19500 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS August 5, 1993 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM R. PEARCE Pearce, 65, has made a lot of things work eluded Whitney MacMillan, who eventually during his 40 years of a mostly private ca­ would become chairman. reer, and perhaps has had more influence on But Pearce would not make his career in HON. JIM RAMSTAD public policy than most elected officials, Cargill's legal department. By the mid-1950s, OF MINNESOTA save presidents. a much more challenging assignment beck­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES But despite a lifetime spent influencing oned-public relations. Thursday, August 5, 1993 the private affairs of Cargill Inc., tli.e domes­ Decades of controversy combined with an tic affairs of U.S. agriculture and the foreign unbending passion for secrecy at the highest Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to affairs of the United States' most powerful levels left the company unknown by most pay special tribute to William R. Pearce on his friends and enemies, most Minnesotans have people and despised by a vocal few-includ­ retirement this June after a highly distin­ never heard of Cargill's retiring vice chair­ ing influential senators and congressmen. guished career with Cargill, Inc., in my district. man. The company's policy of meeting fiery During his 40-year tenure, Bill not only influ­ But the right people have. Hubert Hum­ criticism with icy silence was, in the end, enced the course that Cargill took as a com­ phrey was a friend. So is Walter Mondale, bad for business. former vice president and soon-to-be U.S. "One of the costs of choosing not to say pany, but he also profoundly impacted U.S. ambassador to Japan. much about yourself is that you are pretty domestic and foreign affairs. "Nothing created more suspicion of me in much at the mercy of other people who are Bill Pearce began his career at Cargill in the White House in those days than that quite willing to characterize you," Pearce 1952. He helped build Cargill into the coun­ [Mondale] thought it was important that I said. "It became a serious handicap in trying try's largest privately held business, one that get the job" as assistant trade rep. Pearce to defend ourselves. buys, sells, transports, and processes grain. said. With Pearce at the public relations helm Because of his strong efforts for Cargill, Bill Articulate and witty, clear-minded and over the next several decades, positive sto­ also successfully lobbied for U.S. agriculture empathetic. Pearce became the consummate ries about Cargil began to appear in small­ town weeklies, farm magazines and larger policies to keep food prices low for consumers broker of competing interests by listening, laughing, learning and then leading. dailies that featured some aspect of Cargil's and export markets open for U.S. goods. "He had an easy way of getting things business-which was buying, selling, trans­ Bill took a leave of absence from Cargill in done," said former Secretary of State George porting and processing grain. Negative sto­ the 1970's to serve as Assistant U.S. Trade Shultz. "And he got them done the way he ries continued, but the public record on Representative. During his tenure, he was wanted them done." Cargil began to approach equilibrium. highly successful in maneuvering a major Perhaps Pearce's most enduring contribu­ Meanwhile, Pearce pressed the company's trade bill through Congress that has set the tion has been made in the past few years as message in Washington, D.C., that U.S. agri­ stage for U.S. international tr~de policy for the architect of a restructuring plan at pri­ cultural policy hobbled efficient traders like generations. vately held Cargill where, until recently, Cargill in export markets while protecting fewer than 90 heirs controlled a company inefficient domestic while protecting ineffi­ Upon his return to Cargill, Bill Pearce per­ with sales of $47 billion, and profits of $450 cient domestic producers. As a result, Cargil formed a near impossible feat by fundamen­ million. scored several major public policy victories tally restructuring the company. During the 80s, tensions mounted as third­ in the 1960's and 1970s that bolstered export As vice chairman of the board, Pearce and fourth-generation heirs of the founding opportunities. pushed for a new board of directors, dealt with Cargill and MacMillan families wondered As always, the company's success bred sus­ the desires of the many owners and instituted what there might be at the big company for picion. The Cargill name is still associated an employee stock option plan [ESOP] that them. Answers to those questions were need­ in some minds with corporate in some minds served to turn the company around. ed, and the sooner the better. with corporate arrogance, market manipula­ Mr. Speaker, for his efforts not only in the Cargill Chairman Whitney MacMillan tion, secrecy and unholy power over U.S. ag­ asked Pearce to negotiate a solution that ricultural policy. private sector, but also his strong influence on would satisfy the heirs, some of whom want­ Former Minnesota Agriculture Commis­ U.S. agricultural and trade policy, I highly ed management roles and others who wanted sioner Jim Nichols still harbors scorn for the commend Mr. Pearce for his efforts. to cash in their stock. Truth was, no one company and views Pearce as an enemy of I also ask permission to enter the full text of with the name "Cargill" or "MacMillan" was family farming. For the past 20 years, with an article that appeared in the June 29 edition ready to take on top operating responsibil­ Pearce as a principal lobbyist, Cargill . has of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune concerning ity. advocated U.S. agricultural policies that Bill's retirement. "He has always been our outside person," have kept farm prices low, Nichols said. [From the Star-Tribune, June 29, 1993] MacMillan said. "If your ox is being gored, While Cargill pushed for lower U.S. grain well, that's his job." prices ostensibly to boost exports, the com­ PEARCE: A QUIET NAVIGATOR-LEAVES Shultz, who worked with Pearce, in the pany's true interest was low prices for the CARGILL AFTER CHARTING ITS NEW COURSE '70s, was not surprised that MacMillan benefit of its immense livestock feeding and (By John J. Oslund and Tony Kennedy) placed such a delicate matter in Pearce's grain processing businesses in the United In 1973, as the Watergate scandal swirled hands. States, said Nichols, who describes Pearce as around Washington, D.C., crippling the "Did you ever see Joe DiMaggio play base­ "very smooth and very much behind-the­ Nixon administration, William R. Pearce was ball?" Shultz asked. "Did you ever see him scenes." at work where he is most comfortable-be­ catch a fly ball? He just sort of drifts under "They used exports as a front to get lower hind the scenes. that ball, he makes it look easy. Then you'll grain prices," Nichols said. Diplomat, problem-solver and string-puller see other people out there, and all sorts of Pearce does not apologize for being an ef­ extraordinaire, the soft-spoken Pearce was antics that they go through to catch the fective advocate. on leave from Cargill Inc. to serve as assist­ same fly ball. "We had the capacity to expand exports . ant U.S. trade representative. Maneuvering "Well, [Pearce] made the hard ones look so our public relations efforts were very im­ quietly, as is his style, he steered a major easy." portantly tied to the role that we played in trade bill through a hostile Congress, setting In 1952, Cargill Inc. recruited a class of building markets for U.S. farmers abroad." the stage for U.S. international trade policy management trainees including a freshly Pearce also is known for straight talk. for a generation. minted attorney named William R. Pearce. "My sense from the beginning of this work President Richard Nixon was appreciative, He graduated from Faribault High School be­ is that the first thing to do is put your own but baffled. fore attending the University of Minnesota self-interest on the table because it is often "Nixon told me he did not understand how and the university's law school. perceived to be something different than it it happened," Pearce said in a recent inter­ It was (and still is) Cargill's strategy to is, actually. The process begins by saying, view. "It's the only thing that worked for pick the best people and promote primarily This is what we do and this is how this issue him [at that time]." from within. Pearce's contemporaries in- affects our business. And this is why it does e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. August 5, 1993 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 19501 not make sense for us--or for anyone else. ary. But Pearce sold the idea as an incentive tries such a Australia, New Zealand, Germany, And here is a better way to do it." tool to improve corporate performance-as Japan, Switzerland, England, and Brazil. The But Cargill certainly didn't win every bat­ owners themselves, employees would be Josis also benefit directly from their innovative tle. Take the 1980 grain embargo, for exam­ more motivated. ple. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghani­ In total, family members tendered 17 per­ embryo transfer program; their production has stan in 1979--80, the Carter administration, cent of their shares for $730.5 million, or an increased at home due to the genetically im­ scratching for a way to punish Moscow, fi ­ average of $8.3 million per family member.