Richard H. Anderson

Chief executive officer, Northwest Airlines

Nationality: American.

Born: 1956, in Galveston, Texas.

Education: University of Houston, BS, 1979; South Texas College of Law, JD, 1982.

Family: Son of Richard Anderson.

Career: Harris County Criminal Court, Texas, 1978–1987, chief counsel, then assistant district attorney; Continental Airlines, 1987–1990, staff vice president and deputy general counsel; Northwest Airlines, 1990–1994, vice president and deputy general counsel; 1994–1996, senior vice president of labor relations; 1997–1998, senior vice president of technical operations and airport affairs; 1998, executive vice president of technical operations, flight operations, and airport affairs; 1998–2001, executive vice president and COO of facilities, airport affairs, and regulatory compliance; 2001–, CEO.

Address: Northwest Airlines, 2700 Lone Oak Parkway, Eagan, Minnesota 55121; http://www.nwa.com.

In February 2001 Richard Anderson was appointed chief executive officer of the holding company NWA and its principal subsidiary Northwest Airlines. The promotion recognized Anderson's earlier achievements in making Northwest the country's most on-time airline in the 1990s and also his role in expanding the airline's key facilities in Detroit. The early focus at Northwest during Anderson's tenure as CEO was on managing the effects of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States. By aggressively cutting costs while also attending to Northwest's problematic labor relations, Anderson averted the need to file for bankruptcy protection, as other major carrier networks were forced to do in 2002.

Early Years As Legal Counsel

Anderson was born and raised in Galveston, Texas. After his parents died when he was 19, Anderson put himself through college and law school by working as a laborer in the building and construction industries. Between 1978 and 1987 Anderson worked as the chief counsel and then as the assistant district attorney in the Harris County Criminal Court in Texas. He moved to the air-transportation industry in 1987, working as staff vice president and general counsel for Continental.

Executive Vice President and Coo of Northwest Airlines

In 1990 Anderson began working for Northwest Airlines as vice president and general counsel. Over the next seven years he gained a breadth of experience at Northwest in the areas of operations, staff relations, and legal problem solving.

In early 1997 Anderson was appointed executive vice president in charge of technical operations, flight operations, and airport affairs. A year later he was appointed chief operating officer, with responsibility for facilities, airport affairs, and regulatory compliance. In these roles he considerably improved fleet maintenance, working especially closely with Steve Gorman, the manager of engine maintenance. Together with Gorman, Anderson significantly reduced the airline's backlog of repairs and increased the number of Northwest planes in service, resulting in improved performance and a reduction in flight cancellations. Northwest was deemed the most on-time airline of the seven major American network carriers during the 1990s based on statistics compiled by the Department of Transportation.

Appointed Ceo and Director of Northwest

Anderson was appointed CEO of Northwest Airlines in February 2001. Simultaneously, Douglas Steenland was appointed president, and the two would effectively maintain a collaborative style of leadership. In October 2001 Anderson was appointed to the airline's board of directors.

As the newly appointed CEO, Anderson promised to continue his predecessor John Dasburg's focus upon product integrity and customer service. In February 2002 Anderson opened the new $1.2 billion midfield terminal at Detroit's Metro Airport, a project he had been instrumental in initiating in 1994. The new terminal offered enhanced capacity and faster connection times, enabling Northwest Airlines to expand its already extensive service to Asia and to increase its competitiveness among business travelers. With a state-of-theart architectural design, the new facility offered a change in image from the previous terminal and was intended to generate improved customer experiences.

At a company known for low employee morale, Anderson was committed to improving labor relations. In an interview broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, Anderson extended an olive branch to Northwest labor unions, saying, "We have to go down the road today of building relationships, and you have to build those relationships while you're not in negotiations" (June 18, 2001). He thereafter undertook a nationwide tour of Northwest sites to establish rapport with employees and hear their concerns. In April 2001 he successfully negotiated a new contract with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represented 9,795 Northwest mechanics, cleaners, and custodians. This resolution ended a dispute that had begun in 1996.

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist hijacking of four jetliners, Anderson strove to balance his commitment to labor relations with the pressing need to reduce operating costs. In an interview with the New York Times, Anderson said of Northwest's stance, "In the last two and a half years, we've been the most aggressive in the industry in terms of getting out in front of the problems that we faced. It's necessitated some very hard decisions" (August 7, 2003). Anderson failed to get union support for wage and benefit concessions to the tune of $950 million by July 2003, which the company had claimed would be necessary to stave off bankruptcy proceedings. Despite this threat Northwest did not subsequently file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as United and U.S. Airways had done in 2002. By restructuring in order to reduce operating costs, Anderson and Steenland eliminated 17,000 jobs from the payroll and cut $1.6 billion in annual expenses between 2001 and 2003.

