Business_labor

WORLD WAR II: THE HOME FRONT
Social Change (II)

In an effort to keep wages in line, the NWLB came up with a policy known as the Little Steel Formula. First applied to the steel industry then to a wide range of occupations, the formula allowed wage increases only at levels that would not increase inflation. Unionists argued that Little Steel fundamentally crippled collective bargaining and that wage increases were constantly behind inflation, keeping workers poor while corporations raked in incredible profits.

As it became clear that the Allies had turned the tide of the war, many unionists began to question the wisdom of the giving up their right to strike and turning their fate over to a government agency they could not easily influence. Although the leaderships of the AFL and CIO steadfastly stood by their No-Strike Pledge, the powerful president of the United Mine Workers, John L. Lewis, became increasingly vocal in his criticism of this policy. It was universally acknowledged that soft coal miners had the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in America, and most everyone recognized that the miners were sorely under-compensated for their work. Deciding that the wartime emergency was the perfect opportunity to rectify this long-standing imbalance, Lewis led his miners out on strike.

Lewis and the Coal Miners' Strike

     Lewis's defiance was, by now, unsurprising. He had made a career of challenging the status quo. (He helped found the CIO in 1935.) He was no great fan of President Roosevelt, in spite of labor's gains during his respective administrations. Though FDR was popular among workers, said Lewis, he wasn't enough of a friend to them. He said Hitler and the Japanese were loathesome, but that they were no threat to us. "Europe is on the brink of disaster and it must be our care that she does not drag us into the abyss after her," he remarked.

     In 1941, Lewis had called for militant action from the mine workers. On October 27, 1941, Lewis rejected FDR's offer to mediate the dispute between the miners and min owners. On November 16, 1941, 5 million CIO members pledge solidarity with Lewis and the "captive mine" strikers. One week later, Lewis ended the coal strike and submitted the dispute to arbitration. Nevertheless, the miners' strike vivdly portrayed the potential dangers posed by labor strikes during the war crisis.

     In 1943, Lewis defied Roosevelt and led a strike of half a million coal miners, earning the venom of the public. Mainstream labor said he made labor look anti-American. Despite all the bad press, however, he was able to get wage increases for the workers.

Smith-Connally Act

Picket Line, San Francisco

Millions of workers took inspiration from Lewis. In spite of price controls and rationing, inflation continued to increase the cost of living even as many union contracts locked their workers into a fixed-wage formula. Yet they were forbidden to strike. Nevertheless, many did: they simply walked off the job. Thousands of these unauthorized "wildcat" strikes occured all over the country, giving fuel to the fires spread by businessmen that labor unions were undermining the war effort.

With John L. Lewis threatening another strike, Congress finally took action. In June of 1943, they passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act, which made it a felony to strike, or foment a strike, in a war industry. In also gave the president the power to seize a plant threatened by a strike. To union leaders, this act symbolized a first step in rolling back federal protection of unions gained over the past decade.

     Passage of Smith-Connally symbolized the growing influence of business interests in federal government. Soon after Pearl Harbor, FDR abandoned his earlier opposition to big businessmen as "economic royalists" and called upon business to work with New Dealers in wartime agencies. Many corporations sent their executives to Washington to serve as "dollar-a-year" men--drawing their corporate salaries while receiving a nominal government salay of $1 per year--in wartime agencies. There, they helped direct wartime production in the direction of the corporations they served. The largest corporations received the lion's share of wealthy defense contracts, with plenty of government assistance to convert existing factories or build new ones, tax offsets, and other benefits.

     Bolstered by the miraculous achievements of wartime production, popular perceptions of businessmen began to change. Once reviled as the architects of the Crash and the Great Depression, businessmen now emerged as home-front heroes--thanks, in large part, to advertising campaigns by business organizations such as the U. S. Chambers of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.

