Jeffers, William Martin, b. 1876-

Biography

Jeffers was born on January 2, 1876 in North Platte, Nebraska; he left school at age 14 to work for the Union Pacific Railroad; worked his way up the organizational ladder as call boy, clerk, telegrapher, train dispatcher, chief dispatcher, trainmaster of the Green River, Wyoming division, assistant superintendent, then superintendent of the division in 1909; became superintendent of the Nebraska district (1915), general superintendent (1915), and vice-president and general manager (1917); in 1928 he became vice-president in charge of operations, served as president of the railroad from 1937-46, and then vice-chairman of the board of directors until 1953; in 1942 Jeffers agreed to serve for one year in the War Production Board as Rubber Director, where he organized the manufacture of rayon to boost the synthetic rubber industry; he also ordered gasoline rationing before resigning in 1943; he died on March 6, 1953 in Pasadena, California.