Jay's Portfolio: Rail Union Men Aid Roosevelt, Ask Wage Rise
Pledge of Political Help Carried to White House Along With Plea on Pay
New York Herald Tribune
October 5, 1944
By Jay Reid
By early October 1944, every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the organized labor movement wanted an audience with the president. And with one month remaining before the election, they all had the leverage to get it.
The National War Labor Board (W.L.B.) was supposed to deal with these sorts of concerns over wage issues, but with the unions not getting the results there that they desired, they realized, one after the other, that they could pull the ole “I want to see your manager” bluff and, voila, there would appear the president.
Perhaps it was just because Roosevelt was old, and his health was in steady decline that he fell into this trap. Conversely, maybe he had genuine reasons to fear his Republican challenger, Tom Dewey, even if none appear before this researcher’s eye.
Whatever the case, by letting one union get to him, he assured they all would.
An apt analogy would be a child begging and pleading for dessert after dinner. If the parents give in once and reward the child’s behavior with an ice cream cone, they set themselves up for a lifetime of negotiations after dinner. And just with this one child, but with all of them.
If it were me, I’d have told them all to go take a hike. It’s not like Dewey was going to give them what they wanted.
But then, I’ve never been elected president before, much less won three elections in a row.
If this is how it goes in every election with every special interest group, is it any wonder that the country’s best citizens often decline opportunities to run for elected office?
Fundraising is bad enough, but to have to deal with all these characters, all with their hands out, around the clock seems like a complete nightmare.
Although maybe I’m not giving the union bosses - this week they’re from the railroads - enough credit.
Perhaps George Harrison, then president of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, whipped out his guitar and played the president a tune.
Oh, wait, that George Harrison was only 20 months old when Jay wrote his article.
I guess the union boss George Harrison was a different guy. That probably made him all the more insufferable.
Poor FDR.
He should’ve stood up to organized labor or simply caved on the Little Steel Formula at the outset and spared himself all the hassle.
