ily alleviated the tension of war memories and corporate conformity. For example, when Tom went to see Bill Odgen (Henry Daniell) at UBC, his autobiography assignment of turned into a flashback where he knifed a German soldier. This provided an example of Tom Rath, the UBC organization man struggling with his identity. The organization man dealt with dilemmas of identity. Tom had to split his personal identity and his social identity or his expressive values from his instrumental values. On the one hand, he enthusiastically threw himself into his socially prescribed identities of employee, citizen, and neighbor. Taking the cues from the people around him, Tom fulfilled the requirements of each new role that was thrust upon him in public and social life. However, Tom defied this role when he subsumed middle management to prove his worth to the president of UBC. He fulfilled his role of UBC public relations director, so he could provide for Betsy Rath (Jennifer Jones) and his three children.. As far as fulfilling roles, Tom played more the role of Whyte’s “well-rounded man.” Business needed “…the man who is so rested, so at peace with his environment, so broadened by suburban life, that he is able to handle human relations with poise and understanding”(Whyte 147). Tom was more of a family man than his antithesis Mr. Hopkins. Tom thought for himself rather than allowing the corporation to think for him. The credits of the movie role as Tom and Betsy embrace in their car after solving all their personal problems. Tom was the opposite of Frederic March (Ralph Hopkins). He did not take a promotion because he refused to get caught up in corporate life; his family was his priority. Sloan’s criticism of the post World War II workforce was that it forced men to become machines and slaves to the conformity of the corporation. Sloan, however, did not question the emphasis placed on the family in the 1950...