Anderson emerged as an industry leader in talks with the federal government regarding financial assistance for the air-transportation industry in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. He helped develop tighter security mandates with the Federal Aviation Administration and was part of the Bush administration's Airport Safety Committee, which was formed in the days following the attacks. In these talks Anderson sought federal government assistance in the form of payment of increased security costs, reductions in the taxes and fees imposed on airlines, and increased flexibility for mergers and alliances in order to promote sales. His role as industry spokesperson was expanded when he was appointed chairman of the executive committee of the Air Transport Association in December 2002.

Anderson's dual attendance to operating performance and labor relations improved Northwest's public image and commercial performance. In July 2002 Standard & Poor's deemed Northwest to be one of the two most stable megacarriers in the industry; Anderson's leadership in the wake of the 9/11 attacks was an important factor in this judgment. Joel Denney, the analyst with the Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, Piper Jaffray, praised the performances of both Anderson and the Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune in turning around the fortunes of their respective companies. Speaking to the Minneapolis–St. Paul Business Journal in 2002, Denney said of the pair, "It's not that they knew the future, but they prepared for the unknown" (July 26, 2002).

As CEO of Northwest, Anderson was committed to involvement in the Minnesota and Michigan communities, serving on the boards of Hamline University of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Medtronic, among numerous other local and business organizations. In 2000 he was appointed first chairman of the Minnesota Business Leadership Network.

Managerial Style

Anderson was known for his open and personable managerial style. As CEO he fostered good staff relations by encouraging direct, informal communication among all Northwest staff. His work e-mail address was simply "Richard." His accessible approach helped him to initiate and maintain the dialogue necessary between unions and management to resolve the company's labor disputes.

Calmness under pressure was another characteristic of Anderson's executive leadership. After the opening of the Detroit midfield terminal in 2002, the Knight Ridder-Tribune Business News journalist Tom Walsh commented on Anderson's visible pride and excitement with respect to the new facility. Such a response was unusual for the business leader better known, as described by Walsh, for being "even keeled, unflappable, and easygoing" (February 25, 2002).

Sources for Further Information

Carey, Susan, "The Thrifty Get Thriftier: Northwest Airlines Has Long Had a Reputation as a Cost Cutter; Now It Needs to Cut Some More," Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2004.

Maynard, Micheline, "NW Chief Says Airline Will Not File for Bankruptcy," New York Times, August 7, 2003.

Tellijohn, Andrew, "Overpaid CEOs Underpaid: Richard Anderson; Bad Year Takes Toll on Anderson, NWA," Minneapolis–St. Paul Business Journal, July 26, 2002, p. 15.

Walsh, Tom, Detroit Free Press Tom Walsh Column, Knight Ridder-Tribune Business News, February 25, 2002.

Zdechlik, Mark, "Anderson Putting His Imprint on Northwest Airlines," Minnesota Public Radio, June 18, 2001, http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200106/18_zdechlikm_nwaanderson.

—Ann McCarthy

This article is about the 19th century American soldier. For other people with the same name, see Richard Anderson (disambiguation).

Richard Heron Anderson
October 7, 1821(1821-10-07) – June 26, 1879 (aged 57)
Richard Heron Anderson
Nickname	Fighting Dick
Place of birth	Sumter County, South Carolina
Place of death	Beaufort, South Carolina
Place of burial	St. Helena's Episcopal Church, Beaufort, South Carolina
Allegiance	United States of America Confederate States of America
Service/branch	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1842–61 (USA) 1861–65 (CSA)
Rank	Captain (USA) Lieutenant General (CSA)
Commands held	First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia Fourth Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
Battles/wars	Mexican-American War American Civil War

Richard Heron Anderson (October 7, 1821 – June 26, 1879) was a career U.S. Army officer, fighting with distinction in the Mexican-American War. He also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Anderson was also noted for his humility.^[1]

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Civil War service 2.1 Gettysburg 2.2 Wilderness and Spotsylvania 3 Postbellum 4 See also 5 References 6 Notes 7 External links

Early life and career

Anderson was born in the High Hills of Santee at Borough House Plantation (Hill Crest), near the town of Stateburg located in Sumter County, South Carolina. He was the son of Dr. William Wallace Anderson and his wife, Mary Jane Mackensie, and the grandson of American Revolutionary War hero and namesake Richard Anderson.^[2]

