[9] With World War II ending, President Harry S. Truman appointed Herzog to be chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on June 7, 1945.
[4][10] During his tenure on the NLRB, Herzog became known as one of the nation's foremost experts in labor law and was a swing vote between the board's pro-labor and pro-management members.
[17] Another was a growing movement in 1946 and 1947 to amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to correct what critics saw as a pro-labor tilt in federal law.
[18][19] Herzog publicly admitted the need for some change in the NLRA, but privately in a series of memoranda to President Truman strongly opposed the proposed Taft-Hartley amendments.
"[22] Once installed as general counsel, Denham announced that all American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) leaders and their affiliate unions would be denied the protection of the NLRA if a single officer at any level refused to sign a non-communist oath[23] (which Philip Murray and most CIO union heads declined to do).
[24] In what was seen as a major test of how much authority the board retained vis-a-vis the general counsel,[25] the NLRB held in Northern Virginia Broadcasters, Inc., 75 NLRB 11 (1947) that the anti-communist oath provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act applied only to local, national, and international leaders and not to officers of national trade union centers like the AFL or CIO.
[25][26] For two years, Herzog and Denham also struggled over whether the board or the general counsel had the authority to assert jurisdiction in unfair labor practice cases.
[19] Acting on recommendations generated by the Hoover Commission, Herzog prevailed upon President Truman to issue Reorganization Plan No.
[19] But Senator Taft refused to let Truman oust Denham through subterfuge, and the reorganization plan failed to win Congressional approval.
[19] When Denham made changes to the NLRB's appellate brief in the Vulcan Forging case,[29] the five board members asked President Truman to act to prevent further undermining of administration labor policy and additional embarrassment in the courts.
[35] Despite agreeing with other board members that the anti-communist oath provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act did not infringe on freedom of speech or association,[36] Herzog nonetheless asked Congress to pass legislation providing for an alternative oath which would not impinge so heavily on freedom of speech and association.
[40] He was appointed president of the Salzburg Global Seminar (a non-profit organization which works to enhance European understanding of American culture, economics, and politics) in 1965, and retired from that position in 1971.
[39][42] She had two children from two previous marriages, Judy T. Cullen and Alexander Trowbridge (himself United States Secretary of Commerce from June 14, 1967, to March 1, 1968).