U.S. flag
        An official website of the United States government
          Here’s how you know
        Here’s how you know**Official websites use .gov**
              
              A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
        **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
              
              A **lock** (  A locked padlock
) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/how-baldrige-program-began/1987-tragedy-gives-impetus-award
  Search NIST
    Search
              Menu

      


Close
    Topics
        All Topics
                                                        Advanced communications
                                                        Artificial intelligence
                                                        Bioscience
                                                        Buildings and construction
                                                        Chemistry
                                                        Climate
                                                        Cybersecurity
                                                        Electronics
                                                        EnergyEnvironment
                                                        Fire
                                                        Forensic science
                                                        Health
                                                        Information technology
                                                        Infrastructure
                                                        Manufacturing
                                                        Materials
                                                        Mathematics and statisticsMetrology
                                                        Nanotechnology
                                                        Neutron research
                                                        Performance excellence
                                                        Physics
                                                        Public safety
                                                        Resilience
                                                        Standards
                                                        Transportation
            Publications
            Labs & Major Programs
        Laboratories
                                Communications Technology Laboratory
                                  Engineering Laboratory
                                  Information Technology Laboratory
                                  Material Measurement Laboratory
                                  Physical Measurement LaboratoryUser Facilities
                                NIST Center for Neutron Research
                                  CNST NanoFab
                                                        Research Test Beds
                                                        Research Projects
                                                        Tools & InstrumentsMajor Programs
                                Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
                                  CHIPS for America Initiative
                                  Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
                                  Office of Advanced Manufacturing
                                  Special Programs Office
                                  Technology Partnerships Office
            Services & Resources
        Standards and Measurements
                                Calibration Services
                                  Laboratory Accreditation (NVLAP)
                                  Quality System
                                  Standard Reference Materials (SRMs)
                                  Standards.gov
                                  Time Services
                                  Office of Weights and MeasuresSoftware
                                                        Data
                                Chemistry WebBook
                                  National Vulnerability Database
                                  Physical Reference Data
                                  Standard Reference Data (SRD)
                                                        Storefront
                                                        License & PatentsComputer Security Resource Center (CSRC)
                                                        NIST Research Library
            News & Events
        News
                                                        Events
                                                        Blogs
                                                        Feature Stories
                                                        AwardsVideo Gallery
                                                        Image Gallery
                                                        Media Contacts
            About NIST
        About Us
                                Leadership
                                  Organization Structure
                                  Budget & Planning
                                                        Contact Us
                                                        Visit
                                                        Careers
                                Student programsWork with NIST
                                                        History
                                NIST Digital Archives
                                  NIST Museum
                                  NIST and the Nobel
                                                        Educational Resources
 
 Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
    
      
  How the Baldrige Program Began
                            Expand or Collapse
          1983–1986: Commissions, Initiatives, and a First Attempt
                      1987: Tragedy Gives Impetus to Award
                      The Criteria Framework and Award Process Are Born
                      The First Baldrige Award Process
                      The Judges Panel and Board of Examiners
                      The Board of Overseers
                      The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
                      Launch of the Baldrige Program and First Awards Ceremony
                      Baldrige Spreads to the States
                      The Transformation of American Business—and the Other Sectors
                      Twenty‐Five Years Later1987: Tragedy Gives Impetus to Award

Share
  Facebook
                      Linkedin
                      Twitter
                      Email

Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige sitting at desk.
26th Secretary of Commerce Malcolm BaldrigeCredit:
          
  Baldrige FamilyThe next year, Congressman Doug Walgren reintroduced the legislation, and Senator Bob Graham sponsored a Senate version of the bill. On June 8, 1987, the measure passed the House and was sent to the Senate, where nothing happened for six weeks.

“What slowed the process down was the question of the right approach to implementing a national quality award,” said Kent Sterett, who headed quality at FPL. “There was a great deal of discussion about whether it should be a private initiative or a government approach or some combination of the two. The prognosis for pushing it through wasn’t good.”11

With the reintroduced legislation, Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige is said to have given the idea of a quality award his support, saying, "What we need are some manufacturers and engineers calling the shots if America is to compete effectively in world markets.”12 He also said, “We have to encourage American executives to get out of their boardrooms and onto the factory floor to learn how their products are made and how they can be made better.”13

At NBS, Reimann recalled that the national quality award legislation was reintroduced about the same time as NBS scientists were working on “Process and Quality Control.” Staffers on Capitol Hill became aware of NBS’s knowledge and interest in quality and approached Raymond Kammer, NBS deputy director, about NBS being named in the bill to manage the national quality award. Kammer agreed and informed Reimann of this development, indicating that NBS would ask him to launch the award were it to become law, which, Kammer indicated, was very unlikely.

Reimann became fascinated with the requirements for a national quality award, even though there was little likelihood that it would be created. Particularly important to its success would be demanding criteria, credible examiners, and an effective public‐private partnership—unlike any he knew about. But he also emphasized that NBS and he had no role in introducing the legislation, saying what was to be in it, or promoting its passage.

