Kilmer House

General Robert Wood Johnson – a blogger? Of course, he wasn’t — because Johnson (1893 – 1968) was from an era long before the internet and blogs. But…there’s some interesting evidence that if he were around today, he might perhaps be blogging. And what could that evidence possibly be? It was that he wanted his communications with Johnson & Johnson employees around the world to be two-way conversations and he tried to figure out a way to do that, but felt limited by the constraints of the technology that was available in the 1940s.

Cover of Robert Johnson Talks it Over

In 1949, Johnson published a book called Robert Johnson Talks it Over, which was a compilation of radio talks he had recorded for employees worldwide. These talks were played over the broadcasting systems in the Company’s plants and offices. Each talk explained in great detail a different aspect of Johnson & Johnson, since Johnson felt that every single employee, no matter what he or she did, should thoroughly understand every part of the business in order to fully contribute to it. According to Johnson, the recorded talks were meant to replace the informal conversations he used to have when the Company was much smaller and he knew everyone who worked there. He wrote:

“Years have passed since I knew everyone in our organization. There once was a time, however, when I did know – at least, I recognized – every man and woman who worked with Johnson & Johnson. Those men and women knew me, too, and we’d get together once in a while to talk about the Company, its progress, and its problems. In those talks I learned how others felt, and they learned what was on my mind. Anyone might ask questions, and could get answers telling just what he wanted to know.”

“We have grown too large for such discussions; if we tried to hold them now, we’d have meetings with speakers and a lot of formality, but few real results.” [Robert Johnson Talks it Over, page 1]

Here’s the interesting part. (Besides the fact that he wasn’t a fan of big, formal meetings.) Robert Wood Johnson mentioned all of the things the Company was doing to communicate to employees – internal newspapers and magazines, special booklets, the Suggestion System, and more. But he wrote that they were too formal and one-way, and he was looking for something that would come close to those two-way person-to-person talks he used to have…which is why he came up with the idea for the broadcasts. Johnson lamented the fact that the technology of the time limited these talks to one-way broadcasts, when he would have preferred them to be conversations.

“The broadcasts, of course, will have one disadvantage: I shall do most of the talking, while you will have no chance to throw in comments, questions or requests for explanations.” [Robert Johnson Talks it Over, p. 2]

So Johnson did what he could to make these broadcasts more like conversations. Their tone was informal. And in the first chapter of Robert Johnson Talks it Over, he listed ways in which these one-way talks could be made more two-way, or at least answer some of the questions from employees that would come up. Since the talks were being published, Johnson included additional information that would answer some of the questions employees might have; and he encouraged employees to talk to their supervisors and local management, who could either answer the question themselves or see that it went to the proper places to be answered. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it was the best he could do at the time.

Some employees in the 1940s — the audience for Johnson’s broadcasts

Johnson was a prolific author of books and articles and he loved to exchange ideas. He was often quoted in the press about his business philosophy and current business-related events. In keeping with his well-earned reputation as a maverick, he was a good source of quotable quotes, and he didn’t shy away from having public conversations about the issues of the day…such as the need for fair wages and hours during the Great Depression, or the social responsibilities of business.

So…Robert Wood Johnson believed in two-way, conversational communication with employees, he wasn’t shy about expressing his opinions, and he wrote a lot of books and magazine articles. Sounds like he could have been a potential blogger well ahead of his time!

New Brunswick, New Jersey is known for many things…such as Rutgers University, two major hospitals, and of course it’s been the home of Johnson & Johnson since 1886. But did you know that at one time New Brunswick was known as “the most Hungarian city in the United States?” And that many members of its Hungarian community worked at Johnson & Johnson?

Johnson & Johnson employees, many of whom were from the Hungarian community, circa 1900

New Brunswick’s historic Hungarian population is still reflected in some of the city’s neighborhoods, its American Hungarian Foundation, in its annual Hungarian Festival, in the ties between New Brunswick and its sister city in Hungary, Debrecen, and in the history of Johnson & Johnson…which at one time had an employee population that was more than two-thirds Hungarian.

Page from Early Workmen’s Time Book Showing Hungarian Last Names of Employees

Here’s an example — a page from an old Johnson & Johnson ledger book from 1914-1915 showing that in just the Bleaching Department in the old Cotton Mill, there were employees with the last names Farkanyi, Horvath, Harsanyi, Kovacs, Polgar, Mezarous, Erdelyi, Toth and, on another page, Dudas, all a proud reminder of the Company’s close ties with New Brunswick’s Hungarian population.

U.S. Medicated Plaster Ad in Hungarian, 1912

Hungarian immigrants first started arriving in the U.S. in large numbers around 1850, after Hungary’s defeat in the 1848-1849 War of Independence, in which Hungary tried to gain self-rule from Austria. Large numbers of Hungarians settled in New Jersey and especially in New Brunswick, which had lots of industry to provide employment. Besides Johnson & Johnson, there was a cigar box manufacturer (which explains why many of our early medicated plasters were in cigar-box packaging…we bought the boxes from the neighboring factory), a button factory, a wallpaper factory, and more. Over the years, successive waves of immigrants from Hungary continued to make their way to New Brunswick until more than a third of the city’s population was of Hungarian descent.