Anderson graduated 40th out of 56 cadets from the United States Military Academy in July 1842, and was brevetted a second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Dragoons.^[3] He served the cavalry school for practice at the U.S. Army Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1842. Anderson spent 1843 on frontier duty in the American West, serving first at Little Rock, Arkansas, and then on garrison duty at Forts Gibson and Washita, both located in the Indian Territory. His regiment escorted the U.S. Indian Agent to Red River in 1843, and then returned to Fort Washita, remaining there until 1844. Anderson was promoted to second lieutenant on July 16, 1844, and served at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, from 1844 to 1845. His regiment then joined the expedition for the military occupation of Texas in 1845, and Anderson was on recruiting duty in 1846.^[4]

In the Mexican-American War, Anderson took part in the Siege of Veracruz in March 1847 and then skirmishing near La Hoya on June 9. He fought in the Battle of Contreras on August 19, the skirmish near San Agustin Altapulco the following day, and the Battle of Molino del Rey on September 8. For gallantry during the fighting near San Agustin, he was brevetted to the rank of first lieutenant as of August 17.^[5] Anderson also participated in the fight for and capture of Mexico City from September 12–14.^[4]

After Mexico, Anderson was promoted to first lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons on July 13, 1848, was again on recruiting duty in 1849. He returned to the Carlisle Barracks from 1849 to 1850, and then was recruiting once more until 1852. Next came frontier duty in several Texas installations, including at Fort Graham in 1852 to 1853, at Fort McKavett from 1853 to 1854, at San Antonio in 1854, and at Fort McKavett in 1855.^[4] He was promoted to captain on March 3, 1855,^[3] and was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, from 1855 to 1856. Anderson was still serving in Kansas during the border troubles of 1856 and 1857, then was recruiting as well as his last stint at the Carlisle Barracks in 1858. He participated in the Utah War of 1858 and 1859, and was on duty at Fort Kearny, Nebraska, from 1859 to 1861.^[4]

Civil War service

Anderson chose to follow his home state and the Confederate cause, and he resigned from the U.S. Army (accepted on March 3, 1861) to enter service with the Confederate Army. Anderson accepted a commission as colonel of the 1st South Carolina Infantry Regiment as of January 28.^[3] He was given command of the Charleston harbor area after the capture of Fort Sumter that April.^[5] He was promoted to brigadier general on July 19 and transferred to Pensacola, Florida, where he was wounded in the left elbow during the Battle of Santa Rosa Island on October 9.^[3]

After recovering, Anderson joined the Confederate Army of the Potomac in February 1862 (which was absorbed into the Army of Northern Virginia later in the spring) as a brigade commander. During the Peninsula Campaign, he distinguished himself at the Battle of Williamsburg in May, during the Battle of Seven Pines, and in the Seven Days Battles in June and July. At Glendale, he took temporary command of Maj. Gen. James Longstreet's division. Because of his excellent performance on the Peninsula, he was promoted to major general on July 14, 1862, and was given command of the 2nd Division of Longstreet's First Corps.^[3]

At the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862, Anderson launched an attack that broke the Union lines and sent it retreating back toward the entrenchments around Washington, D.C. At the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, he was in overall command at the sunken road, or "Bloody Lane", in the center of the Confederate defense. He was wounded in the thigh and left the battle (his senior brigadier Roger A. Pryor taking over) without which his division began to falter and eventually succumb to Union flank attacks that routed them from their position. At the Battle of Fredericksburg that December his division was not heavily engaged.

During the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, while operating away from Longstreet's command (because Longstreet was on detached duty near Suffolk, Virginia, at the time), Anderson pressed the Union left while Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson attacked the right. Anderson and Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws left the main battle line on May 3, and struck east to check the advance of Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's VI Corps that would have led into Gen. Robert E. Lee's rear. Following the death of Stonewall Jackson on May 10, Lee reorganized his army from two into three corps. Anderson was admired enough by Lee to be considered for corps command, but instead his division was assigned to the new Third Corps, commanded by now Lt. Gen A.P. Hill.

Gettysburg

At the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, Anderson's division was third in line of march approaching the town from the west on July 1, so they arrived late and had little involvement in the start of the battle. (Lee had ordered Anderson into bivouac to rest up for the next day, which could be considered a tactical error on his part. If Anderson had been ordered to attack Cemetery Hill from the west, and if Lee could have moved Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's corps to do the same from the north, the Union lines might have broken and the battle—even the war—might have been won).

