck bills." So, Rodgers set to work.
"An indefatigable worker, Ted waded into the fight, working night and day. Those immediately associated with him were at once impressed by his earnestness and energy, his ability to get things done. Since the Legislature adjourned, Ted Rodgers has toured the State ('on his own') arousing communities to the seriousness of the situation which confronts commercial highway transportation, 'selling' them on the need for a strong, well-supported motor truck association," wrote the PMTA Bulletin.
Soon, Rodgers would have to turn those energies to the national level.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought his "New Deal" proposals to Washington, D.C. after his 1932 election. One of the elements in this consolidated effort to help pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression was the National Industrial Recovery Act. That established the National Recovery Administration, which then required each industry to submit a Code of Fair Competition in order to set forth minimum wages, maximum hours of service and other necessary rules.
Trucking, at the time these requirements were sought, was a fractured industry with no real cohesive voice. Two organizations had sprung up to represent trucking - the American Highway Freight Association, with Rodgers among its founders, and the Federated Truck Associations of America.
The Birth of ATA
The two organizations gathered trucking executives together in Chicago in early 1933 to come up with a code, but the brainstorming session resulted in almost 100 different ideas. NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson told the trucking industry to come up with one code or he would write one himself, and they probably would not like it.
Upon a second meeting, this time in Washington, D.C., the two organizations agreed on what the fundamental elements of the code should be and also to merge into one national trucking association, which became the American Trucking Associations. Rodgers was the unanimous choice for president and the new ATA set to work at creating trucking's Code of Fair Competition. This was soon completed and signed by Roosevelt on Feb. 10, 1934.
Once the code was established, Rodgers was named chairman of the National Code Authority, which oversaw the program. He rushed home to Scranton to be the first truck operator to sign the code and thus was issued the first "Blue Eagle" license plate signifying his compliance with the code.
Rodgers remained as ATA president until 1947, the only person to hold that position (which would later be changed to the title chairman) for more than one year. The Buhner Committee of 1944, in seeking to further develop ATA's structure, recommended that the president be elected each year.
Traveling Man
Frequent-flier miles would have been a boon to Rodgers had they existed in his day. As ATA was a fledgling organization during Rodgers' tenure, he spent a great deal of his time traveling cross-country in his efforts to bring members and non-members alike into the fold. He was called upon to unify trucking interests in several states, and essentially "laid down the law" and got everyone on the same page, Halladay wrote.
During one of Rodgers' famous cross-country jaunts, in which he was scheduled to visit three northeast cities then take a two-week tour of seven more mid- and northwest cities, he was admitted to a Georgia hospital after dislocating a bone in his back and temporarily losing use of his legs. Rodgers, however, stayed focused on the work at hand.
"Despite the fact he had to remain in bed, the ATA president kept abreast of his correspondence by using a Dictaphone … He did not let up on his activities until he was placed in a plaster cast," said an article in the April 13, 1936 issue of Transport Topics.
In his years as the head of ATA, Rodgers' name was constantly linked with highway transportation. "Countless benefits have occurred to the industry under his leadership," the Scranton Times wrote. During World War II, he was an adviser to the U.S. government on wartime transportation.
Chairman For Life
After Rodgers left the ATA presidency in 1947, he was later named honorary chairman of the board for life and remained active in both ATA and PMTA for the rest of his life.
Trucking was not the only arena in which Rodgers was well known. He was named a Kentucky Colonel, a Louisiana Colonel and the Blackfeet Indians named him Chief Rising Bull. And in addition to many business and community honors, his activities in the Catholic Church earned him two rare papal appointments. He was given the title of knight in the American chapter of the Catholic laymen's organization, Sovereign Military Order of Malta; in 1954, he and his wife Mary were made a knight and dame of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
When Rodgers died in 1960, many from the industry he helped unite attended his funeral, along with leaders from the Scranton-area organizations in which he was involved. There was also a large representation of priests and nuns from the Diocese of Scranton, along with a group of nuns from the Philadelphia Province of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Order, to which Rodgers' sister, Sr. Maria Regis, belonged.
Rodgers death may have marked the end of an era, but the spirit of the "father of motor truck transportation" continues to live in the service and dedication of his successors.
Published: Oct. 26, 2001
Note: I originally wrote the "Trucking's Trailblazers" series while employed as web editor with American Trucking Associations. They were published on the ATA website, truckline.com (now trucking.org). After a site redesign a few years later, the series was no longer available. An archived copy can be found through the Internet Archive. This blog post was created by copying the text from the archived copy and is shared here as is, minus any photos that were not archived, and the captions for those photos.
Wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it. I'm a grandson of Ted's on my mother's side, but I was 4-5 when he died. I have only the vaguest recollection of him. Mike Coneay
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