164 e lusive v ictories
Th e president did his best to appease both factions, an impossible chal-
lenge. Much as they had done under Wilson, conservative forces
became bolder, picking off parts of the New Deal that lacked broad
popular backing. Bowing to the new political reality, the president
professed his enduring commitment to reform even as he eschewed
confrontation with the political right.
Wartime labor demands initially empowered the union movement.
As conscription absorbed working men, labor shortages drove up wages
and encouraged union militancy, evident as early as 1941 in a wave of
strikes that aff ected defense industries. Roosevelt responded by estab-
lishing a National War Labor Board (NWLB), with government,
business, and labor representation, to avert strikes or lockouts for the
duration. Th rough a “maintenance of membership” policy established
in May 1942 that required newly hired workers in unionized workplaces
to join the union, the NWLB off ered organized labor a sturdy shield—
so long as union leaders kept their members in line. Union membership
soared to nearly 15 million workers during the war years.
For many workers, however, the government seemed to take away
more than it gave. As part of the eff ort to restrain infl ation, the NWLB
imposed limits on wage increases that did not quite match rising prices.
Th is set the stage for confrontations between business management and
rank-and-fi le workers. Strikes without the backing of American Feder-
ation of Labor or Congress of Industrial Organizations leaders became
more frequent in 1943. Not all work stoppages took place against the
wishes of top fi gures in the labor movement, however. John L. Lewis,
the independent and cantankerous head of the United Mine Workers,
led his members on a strike in 1943 when the NWLB rejected his
demand for signifi cant wage increases. For Roosevelt, the miners’ strike
was a political nightmare—it pitted national security, strongly backed
by conservatives, against a key constituency within his political coa-
lition. Th e president seized the mines and ordered the union members
back to work, but Lewis also achieved a favorable wage settlement that
provoked sharp criticism of the administration. In the wake of
perceived administration leniency toward illegal strikes, conservative
attacks on the New Deal political order gathered steam.
Roosevelt’s political foes soon got their chance. With few battlefi eld
successes in the fi rst eleven months after Pearl Harbor to off set the