Through the medium of a calmly worded letter from the White House, the U.S. last week got a last-minute reprieve from a nationwide steel strike. The negotiations were deadlocked, and both sides were bracing for a June 30 walkout, when President Eisenhower wrote to United Steelworkers President David McDonald, giving the union a face-saving way to postpone a strike that neither labor nor management wants. Wrote the President: "I suggest to both parties to this dispute that they continue to bargain without interruption of production until all of the terms and conditions of a new contract are agreed upon."
Within...