We hardly ever see strikes like this any more. From a safe distance, it is possible to be nostalgic about them. On July 15, 1959, sixty years and half a week ago, half a million American steelworkers walked off the job at once. Nearly every steel mill in the US closed. The steel companies demanded that the union give up a "contract clause," which limited managerial discretion in changing the number of workers assigned to a task, introducing new work rules, or automating of many tasks. The union insisted on keeping the contract clause, the talks broke down: hence the strike. The Union won. The contract clause stayed in. One key figure in resolving the stand-off? Vice President Nixon. With his own campaign imperatives for the following year in mind, and with the prospect of a major reversal in the economy if steel production stayed abysmal, Nixon adopted the mediators' role. He was instrumental in pressuring the managers to back down. You didn't know t...