![]() The next day, the labor leaders agreed to postpone the strike for another five days. On May 17, 1946-the day before the scheduled railroad walkout-President Truman signed Executive Order 9727 for the government to seize and operate the railroads. The pair had provided financial backing for Truman’s 1940 Senate race and supported him in 1944 as Franklin D. Whitney was president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and Alvanley Johnston was president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The two largest unions were headed by longtime Truman allies. Steelman, an economics professor and labor specialist working in the White House, made some progress with the unions. Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library.Īfter negotiations fell apart in April, a railroad strike was set for May 18. The Southern Pacific's crew caller Nancy Whitney pulls names off Los Angeles area jobs due to the rail strike on May 24, 1946. The president invoked the Railway Labor Act, providing for a 60-day mediation period. ![]() Negotiations had been dragging on between railway management and 20 different unions, with Labor Secretary Lewis Schwellenbach acting as President Harry Truman’s mediator. At the same time, a railroad strike was looming. Lewis of the United Mine Workers called a nationwide coal strike. There was a telephone strike, a meat packers strike, and a strike at General Electric. On January 19, 1946, at more than 1,000 mills across the country, 800,000 steel workers walked off the job. With the end of the wartime no-strike pledge, workers across America-like Ralph Strickland-expressed their frustration with wages and working conditions through a series of strikes that involved over 5 million people from the end of 1945 and into 1946. Strickland supported better pay and improved working conditions-but he worried about the safety of the nation with the railroads at a standstill. During the 1946 railroad strike, he was a brakeman with a wife and family to support. In 1927, after a short stint in the Navy, Ralph joined his brother, Paul, in North Carolina, working for the Seaboard Air Line Railway. ![]() Strickland grew up on a farm but spent most of his life working for the railroad. A government still at war.” - Ralph Waldo Strickland, Brakeman at Seaboard Air Line RailwayĪlabama native Ralph W. "Truman-I never forget the night-he come on radio and said, “I appeal to each and every railroad worker in this country to return to work immediately. Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library. Gentry receiving the strike order on May 24, 1946, from fireman James Genisio in Southern Pacific's Cornfield Yard. Railroad officials chose the latter, alerting not just guardsmen, but everyone within earshot.Top Image: Engineer H. On Friday, July 20, 1877, he urged Carroll to call out the National Guard and the governor acquiesced.Īt the time, there were only two ways to marshal the troops, Yearley wrote: notify individuals by messengers or ring the giant bell in downtown Baltimore. Garrett wanted the situation resolved - quickly. Though the protests were mostly nonviolent, in Martinsburg, West Virginia, a striker was killed and a member of the militia was injured. The strikes began in Baltimore on June 16, 1877, and spread west. “To the day of his death, the word of the President of the B&O was law to Governors and state officials.” ![]() ”Garrett realized he must have a Governor who would be guided by him in all matters,” writes an unnamed railroad historian quoted in a 1956 article in Maryland Historical Magazine written by Clifton Yearley Jr. Railroad barons like Garrett wielded power over their workers’ lives - and over national politics - that today it’s difficult to fathom. In the 19th century, the railways played a role roughly analogous to the computer in the 21st century by connecting the North to the South, New England to California’s Gold Rush. Garrett proposed a concession to end the strike: He would put workers loyal to the railroad at the top of a promotion list and reward them with a medal. In response, B&O Railroad President John W. ![]()
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