Early Employees, Many of them from New Brunswick’s Hungarian Community

The Johnson family felt a strong tie to the Hungarian immigrants, who were hardworking and extremely loyal to Johnson & Johnson. Many Hungarian employees wrote to their relatives telling them about the Company…and many of those relatives came to New Brunswick to work for Johnson & Johnson. It was not unusual for several members of the same extended family – parents, aunts and uncles — and also multiple generations in the same family to work for Johnson & Johnson. One retiree of Hungarian descent has said that when she was growing up in New Brunswick’s Hungarian community, it seemed to her that everyone worked for Johnson & Johnson. The story has also been passed down that employee notices were once posted in English and Hungarian to accommodate employees.

Bottom of 1908 Cotton Mill Celebration Dance Card with “Good Night” in Hungarian and other languages.

Johnson & Johnson provided English lessons and other classes for its Hungarian and other employees, as well as very generous benefits at a time when it was unusual to do so.

Robert Wood Johnson, Approx. 16 Years Old

General Robert Wood Johnson was particularly close to the Company’s employees of Hungarian heritage, often accepting invitations to their homes, to weddings and other celebrations. This relationship started when Johnson was just a teenager and came to work in the factory during the summers and then full time after his father died. He was befriended by his Hungarian coworkers as they worked side by side, and the relationship continued through his adult life.

To this day, the Company continues to have a number of New Jersey employees and retirees of Hungarian descent….a relationship that still continues a century later.

Update – I forgot to mention that the title of this post, “Hungarian University,” was a nickname given to Johnson & Johnson because of its large percentage of Hungarian employees. The Company’s generous benefits and steady employment at a time when that was uncommon offered great opportunity for members of the Hungarian community who worked there.

In 1908 Johnson & Johnson completed an addition to the “New” Red Cross Cotton Mill.  The mill had been built in 1901 and just a few short years later, it needed to be expanded due to the growth of the surgical dressings, cotton and gauze business and the need for extra manufacturing capacity.   As was its tradition, the Company held a reception and dance for employees to inaugurate the new building…on the evening of Friday, October 2, 1908 from 8:00 pm to midnight. 

Let’s step back to that evening 100 years ago and take a look.

According to Oct. 3, 1908 edition of The New Brunswick Times, the party was “one of the largest and jolliest dances ever held in New Brunswick,” and The Home News estimated that over 2,500 people attended.   The Times went on to mention: “It has been the custom of this firm to have an affair something in the nature of a housewarming in every large addition built to the plant before the machinery is installed.”  (N.B. Times article, “Two Thousand at J. And J. Dance,” Oct. 3, 1908) This was the Company’s way of celebrating its success with employees, and it had a special significance in 1908.  The U.S. had been hit by the Panic of 1907, a financial crisis and recession, but Johnson & Johnson had managed to weather the storm and even continue expanding its plant capacity due to the nature of its products and the prudence of its management.

The Cotton Mill and New Addition, 1907.  The dirt road is George Street.

So on that Saturday night in October of 1908, employees and their guests arrived at the addition to the Cotton Mill, which was located exactly where Johnson Hall stands today.  The new addition brought the Company’s campus to 40 buildings and a half million square feet of manufacturing space.  There was such a large crowd in the Cotton Mill that the dance took place on two floors of the huge addition, with Haywood’s Orchestra providing the music on one floor, and Professor Chas. Mezei’s Hungarian Orchestra playing traditional Hungarian music on the other floor for the enjoyment of the Company’s numerous Hungarian employees. Each attendee received a card marked “Refreshments,” which was redeemed for a brick of Neapolitan ice cream and cake. Robert Wood Johnson and James Wood Johnson attended along with their families, and employees received a dance order booklet and a small commemorative spoon as souvenirs.  (A dance order booklet provided space in which to write the names of everyone you danced with.)

Souvenir Booklet from 1907 Reception

Inside Back Cover of Booklet, Showing Order of Dance Listing

In keeping with the character of the Company, the booklet didn’t just contain space for social information.  It also had a letter to employees from President Robert Wood Johnson, a listing of the Company’s entire executive and supervisory staff (a number of the department supervisors were women, and there was a female scientist in the Scientific Department!), an article on the Company’s history up to 1908, and articles on the Laurel Club and the Company’s Welfare Department (the department that provided medical care and other benefits to employees).  Here are some excerpts from Robert Wood Johnson’s letter: 

Robert Wood Johnson 

“We are all fortunate, in that we are engaged in manufacturing products to be used throughout the world for the relief of pain and suffering.  We believe that each and every one of us is entitled to some credit and a certain reward for being factors in benefitting [sic] mankind.  Johnson & Johnson have been educators, teaching the world how to treat wounds according to modern methods and how to save life….Johnson & Johnson do not forget that a great part of their success has been due to the skill and care taken by their employees, you all put forth your best effort loyally and jointly, observing all the rules relating to modern wound dressing so that when the products reach the surgeon or the physician he has felt absolute confidence in them.” 
“You are carrying out every day rules of cleanliness which have always been our watch-word, and we feel proud of having a force who know and realize the necessity of such supreme care, and who realize that the use of the goods which they prepare may mean life or death to those whom they may be applied.” 
“We, therefore take this opportunity of thanking you and to express our appreciation of the good work which you have done not only for Johnson & Johnson but for the world at large.”

The letter shows the camaraderie that Johnson felt for his ever-growing number of employees, and the knowledge that they were all engaged together in an important mission to help people.  Echoes of Johnson’s words from 100 years ago can be seen today in the way we refer to the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, as well as in our new Company description: 

Caring for the world, one person at a time… inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson. We embrace research and science – bringing innovative ideas, products and services to advance the health and well-being of people. Employees of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies work with partners in health care to touch the lives of over a billion people every day, throughout the world.