19. Harry Truman and the steel mills
In the years immediately following the end of the Second World War waves of strikes by labor crippled the American economy. In May 1946, a threat of strikes against the railroads presented the possibility of shutting down the majority of America’s interstate commerce. Truman seized the railroads to prevent a strike, but critical unions struck anyway, and the American railroad system was shut down. One hundred and seventy-five passenger trains were idled for two days. Truman urged Congress to enact a bill which would allow the government to draft railroad workers into the Army and order them back to work. The House passed the bill, but the strike was settled on terms of which the President approved. The bill to draft the workers died in the Senate.
In 1952 under the threat of a strike against ten US steelmakers, including the giant US Steel, Truman issued an executive order that nationalized the nation’s steel industry. The steel companies sued the government in order to regain control of their companies and the ongoing negotiations with the unions. Truman’s action was almost universally condemned in the press and other media, and in June 1952, the Supreme Court ruled that Truman’s action was unconstitutional, in essence declaring his executive order to seize the mills an abuse of power. The majority opinion issued by the court included a statement which said that the president had no authority to seize private property on the grounds of national security.
