By James Finck, Ph.D.
While the writers’ strike in Hollywood has captured the nation’s attention out of fear that our favorite shows might be delayed, a potentially more important strike is the one in Michigan with the United Auto Workers striking against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
While losing our favorite shows is hard, shutting down the auto industry can have even a greater effect on lives. For one, jobs have already been cut and new factory constructions are on hold. News was made on Sept. 26 when President Joe Biden traveled to Michigan and made history by joining the picket line. It was only for a few minutes, but it clearly showed management what side the White House was on. While Biden joining the picket line was drastic, historically speaking, he is not the first to do something radical to support labor.
The interesting aspect of Biden’s visit was not even the picket line. According to an NBC news story by Peter Nicholas, Biden responded, “yes,” when asked if he supported a 40% wage hike, but then walked it back later with an official release saying that he agreed that workers should be able to bargain on that. Biden has said he supports the union but would stay out of negotiations.
While his actions are unprecedented, the support is not. In fact, in some ways, his actions were not as extraordinary as Teddy Roosevelt’s in the 1902 Coal Strike.
To understand the racial nature of Roosevelt’s actions we need to understand the government’s relationship with labor in the 19th century. There was none. The rule was for government to always side with management. In a time when the federal government did very little to promote general welfare, it took great care to ensure domestic tranquility by sending in the army to put down strikes. Presidents like Andrew Jackson, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland all used troops to squash strikers, sometimes quite violently.
Everything changed in 1902 when anthracite coal miners in Pennsylvania decided to strike for better conditions, shorter hours, and better pay. While many strikes turned violent, this one did not. The mine owners felt they could wait out the strikers until they became desperate enough to cave. The owners had not realized the strikers resolve or the toll it would take on the nation.
Everyone and everything depended on coal. Quickly, like our own day, there were supply shortages, and costs of things like rent and food skyrocketed as transportation cost grew with a shortage of coal. As fall was soon to bring colder temperatures, the newly sworn in president was in a moral pickle.
Roosevelt had only been handed the reins of the presidency a few months before when his predecessor, William McKinley, was assassinated.
While Roosevelt was a strong progressive, as seen by his time as governor of New York, he also believed he had the obligation to carry out McKinley’s presidency and his pro-business stance.
Then there was his party. During the Gilded Age, the Republican Party had always sided with management. Roosevelt was not put on the presidential ticket to change that. In fact, Roosevelt was added to the ticket to stop his progressive reforms as governor of New York.
At that time, the position of vice president had very little power. So, party leaders pushed for Roosevelt’s addition in 1900 because it would silence his voice and his popularity would help McKinley win. One famous party leader did have concerns when he said, “Don’t any of you realize that there’s only one life between that madman and the presidency?” The rest of the party should have listed as his warning turned prophetic.
Under this dilemma, Roosevelt tried not to interfere, but he struggled. The progressives were a new type of politician who believed government had the obligation to control business. Roosevelt had already shown this position when he used the Sherman Antitrust Act to take on Northern Securities, a railroad company that he saw as a monopoly. Yet interfering with the strike was a different animal. Listening to his party, TR agreed to not do anything personally, but he did send his labor secretary, Carroll Wright, to speak with both sides. The mine owners refused to budge.
By October the weather was turning cold. The president worried about the effect of soaring prices on the poor, especially when it came to heating. If this kept up, people would freeze. For months he had spoken to everyone he could about solutions, but no ideas seemed to work.
Finally, Roosevelt decided he could no longer just watch, and he called a meeting between the two sides. He pleaded with the owners to give into some of the demands. He appealed to their patriotism and morality but got nowhere. He had one more trick up his sleeve, a nuclear option, but it might work. He let it slip that he was considering nationalizing the coal mines.
Roosevelt’s own party saw the move as radical, let alone the Democrats, but if the government took over the mines, then miners could get back to work and the national crisis could end.
I don’t know if Roosevelt would have carried through or not, but just the idea brought the owners back to the table and strike was resolved. Both sides agreed to an independent commission appointed by Roosevelt. The commission increased miners’ pay and decreased their hours while at the same time did not recognize the union. Both sides could walk away with something.
Biden claims that standing on the picket line gives him credibility as the most pro-union president in history, but he is just standing on shoulders of a century of pro-union presidents who have come before him. It is hard not to see Roosevelt as the most important pro-union president as what he did stood in the face of a century of pro-business presidents who had come before.
James Finck, Ph.D. is a professor of history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at HistoricallySpeaking1776@gmail.com.