ABSTRACT
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Van Arsdale had much in common when they took office. In 1933, each was new to his respective position and faced the same task: to restore dignity and decent living standards to the people they served. Both were responsible for constituencies that were impoverished and desperate; both took strong and fast action and in doing so imprinted their vibrant images on a new era. It was Van Arsdale's good fortune to step in as business manager of Local 3 coincidental with the start of the New Deal because the Roosevelt administration furnished a new and more hospitable arena for labor leaders like Van Arsdale to do battle. The ground had also been prepared by the Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act of 1932, which underscored for the first time that labor had a right to strike without interference from the federal courts. The act, co-authored by Fiorello La Guardia, always a friend to labor, also banned the so-called Yellow Dog contract under which, upon being hired, an employee agreed to be discharged if he joined a union.
