GAINESVILLE - The name Bassett is synonymous with furniture, and now, the third generation Bassett is the subject of New York Times bestseller, Factory Man. The book is about John D. Bassett III’s nearly one-man stand against the flood of offshore-made imports that closed factory after factory in America.
Bassett is a 1955 graduate of Riverside Military Academy (RMA), and he will be honored by his alma mater on April 24. RMA President Colonel James Benson, USMC (Ret), will present Bassett with the President’s Distinguished Leadership Award at Friday’s Founders’ Weekend parade beginning at 3:00 on Maginnis Field.
Bassett entered Riverside as a sophomore in 1952 and distinguished himself as a cadet by lettering in golf, consistently making Honor Roll, and earning the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in Delta Company by his senior year. Following graduation from RMA, he attended and graduated from Washington and Lee University.
“John Bassett’s story is one of overcoming obstacles presented by a family-owned business and those that appear unexpectedly from another shore. It’s an inspiring story and is a testimony to what a leader can accomplish through sheer tenacity and hard work,” said Benson.
“We are fortunate to name John Bassett among our Riverside alumni,” stated Benson.
Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local – And Helped Save An American Town, by Virginia journalist Beth Macy, has spent several weeks among the Top 25 best-selling hardcover nonfiction books in the U.S. and is listed with the New York Times 100 best books of 2014. Rights to the book have been purchased for possible development as an HBO miniseries produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetz.
Bassett has worked in the furniture industry for 53 years, first at Bassett Furniture Industries and since 1983 at Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Company founded by John’s grandfather, J.D. Bassett Sr., and Bunyan Vaughan, grandfather of John’s wife, the former Patricia Vaughan Exum. John has been president and CEO and presently serves as Chairman of Vaughan-Bassett.
Between 2001 and 2012, 63,300 U.S. factories closed as furniture manufacturing moved offshore. Bassett watched the relentless elimination of jobs out of his home state of Virginia until, in almost Biblical proportions reminiscent of “for such a time as this,” he said, “Enough.” He refused an offer from a Chinese company to make his furniture at a lower cost and instead undertook an expensive lawsuit against such manufacturers, contending their actions violated anti-dumping regulations. Instead of receiving the adulation of his peers, most of his fellow furniture CEOs opposed the lawsuit and said the problem would simply move to another country.
Bassett ultimately won the case and used the duties awarded Vaughan-Bassett to pay legal fees and help set up a new healthcare option for employees. He also worked to improve efficiency and speed operations within his plant.
Under his leadership, Vaughan-Bassett is today the largest manufacturer of wooden bedroom furniture in America with sales of over $84 million and 700 employees. One hundred percent of Vaughan-Bassett’s products are made in the U.S.
In October 2013, he was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame, and in November 2014, he was named University of North Carolina-Greensboro Bryan Business School’s Entrepreneur Extraordinaire. Last October he was presented with the Washington & Lee Distinguished Alumni Award.
