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The return of large numbers of military personnel from a foreign war to the labor force was accompanied by a spasm of inflation at the close of both the First and Second World Wars. On the second time around, action by the Federal government, and the Truman White house in particular, was much more forceful.
The UMW struck first, and eventually got a settlement regarded as more generous than any increase in productivity per worker. The railroads were up next, and while the UMW had a membership pf about 500,000, the railroads had three times as many, and a much greater percentage of the industry was unionized. And the railroaders, due to the higher amount of capital per worker, and the stronger discipline due to safety concerns, had long bee regarded among the aristocrats of organized labor.
At the time, the railroads still held a near-monopoly on the transport of perishable, manufactured, and other high-valued goods moving any substantial distances. Of the twenty separate unions involved, only two (engineers and brakemen) had failed to settle. But unlike with coal, the absence of transportation services affected many more sectors of the economy, and very quickly.
In desperation, President Truman proposed a temporary nationalization and militarization of the railroads, with striking railroaders to be drafted into the military. A bill authorizing this measure was introduced in Congress, and of course, the constitutionality of the measure was immediately questioned. After much arm-twisting, much of it involving a young advisor named Clark Clifford (1906-1998; later to play a key role in four Democratic Administrations) the railroaders settled on a par with the miners.
The "railroad draft" bill passed the House easily, but failed in the Senate by a vote of over 5 to 1; (after the settlement had been announced; since the point was now moot, opposition on ideological grounds came from both sides of the aisle),
If there's a point to be most noticed here, it's possibly that the American economy of that day was much more dependent upon a core of key industries. I'll leave it to other posters to speculate how this would play out in an economy driven more by cybernetics and fast food.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 05-08-2018 at 08:29 PM..
I'll admit ignorance of the specifics of railroad history, but my first thought upon reading this was to wonder how big a part that near-monopoly railroads had on transport played in the development of the interstate highway system under Eisenhower.
I'll admit ignorance of the specifics of railroad history, but my first thought upon reading this was to wonder how big a part that near-monopoly railroads had on transport played in the development of the interstate highway system under Eisenhower.
Good point. It's always said that Eisenhower was inspired by the Autobahns in Germany that he saw when he served as CIC there. That may well be true, but providing an alternative means of rapid transportation might well have been a consideration as well, especially since a railroad strike could imperil the ability to move troops; something that an interstate highway system could mitigate.
Admittedly, I'm one of a handful of hard-core railroad buffs at this site, but that matter isn't all that pertinent to this thread.
Dwight Eisenhower, though he was a member of West Point's Class of 1915 (the class the stars fell on) saw no combat in World War I. He was not a field/combat general; his specialty was logistics -- getting the men and material to the battlefield in time, and in sufficient quantity to win the day -- and he turned out to be very good at that. The "Louisiana maneuvers" of 1940-41 were staged to prove that an army could move more swiftly, and over a much larger distance, and the point was, of course, already being driven home by Hitler's Blitzkrieg.
In 1919, Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower led a convoy of light trucks on a coast-to-coast exercise on the inadequate highways of the day -- a trip that consumed some sixty-two days. But the automobile and its heavier brethren were under intense development by that time, and by 1930, many of the trucking industry's giants were emerging. They were soon subjected to the same strict regulation as the rail carriers -- their market cities (and service to them) as strictly defined as if they hand built the roads, or laid tracks, that linked them.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike, our first interstate-grade highway, also opened in 1941, and New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana soon followed suit, So the progression to a nationwide network, and the hospitality and tourism industries it spawned, was natural. At the same time, most high-value or time-sensitive freight left the rails, and since this was what had always been expected to pay the higher freight rates that covered the "overhead", the rail industry declined, and narrowly escaped nationalization. It took the innovation (and high volume) of the package carriers (UPS and FedEx) to stabilize the balance between the two modes.
And as for the UMW, it was long-time UMW strongman John L. Lewis' fate to outlive his mission. He gave his approval to mechanizing the mines and bringing about the "fifty (soon to be one hundred, then two hundred) dollar day" but held on to his power and, when he finally died in 1969, left it in the hands of a gangster named W. A. (Tony) Boyle, who had the stupidity to arrange for the contract-killing of a rival in his own union, and his wife and daughter, landing Boyle in Federal prison for the rest of his days.
Proof, I suppose, of the old adage that nothing is permanent -- except innovation and change.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 05-09-2018 at 07:14 PM..
Good point. It's always said that Eisenhower was inspired by the Autobahns in Germany that he saw when he served as CIC there. That may well be true, but providing an alternative means of rapid transportation might well have been a consideration as well, especially since a railroad strike could imperil the ability to move troops; something that an interstate highway system could mitigate.
He also remembered being one of the Commanders on the 1919 Army cross country trek that he later referred to as 'darkest america' because of the condition of what passed for roads in those days. In Nevada some of the tank transport truck sank 5 feet into the sand. I think the trip took 3 months or so.
Inflation always comes after a major war or conflict. Jimmy Carter is often spoken of as a bad President. What most people mean by "bad" is that while he was President there was a great deal of inflation. Inflation peaked in about 1978-1979 at about 12% per annum. The fact is there is very little Carter did as President that caused this inflation. It was simply the natural result of the ending of the Vietnam War in 1975. Truman experienced the same thing in 1946. Unions had far greater power back than than they do today. I'm trying to remember the last time there was a major strike within any industry. Ultimately, high interest rate policies by the federal reserve has been proven again and again to bring inflation under control. The problem is that the cost of such policies is an economic recession resulting in much unemployment.
David McCullough does an excellent job in his book "Truman" of describing the post-World War II period and Truman's reaction to it. Truman didn't like John L. Lewis at all. Ultimately, these strikes caused Congress to pass the Taft-Hartley law. Under Taft-Hartley, courts can issue injunctions stopping strikes that have a major effect on the economy. Lewis called the Taft-Hartley Act "Bob Taft's slave labor law". However, he ignores the role he played in creating the climate in which such legislation could easily pass Congress.
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