     Thus, the image of business rose even as organized labor struggled with strikes and inflation. Indeed, businessmen now felt bold enough to defy federal labor controls outright. The most extreme example of this involved Montgomery Wards, a department store chain. In 1944, Sewell Avery, president of Montgomery Wards, defied a federal order to pay his unionized workers higher wages and enforce the closed shop. Avery had been an opponent of President Roosevelt since the early days of the New Deal, and the war had done nothing to lessen his antagonism. In a time of inflated profits, Wards resisted NWLB orders to increase wages for its workers. The most fervent resistance, however, was reserved for the NWLB's maintenance of membership clause. Avery argued that such a policy was detrimental to the rights and freedoms of both the employer and employees who did not wish to join a union, and he refused to comply unless directed to do so by the President. Although Roosevelt issued two such directives, Avery delayed implementing the orders, precipitating the Army take-over of the Chicago branch. In April 1944, FDR ordered the United States Army to take over Ward's. In a final show of defiance, Avery refused to leave his Chicago office, forcing soldiers physically carry him away.

     Even with the Army in charge in Chicago, Avery remained unchastised. He continued battling the NWLB and the administration through lawsuits and refusal to obey orders. Shortly after the Christmas of 1944, Roosevelt ordered the Army to take over and operate seven key Wards stores. These stores remained under Army control until the end of the war.

Election of 1944

Sidney Hillman

Roosevelt, Truman, and Wallace, Nov. 10, 1944

Photo courtesy Harry Truman Library

     Avery's defiance inspired conservative opponents of Roosevelt, who termed the president's actions “administrative tyranny” and “arbitrary use of power.” These business conservatives who opposed Roosevelt and the New Deal joined forces with conservative Southern Democrats, angry at the federal government's promotion of civil rights, in opposing a fourth term for Roosevelt in 1944.

      As in 1940, FDR did not actively seek another term; rather, he allowed subordinates and Democratic operatives to lay the groundwork for him. His greatest backers in 1944 came from organized labor. Sidney Hillman of the CIO, who had served in a number of government positions during the war, formed a political action committee (CIO-PAC) to channel hundreds of thousands of dollars into the president's re-election campaign. Businessmen howled in protest, stating that many of these dollars had been forced from their pockets, and those of their employees, through the very maintenance of membership contracts opposed so strongly by Sewell Avery.

     Still, FDR's personal popularity remained strong, so conservative opposition settled on the vice president, Henry Wallace, who had ties to the more radical elements within the party, including those who favored civil rights for African Americans. Southern Democrats even threatened to bolt the convention if Wallace remained on the ticket. Ultimately, Roosevelt caved in to the pressure and accepted the nomination of Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman, who had gained popularity early in the war by leading an investigation into waste and corruption in war production. Since Missouri was a "border state," with strong ties to the South, Southerners believed Truman would be more sympathetic to their segregationist cause.

     Controversy aside, most Americans remained unwilling to switch leaders while at war, and so the public stuck with Roosevelt to see the crisis through. The president easily defeated his Republican opponent, Governor Thomas Dewey of New York, receiving 432 electoral votes to 99.

     Now FDR had won an unprecedented fourth term. Yet his fourth inauguration remained a subdued affair, thanks in part to wartime strictures on consumption, as well as propriety. Secretly, Roosevelt and just a few of his closest associates knew that the president would not likely see the end of this term. Thus, he and hid wife, Eleanor, made a special effort to gather all of their family, including all three sons currently serving in the armed forces, at the White House for what might be their final celebration as a family.

The G. I. Bill

During the 1944 presidential campaign, President Roosevelt unveiled plans for a "GI Bill of Rights," promising educational support, free medical care, and housing loans for veterans, which Congress approved overwhelmingly in 1944.

The GI Bill, officially known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was designed to provide greater opportunities to returning war veterans of World War II. The bill, signed by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, provided federal aid to help veterans adjust to civilian life in the areas of hospitalization, purchase of homes and businesses, and especially, education. This act provided tuition, subsistence, books and supplies, equipment, and counseling services for veterans to continue their education in school or college. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act included the following:

1. The Federal Government would subsidize tuition, fees, books, and educational materials for veteran and contribute to living expenses incurred while attending college or other approved institutions.