      President Ronald Reagan and Secretary Baldrige walking away from a helicopter.
President Ronald Reagan and Secretary of Commerce Malcolm BaldrigeCredit:
          
  Baldrige FamilyThen, on July 25, 1987, Baldrige, the government’s most notable business leader and close friend of President Reagan, died after a rodeo accident. The son of a Nebraska congressman, Baldrige earned his reputation as CEO at Scovill, Inc., a Connecticut‐based brass mill; he was credited with transforming the financially troubled company into a multimillion‐dollar success.14

“The Monday after the weekend Baldrige died,” Sterett recalled, “I went to dinner with a small group of staffers for senators and representatives. The idea had surfaced to name the national quality award after Malcolm Baldrige.” That idea appealed to the president, who wanted to honor the friend he had lost.15

“The point that’s hard to convey now,” Reimann said, “is that there was pent‐up feeling that something needed to be done about national competitiveness and quality problems. Then, this terrible accident [Baldrige’s death] suddenly created a vehicle that people could rally around. Those kinds of confluences are very rare. It was an accident of circumstances.”

Three days after Baldrige’s death, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation renamed the legislation in his honor. The Senate passed the bill, the House agreed to the name change, and, on August 20, 1987, President Reagan signed the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987 into law.

Reimann said shortly after Baldrige’s death, NBS learned that not only would a law in Baldrige’s name pass, but it would pass very soon. In late summer, Reimann said, he also learned that Baldrige’s successor, William Verity, Jr., was getting advice to make the national quality award one of his top priorities. Reimann said Verity was persistent in focusing NBS management on this priority.

Bert Coursey, on a rotational assignment to the NBS Program Office from the National Measurement Laboratory, was quickly assigned to work with Reimann and “became his chief sidekick for the next few months.” Coursey recounted that Reimann always arrived at work very early—about 5:30 a.m.—and spent the next three hours doing research and making plans for the day. According to Coursey, “[Reimann] would give me assignments at 8:30 and then get on the phone. For the next eight or nine hours, he would call stakeholders, experts, standards groups, government officials—anyone he thought would be able to advise on quality and the nature of the new program. This not only gave him tremendous perspective on the different elements of quality in the nation, but it gave him increasing credibility with the community.”

During NBS’s 90th anniversary, NBS Director (from 1973 to 1989) Ernest Ambler reminisced on the Baldrige Award:

The assignment of managing the award came to us very quickly....... Curt [Reimann] had been trying for some time, but without success, to get the Executive Board to start a program at NBS on Quality Control, broadly construed and going beyond the measurements and standards aspects of it....... When the Malcolm Baldrige Award came along, it provided a good opportunity to get started on quality control methods, and Curt was the right person for the job, in fact the only person. The scope of the job would have stunned most people. Funds had to be raised from the private sector; various professional advisory groups were needed; a large number of qualified examiners had to be recruited; and they all had to be paid somehow. Curt went to work and the response from the private sector, much of it volunteer effort, was outstanding....... Many people went to work defining the exact nature of the program and the rigorous criteria for success. Inside the government, we all went to work for Curt Reimann. [Secretary of Commerce] Bill Verity asked for a progress report every week and saw to it that no bureaucratic roadblocks stood in our way....... The award established a very high reputation for thoroughness and objectivity. The application guidelines have now become so well‐known and highly regarded that they are widely used as a sort of textbook or roadmap to quality control by industry.

11 “The Birth of Baldrige”

12 Snyder, Jamie; DeMean, Valerie; Teo, Sharon; “The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award”

13 “Every Company Pursues Quality. This is for the Few that Achieve it,” promotional brochure, Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, 1988

14 “The Birth of Baldrige”

15 “The Birth of Baldrige”
  Performance excellence, Assessment tools and services, Baldrige award, Baldrige examiners, Baldrige Framework and Criteria, Best practices and Leadership development

    
    Contacts
      
        

Baldrige Customer Service
  baldrige@nist.gov
  (301) 975-2036
  NIST/BPEP 
  100 Bureau Drive, M/S 1020 
  Gaithersburg,
  MD 20899-1020

Created April 17, 2023, Updated April 26, 2023 ‹ 1983–1986: Commissions, Initiatives, and a First Attempt
              The Criteria Framework and Award Process Are Born ›
 HEADQUARTERS
            100 Bureau Drive
              Gaithersburg, MD 20899301-975-2000
            Webmaster | Contact Us | Our Other Offices
        Twitter
            
Facebook
            
LinkedIn
            
Instagram
            
YouTube
            
Giphy
            
RSS Feed
            
Mailing List
                              How are we doing? Feedback

  
  Site Privacy
                      Accessibility
                      Privacy Program
                      Copyrights
                      Vulnerability Disclosure
                      No Fear Act Policy
                      FOIA
                      Environmental Policy
                      Scientific Integrity
                      Information Quality Standards
                      Commerce.gov
                      Science.gov
                      USA.gov
                      Vote.gov