About the Program
Joseph McCartin, associate history professor at Georgetown University, recounts the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) call for an illegal strike in August 1981 and the subsequent firing of the strikers by President Ronal Reagan. The author recalls the workers lead-up to the strike, which included an over twenty year fissure with labor management, the union's initial endorsement of President Reagan, and how the outcome of the strike affected public sector unions in the ensuing years to follow. Joseph McCartin speaks at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum in Atlanta.