ABSTRACT
As an agrarian nation until the latter half of the nineteenth century, the United States lagged behind other nations in the development of effective labor unions. Whereas labor unions developed more rapidly in Europe and even formed their own political parties, American unions faced hostility from politicians and business leaders. During 1945 and 1946, a series of labor disruptions caused harm to the US economy, then in the process of adjusting to peacetime conditions. The labor battles of the immediate post-World War II period continued throughout much of Harry S Truman's presidency. The rise of labor corresponds to the dominance of the Democratic Party in US politics following the New Deal. Indicative of the beginning years of the Cold War, Taft-Hartley mandated that labor union leaders had to indicate annually their anticommunism; otherwise union rights would be taken away.