On July 2, the second day of battle, Anderson's division attacked near the Union center, following on from attacks by Longstreet (the divisions of Maj. Gens. John B. Hood and McLaws) to his right. Anderson's right was successful attacking Union Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys's III Corps division along the Emmitsburg Road. His center, under Ambrose R. Wright, penetrated the lightly defended Cemetery Ridge, making better progress than Pickett's Charge would make the following day. However, his left did not keep up the momentum that was needed. Carnot Posey moved haltingly and William Mahone did not move from Seminary Ridge at all. Union reinforcements rushed to counter Wright and he was repulsed. Anderson was criticized for his command during this day of battle. He had little effective control of his brigades and his plan to attack all his brigades in line, without a reserve to capitalize on success, was not well conceived.^{[citation needed]} On July 3, Anderson's brigades under Cadmus M. Wilcox and David Lang participated in the waning minutes of Pickett's Charge, but both were driven back.

Wilderness and Spotsylvania

Battle of Spotsylvania C.H., actions May 10, 1864

During the spring of 1864, at the Battle of the Wilderness, Longstreet was severely wounded and Anderson took command of the First Corps, leading it throughout the Overland Campaign. After the Wilderness he fought well at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Anderson and his corps executed an all-night forced march on May 7 that secured that important position (reinforcing the Confederate cavalry earlier sent there), and arrived just before Union soldiers did. Reaching and defending this spot denied the Federals a way around Lee's army towards Richmond, and Anderson held it during heavy fighting from May 8–12.

Anderson then fought at the Battle of Cold Harbor in early June, and participated in the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia's operations to the south of Petersburg, Virginia, from mid-June until October.^[5] Anderson was promoted to temporary lieutenant general on May 31.^[6]

When Longstreet returned from his convalescence on October 19, 1864, Anderson reverted to the rank of major general but led the newly created Fourth Corps through the Siege of Petersburg and the retreat towards Appomattox Court House in 1865. Because of several attacks by Federal cavalry nipping at his corps, Anderson was forced to slow and even stop from time to time and beat off the attacks. This caused the Confederates to become isolated from the rest of Lee's army moving west, and they were now the army's rear guard. The corps finally halted and fought at Sayler's Creek on April 6 which ended in a rout, and as Lee witnessed it he exclaimed "Has the army been dissolved?"^[7] As the corps' survivors reformed and rejoined the army, what was left of the Third Corps was merged with the Second Corps on April 8.^[8] This left Anderson without a command and he proceeded home to South Carolina. Anderson was pardoned on September 27, 1865, although there is no record of his parole.^[3]

Postbellum

After the war, Anderson was a planter in Stateburg from 1866 to 1868, growing cotton. When that failed, he was then an agent of the South Carolina Railroad, working out of Camden from 1868 to 1878, and later a state phosphate inspector/agent in South Carolina 1879.^[9] He died at the age of 57 in Beaufort, and is buried there in the churchyard cemetery of St. Helena's Episcopal Church.^[2]

See also

American Civil War portal

United States Army portal

References

• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, and Bongard, David L., Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography, Castle Books, 1992, 1st Ed., ISBN 0-7858-0437-4.
• Foote, Shelby, The Civil War: A Narrative: Vol. III Red River to Appomattox, Vintage Books, 1986, ISBN 0-394-74622-8.
• Tagg, Larry, The Generals of Gettysburg, Savas Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-882810-30-9.
• Dick Anderson Chapter #75, United Daughters of the Confederacy.
• Anderson's Online military bio

Notes

1. ^ Dupuy, p. 40. "...capable and resourceful divisional commander, personally modest."
2. ^ ^{a b} UDC website
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Eicher, p. 105.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} ""Military biography of Richard H. Anderson"". www.library.ci.corpus-christi.tx.us. http://www.library.ci.corpus-christi.tx.us/MexicanWar/andersonrh.htm. Retrieved on 2008-09-08. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Dupuy, p. 40.
6. ^ Dupuy, p. 40. His appointment to Lt. Gen., however, was never confirmed by the Confederate Congress.
7. ^ Foote, pp. 915-17.
8. ^ Eicher, p. 889
9. ^ Dupuy, p. 40., Eicher, p. 105.

