At Christmastime every year I’m reminded of that alarming December phone call I received some 33 years ago from the board chairman of General Motors who informed me that Arlington’s plant was likely to be shut down.
I’ve shared before in this space the details of that event and how we overcame the perilous outcome by winning the competition with GM’s Michigan plant which seemed to be the favorite in the company’s pending decision.
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All of that tumult was brought about by a national economic recession resulting in a dramatic decline in sales of the Chevrolet Caprice that was being built in those two plants.
Chairman Robert Stempel explained there wasn’t sufficient demand for the aging model to run even one plant on a full-time production schedule.
So, Arlington’s largest employer, its biggest property taxpayer, and the company that set off an economic boom when it rolled off its first new model in 1954, was on the verge of extinction.
As a result of the mobilization of our entire community, the plant’s workforce, and help from our elected leadership in Austin and the Nation’s Capital, we instead prevailed. Now ours is GM’s most productive and profitable plant delivering a new vehicle every minute off the assembly line.
We were proud of the slogan we created for our campaign – “Keep GM the Heartbeat of Arlington.” It was, at the time, a takeoff of GM’s national slogan promoting the Chevrolet – like the ones they were building in Arlington. They called it the “Heartbeat of America.”
And now, there’s a just-released remarkable documentary created over the past two years by Arlington’s Office of Communications. It tells the whole story of GM selecting our city for its new plant in 1951. It describes how that decision came about after considering a potential location for it in Fort Worth a couple of years before they discovered Arlington.
Producers of the video describe it:
“The documentary highlights several pivotal moments in the assembly’s history. Viewers will see how the company landed in Arlington, its immediate and lasting economic impacts, and navigation of various challenges, including the community-wide effort to keep the plant in Arlington in the early 1990s after discussions of its potential shuttering, embracement of technological advancements, and a glimpse into the future production of vehicles. 
“The nearly 45-minute documentary features extensive research of archival footage gathered over 21 months and interviews from long-time employees, current and former leaders, historians, and Arlington residents who share their experiences and insights of the plant’s impact. Their stories reflect not only personal journeys but also the strong sense of community ties to the Arlington Assembly Plant.
“GM employs nearly 8,400 team members in Texas, injecting $1.2 billion into the economy through taxable wages. By partnering with more than 550 suppliers throughout the state, the company supports jobs and strengthens Texas’ future.”
One of the best features in the video is how the entire presentation is woven together with images of auto workers as they share their personal stories of their connections with the plant, some spanning three generations in the same families.
“We are very aware and conscious of the fact that this has been going on for a long time,” said GM Arlington Assembly Plant Executive John Urbanic. “It is a legacy, and we take that to heart. We’re really committed to continuing and growing that legacy here in Arlington.”
Former Mayor Tom Vandergriff who led the Arlington effort to land the plant here declares, “I’ll argue the case that Arlington’s luckiest day ever was when General Motors decided to cast its lot with us!”
Seventy years later, his words are truer than ever.
The best way to view the video is on YouTube. Just enter these words in the search box – The Heartbeat of Arlington. The story is sensational.
Richard Greene is a former mayor of Arlington.
