Monday, December 27, 1943. Seizing the railroads, again.
People like to imagine that World War Two was a period in which the whole country simply pulled together for the war effort, and we put our differences behind us.
Well, to some extent, but not as much as imagined.
On this day in 1943 President Roosevelt seized the nation's railroads by executive order in advance of a strike scheduled for December 30. The Army took control of the rail lines.
This had last happened on December 26, 1917, for the same reason.
