Government Railroads?

When a massive strike of rail workers threatens to shut down commerce and more in the US, the Government takes action. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Federal intervention. Will discuss as we took a bite out
of history with ingles markets. In June of nineteen fifty,
President Truman ordered troops to North Korea. With this order,
supporting the troops with the supplies of war was crucial,
so when two of the largest railroad unions threatened to
shut down the US rail system, Truman knew he had
a problem. The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Order
of Railway Conductors demanded higher wages and better work rule changes,

(00:23):
but time and time again, negotiations with rail owners failed.
In July of nineteen fifty, Truman formed an emergency board
helped negotiate a settlement, but again a consensus was never reached. Finally,
in August of nineteen fifty, with a strike imminent, President
Truman took even further action by issuing an executive order
putting America's railroads under control of the U. S. Army.
Truman said the action was imperative for quote the protection

(00:45):
of American citizens as well as essential to the national
defense and security of the nation. The strike lasted twenty
one months, and finally, in May of nineteen fifty two,
rail workers went back to work. This has been a
bite out of history with ingles markets.