due to the presence of liberal Republicans Morse, Smith, and Tobey. