The Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago

The 1935 Wagner Act, a centerpiece of FDR's New Deal, guaranteed workers in the U.S. the right to bargain collectively and go on strike without threat of dismissal by their employers. In protest of this decision, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the CIO, called the strike. Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly said that peaceful picketing would be permitted. The head of Republic Steel, Tom M. Gerdler, was opposed to unionization and actively courted the Chicago Police Department for assistance in keeping protesters at bay.

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