2. Veterans were free to attend the educational institution of their choice.

3. Colleges were free to admit those veterans who met their admissions requirements.

Within the following 7 years, approximately 8 million veterans received educational benefits. Of that number, approximately 2,300,000 attended colleges and universities, 3,500,000 received school training, and 3,400,000 received on-the-job training. By 1951, this act had cost the government a total cost of approximately $14 billion.

In addition to its aid for education, the G. I. Bill also offered numerous benefits to ex-servicemen. The bill offered two years of "re-adjustment" pay that would help support veterans while the economy re-tooled for civilian production. It also provided low-interest loans for the establishment of small businesses of the purchase of farms. The Bill further established a number of hospitals to take care of the long-term care of veterans returning from war. To administer all of this federal largesse, the Bill established the Veterans' Administration (VA).

Smith v. Allwright (1944)

The legal arm of the NAACP fought to overturn legal segregation. In 1944, one of their cases, Smith v. Allwright, reached the Supreme Court. The case involved the constitutionality of the "all-white Democratic primary" in the South. In 1898, in Williams v. Mississippi, the Supreme Court had ruled it was legal for the Democratic Party to exclude blacks from voting in their primaries because the Democratic Party was a private organization, not an official arm of the state. Taking advantage of this loophole, Southern Democrats excluded blacks from their ranks. Segregation rested upon maintaining Democratic dominance. The Democratic Party was the "white man's party" in the South. Thus, the real contest in the South was the Democratic primary rather than the general election, since the Republican Party hardly existed, and by excluding blacks from the primaries, the Democrats evaded the protection clauses of the Constitution.

In Texas, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Democratic Party, charging that its exclusion of blacks from its primaries violated the Constitution. This case, Smith v. Allwright, reached the Supreme Court, which voted in 1944 to reverse its earlier decision in Williams. The Court now said that the Democratic Party, while still a private organization, unquestionably served a public function and thus was subject to constitutional protections of voting rights. This decision technically opened the way for blacks to begin registering to vote in the South, though, thanks to Southern delaying tactics, it would be another 21 years before the technical right to vote became a reality for the majority of blacks in the South.

African Americans in the Military

A group of Tuskegee Airmen

At the beginning of World War II, African Americans still served in segregated units and none were assigned to combat duty. Through strong efforts by African-Americans themselves and allies within the Roosevelt administration, this situation changed (albeit only to a small degree) during World War II. While the total number of black troops in combat remained relatively small (slightly under 9 percent of the 259,173 black troops reported in the European Theater of Operations in May of 1945 belonged to combat organizations), their performance contributed greatly to the eventual decision of President Harry Truman (in 1948) to desegregate the military.

The most famous example of blacks serving in combat during the War involved a group known as the Tuskegee Airmen. On Jul. 19, 1941, the Army Air Force began a program in Alabama to train black Americans as military pilots. The first classes of Tuskegee airmen were trained to be fighter pilots for the famous 99th Fighter Pursuit Squadron, slated for combat duty in North Africa. Additional pilots were assigned to the 332d Fighter Group which flew combat along with the 99th Squadron from bases in Italy. (Throughout their service in Italy, the 99th never lost a single bomber it escorted into combat.) In Sep. 1943, a twin-engine training program was begun at Tuskegee to provide bomber pilots. However, World War II ended before these men were able to get into combat. By the end of the war, 992 men had graduated from pilot training at Tuskegee, 450 of whom were sent overseas for combat assignment. During the same period, approximately 150 lost their lives while in training or on combat flights.

Proceed to: Victory

Sources

University of Oregon Library, Boss of the Waterfront: Wayne Morse and Labor Arbitration, http://libweb.uoregon.edu/speccoll/exhibits/morse/intro.html.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time.
Daniel Shugerensky, editor, History of Education: Selected Moments of the 20th Century, "1944: GI Bill of Rights," The Ontario Institute for Studies in Higher Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT), http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_schugurensky/assignment1/1944gibill.html. Accessed November 13, 2003.
Combat Troops in the European Theater, http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/combat.htm. Accessed November 15, 2003.
Tuskegee Airmen, http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/prewwii/ta.htm. Accessed November 15, 2003.