![]() ![]() The president would then submit his recommendations to Congress. If no agreement was reached during the 80 days, the strike could proceed. During the 80-day "cooling off" period the government would attempt to settle the dispute between labor and management. The Taft-Hartley law allowed, but did not require, the president to seek a court order stopping a strike for 80 days if it threatened the health or safety of the country. President Truman had two choices: He could refer the dispute to the Wage Stabilization Board or he could use the Taft-Hartley Act of 1946 to delay the strike. President Truman warned that, in the midst of the Korean War, such a strike would gravely threaten the national defense. ![]() When the steel industry and the union failed to reach an agreement on a new contract at the end of 1951, the steelworkers announced their intention to call a nationwide steel strike. To accomplish this goal, President Truman set up the Wage Stabilization Board. This council would then attempt to work out an agreement. The act also allowed the president to set wage limits for workers in industries where price controls had been established.Īccording to the Defense Production Act, any labor-management dispute that could not be settled in the controlled industries would be turned over to a council made of representatives from business, labor and the public. The law empowered the president to establish "price ceilings" for certain defense-related products, including steel. To avoid this problem, Congress passed the Defense Production Act of 1950. Runaway inflation and uncontrolled wage increases often occur during wartime, due to shortages in materials and labor. Among other things, the union demanded a major wage increase, which the steel industry said it could not pay.Ĭomplicating this situation was the system of price and wage controls existing at the time. Negotiations had failed to produce a new agreement. The labor contract between the steel industry and the United Steelworkers of America expired on December 31, 1951. But just how much power should a president be allowed to have when the nation is at war, especially during an undeclared war? Did President Truman go too far by seizing the entire American steel industry? In some instances, presidents have acted without any direct authority from either Congress or the Constitution. The power of the president has often expanded during wartime. Truman believed strongly that the steel industry had to keep operating if a "national catastrophe" was to be averted. On April 8, with the strike imminent, President Truman ordered his secretary of commerce to seize all the nation’s steel mills. In the spring of 1952, while American combat troops were mired in the mud of Korea, the United States faced a major steel strike at home. Instead, exercising his executive powers, he proclaimed a "limited" national emergency. ![]() Again, Truman decided not to request a declaration of war from Congress. However, in November of 1950, when China sent its soldiers to support the North Koreans, the war entered a new and uncertain phase. Believing that the Korean War would end quickly, Truman did not ask Congress for a formal declaration of war. Truman ordered American troops to help defend the beleaguered South Koreans. Under his authority as commander in chief of the armed forces, President Harry S. The United Nations Council called on all U.N. On June 24, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. ![]()
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