John H. Fanning

John Harold Fanning (September 19, 1916 — July 21, 1990) was an American lawyer and member of the National Labor Relations Board for a record 25 years (from 1957 to 1982). He was the Board's Chair from 1977 to 1981.

Early life John Harold Fanning was born in Putnam, Connecticut, and graduated from Norwich Free Academy. In 1943, he joined the Department of War, where he served as Chief of the Domestic Labor Standards Section of the Industrial Personnel Division of the Army Service Forces.

On December 20, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Fanning as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). At the time he joined the NLRB, the Board and its regional directors were handling about 16,000 cases a year. He was widely known for being exceptionally knowledgeable about Board rulings, Fanning did not deny this bias, noting in 1977, "I'm convinced that if a company has a union in its plant, the union was pretty much invited in by the actions of the company. People don't pay union dues if they are entirely happy. Many employers are now recognizing that if you are not greedy, you can keep a union out of your plant if you really want to. All you have to do is pay the prevailing wages or a little more."

Fanning was appointed Chair of the NLRB by President Jimmy Carter in April 1977. The Board's workload, however, had dropped to about just 1,000 cases a year. He supported proposed labor law reforms in 1977, but did not think they would matter much in terms of union organizing. "Nothing that the Board does and nothing that is in the law starts or stops a tide of unionization in a particular industry. Organizing always seems to have a momentum of its own."

William A. Lubbers served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the NLRB under Fanning. When Lubbers was nominated in late 1979 to be the General Counsel, his nomination was filibustered by Republican Senators who felt that he was too close to the pro-labor Fanning.

Fanning stepped down as NLRB Chairman on August 14, 1981.

John H. Fanning died from kidney failure at Georgetown University Hospital on July 21, 1990. His daughters Mary Ellen Dunn, Ann Gallagher, and Gaele DeGross and his sons John Michael Fanning and Stephen Thomas Fanning survived him.