James A. Rafferty, Vice President, Officers Committee member, Director, and member of the executive committee of Union Carbide, was an important figure in the petrochemical industry. Rafferty guided Union Carbides effort in developing the new industry of synthetic aliphatic chemicals (aliphatic compounds are one of the two main branches within organic chemistry) and was instrumental in the development of the liquid oxygen industry. Rafferty directed Union Carbide's collaboration with the United States government for the Manhattan Project and with the War Production Board for the synthetic rubber program during World War II.
Rafferty was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 4, 1886, and studied engineering and chemistry at the Illinois Institute of Technology (where Rafferty would later become a Trustee). After graduation in 1908, Rafferty worked for the People's Gas, Light, and Coke Company and then in 1917 joined the Linde Air Products Company, which later merged with three other companies to become Union Carbide.
Rafferty became general manager of the newly formed Union Carbide subsidiary, the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation (CCCC) in 1920. He became vice president in 1924, President in 1929, and chairman of the board in 1944. He was made president of the Bakelite Corporation in 1939 and Chairman of Bakelite in 1944. Under Rafferty's leadership, Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation went on to become the second largest chemical company in the United States by 1948.
Rafferty became a Vice President of Union Carbide, the parent company of the CCCC,  in 1938, a Director in 1941, and a member of the executive committee in 1944. Rafferty served as Chairman of the Union Carbide's new product development committee until his death on December 19, 1951.
As a result of lifetime achievements, Rafferty was awarded the Chemical Industry Medal in 1948.