10-4-15 Truman Takes Control of the Nation’s Oil Refineries in 2:00

[Omaha Steve]

http://laborhistoryin2.podbean.com/e/october-4-truman-takes-control-of-the-nations-oil-refineries/




October 4, 2015
On this day in Labor History the year was 1946. That was the day President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9639. It ordered the US Navy to seize control of more than four dozen oil refineries across the country. As World War II was drawing to a close, workers in many industries were growing increasingly restless. They had seen company owners rake in record profits, and the workers felt they had not received their fair share.

2:00 minute audio at link.

[jwirr]

1. Part of the situation back then was not just in the oil industry.

The war had ended and a whole army of trained and armed men were returning to a country without jobs for them. Had all hell broken loose in any one industry the whole country could have ended up in an internal war.