[pictured: Ronald Reagan wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt. His body is nearly turned sideways, chin lifted and grinning at the camera, resting his weight on his right elbow with his left hand clasped loosely over his resting right wrist. Italicized text upon this propaganda poster reads: “RONALD REAGAN speaks out against SOCIALIZED MEDICINE”]
>a c-list actor’s career flopped so now I have to pay $1000 to set foot in an ambulance
any other examples like this?
What’s always surprising to me is that he’s a former union president who went on to be one of the most anti-union figures in US history.
It was 8 months into his presidency. The air traffic controllers across the nation were threatening to strike, an act that might have crippled the struggling economic recovery. Reagan seemed to be willing to work with them if they agreed not to strike, but warned that-as federal employees-he would fire them if they did strike.
They went out and he fired them. It is my opinion that this confrontation soured his view of unions and set and adversarial tone between them and Reagan that lasted for his two terms. Anti-union sentiment rocketed and many businesses copied Reagan’s actions to devastating consequence on families and laborers.
This is not a defense of Reagan. It is just the perception of an old man who was alive and voting (for Carter) in those days. I would like to know if the replacement union for the disbanded PATCO ever managed to a) get the newly hired air traffic controllers a raise or b) a reduction in weekly hours.