y strike began during the largest coal strike in America. The two major railroad union presidents had enough power to halt all railroad transportation. The unions demanded higher wages or else they would have a national strike. A.F. Whitney was president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and Alvabley Johnston was president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers; both were also Truman’s allies (McCullough 494). This alliance served only to make the situation tougher for Truman. The strike was scheduled for May 18 (McCullough 494). Truman attended the next cabinet meeting and asked for some suggestions on how to deal with the railroad strike (McCullough495). The cabinet couldn’t think of any ideas to give Truman. The day before the strike, Truman called Whitney and Johnston into his office. The union leaders both agreed that the strike had to be carried out. The employees wanted the strike. Truman listened to the union leaders’ arguments. “He then leaned forward on his desk and stated, ‘I’m going to give you the gun’” (McCullough 495). He then produced and signed the executive order for the government to seize and run the railroads. Whitney and Johnston panicked and both decided to postpone the strike for five more days. During the five days of the strike, Truman called on all striking railroad workers to return to their jobs as “a duty to their country” (Mcullough 503) by 4 p.m. on May 25. If the strikers didn’t return to work, Truman would call the army and have them take whatever action necessary to break the strike. That afternoon, Truman read a seven-page speech he had written the night before and proposed a bill to Congress to draft all strikers into the military. The bill passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 306/13. This ended the troublesome strike and the nation rejoiced. Whitney and Johnston were furious. Whitney vowed he would spend every...
