Into Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports rolled rail cars laden with thousands of tons of wheat bound for Russia. At pierside, nine ships waited to load. But for nine days the wheat moved no farther. Thomas W. ("Teddy") Gleason, 63, president of the International Long shoremen's Association, had ordered his stevedores to touch not one kernel of cargo. The great wheat deal, it seemed, was stymied.
What made Gleason mad was a Maritime Administration ruling permitting Continental Grain Co. to ship 62% of the wheat it had sold to Russia aboard foreign-flag ships. President Kennedy, claimed Gleason, had promised that 50% of...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
