1952 Steel Strike - Legal Action

Legal Action

Twenty-seven minutes after the conclusion of Truman's speech, attorneys for Republic Steel and the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company arrived at the door of United States district court Judge Walter Bastian, papers in hand demanding a temporary restraining order preventing the seizure. Bastian refused to rule without hearing from the government, and set argument for April 9 at 11:30 a.m.

The case was assigned to Judge Alexander Holtzoff. Attorneys for the steel companies argued that the president lacked the Constitutional authority to seize the steel mills and that the steel companies would suffer irreparable harm if seizure were not enjoined. Holmes Baldridge, assistant attorney general in the Claims Division of the Justice Department, argued the case for the administration. Unprepared and unfamiliar with the issues, Baldridge argued that no irreparable harm would ensue and that the steel companies had an adequate remedy under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Holtzoff denied the temporary restraining order 10 minutes after oral arguments concluded.

The press was almost unanimous in its condemnation of the steel mill seizure. The New York Daily News head line was typical: "Truman Does a Hitler". Only one newspaper with a sizeable circulation supported the president. Congress, too, reacted negatively. There were calls for Truman's impeachment, and a number of bills introduced to strip the WSB of its powers, to permit the government to end the strike, and to withdraw congressional approval of the expenditure of funds to operate the steel plants. The steel companies also condemned the action. Clarence Randall, president of Inland Steel, gave a nationally broadcast speech on April 9 attacking Truman and the Steelworkers. The employers' public relations group, "Steel Companies in the Wage Case," undertook an ambitious advertising campaign against the Truman administration. Full-page advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers appeared the next day excoriating the seizure, and within a week tens of thousands of pamphlets and fact sheets had been produced supporting the steel manufacturers' position.