Introduction

In the 1950s and 1960s, the nature of work itself and the composition of America’s work force were undergoing rapid change. By 1956 the number of workers in the United States (US) labor force considered “white-collar” for the first time exceeded those designated “bluecollar.” Labor Leaders George Meany and Walter Reuther consolidated their power after World War II by riding the anti-Communist waves. Americans overwhelmingly supported intervention in Indochina at the start of US escalation. Support for Richard Nixon’s policy on Vietnam was strong after his success in the 1968 election and introduction in 1969 of “Vietnamization,” but began to fall off after the 1970 incursion into Cambodia. Journalists Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan conclude that worker support for the war was strong because of their general antipathy toward the antiwar movement.