External links

• www.historyofwar.org historyofwar.org biography of Anderson.

v • d • e Gettysburg figures Confederate leaders Robert E. Lee · E. Porter Alexander · Richard H. Anderson · George T. Anderson · James J. Archer · Lewis Addison Armistead · William Barksdale · Henry L. Benning · John M. Brockenbrough · John R. Chambliss · Junius Daniel · Joseph R. Davis · George P. Doles · Jubal A. Early · Richard S. Ewell · Richard B. Garnett · John Brown Gordon · Wade Hampton III · Harry T. Hays · Henry Heth · A. P. Hill · John B. Hood · Benjamin G. Humphreys · John D. Imboden · Alfred Iverson, Jr. · Albert G. Jenkins · Allegheny Johnson · John M. Jones · William E. Jones · James L. Kemper · Joseph B. Kershaw · James H. Lane · Evander M. Law · Fitzhugh Lee · Rooney Lee · James Longstreet · William Mahone · James K. Marshall · Lafayette McLaws · Edward A. O'Neal · William C. Oates · W. Dorsey Pender · J. Johnston Pettigrew · Abner Perrin · George E. Pickett · Carnot Posey · Stephen Dodson Ramseur · Jerome B. Robertson · Robert E. Rodes · Alfred Moore Scales · Paul Jones Semmes · William "Extra Billy" Smith · George H. Steuart · J. E. B. Stuart · Edward L. Thomas · Isaac R. Trimble · James A. Walker · R. Lindsay Walker · Cadmus M. Wilcox · William T. Wofford · Ambrose R. Wright Union leaders George G. Meade · Adelbert Ames · Romeyn B. Ayres · Francis C. Barlow · James Barnes · Henry Baxter · David B. Birney · John Buford · John C. Caldwell · Charles Candy · Joseph B. Carr · Joshua L. Chamberlain · Edward E. Cross · Andrew Gregg Curtin · George A. Custer · Lysander Cutler · Samuel W. Crawford · Abner Doubleday · Elon J. Farnsworth · John W. Geary · John Gibbon · Leopold von Gilsa · Charles K. Graham · George S. Greene · David McMurtrie Gregg · Winfield S. Hancock · William Harrow · Alexander Hays · Joseph Hooker · Oliver O. Howard · Andrew A. Humphreys · Henry J. Hunt · Judson Kilpatrick · Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski · Abraham Lincoln · Solomon Meredith · Wesley Merritt · John Newton · Gabriel Rene Paul · Alfred Pleasonton · John F. Reynolds · John C. Robinson · Thomas A. Rowley · Thomas H. Ruger · Alexander Schimmelfennig · Carl Schurz · John Sedgwick · Daniel Sickles · Henry W. Slocum · George J. Stannard · Adolph von Steinwehr · George Sykes · William S. Tilton · Robert O. Tyler · Strong Vincent · James S. Wadsworth · J. H. Hobart Ward · Gouverneur K. Warren · Stephen Weed · Alexander S. Webb · Alpheus S. Williams · Samuel K. Zook Other notable military characters Russell A. Alger · Isaac E. Avery · Laurence S. Baker · Alfred H. Belo · Hiram Berdan · Alexander Biddle · John R. Brooke · Goode Bryan · Henry K. Burgwyn · George C. Burling · Samuel S. Carroll · Thomas H. Carter · Thomas Chamberlain · William Colvill · Father William Corby · Charles Coster · James Dearing · Thomas Devin · Augustus van Horne Ellis · Richard Enderlin · Arthur Fremantle · Birkett D. Fry · William Gamble · Archibald C. Godwin · John Irvin Gregg · Bryan Grimes · Norman J. Hall · Henry Thomas Harrison · Frank A. Haskell · Horatio Stockton Howell · Amos Humiston · Harrison Jeffords · Marcellus Jones · Patrick Kelly · Myles Keogh · David Lang · Joseph W. Latimer · William G. Lewis · William McCandless · Archibald L. McDougall · George F. McFarland · John Baillie McIntosh · Robert M. Mayo · Edward D. Muhlenberg · Patrick O'Rorke · Ario Pardee, Jr. · William R. J. Pegram · Abner Perrin · William T. Poague · Edward S. Salomon · Orland Smith · Moxley Sorrel · Ellis Spear · Roy Stone · Walter H. Taylor · Traveller (horse) · Régis de Trobriand · Charles S. Wainwright · George Hull Ward Local civilians John L. Burns · Abraham Bryan · David McConaughy · Moses McClean · Edward McPherson · Ginnie Wade · David Wills

Persondata
NAME	Anderson, Richard H.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Confederate Army general
DATE OF BIRTH	October 7, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sumter County, South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH	June 26, 1879
PLACE OF DEATH	Beaufort, South Carolina

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)