United States 1952

Synopsis

On 8 April 1952 President Harry Truman ordered Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer to seize control of the U.S. steel industry to avert a strike that, Truman believed, would threaten the nation's security during the Korean conflict. The steel industry immediately brought suit in federal district court. The litigation culminated in Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), a landmark case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president's action was unconstitutional. In the wake of the Court's decision, the steel industry was returned to private hands and the steelworkers walked off their jobs for nearly eight weeks. Youngstown Sheet and Tube and the events before and after it are generally referred to collectively as the Steel Seizure Case.

Timeline

• 1932: Charles A. Lindbergh's baby son is kidnapped and killed, a crime for which Bruno Hauptmann will be charged in...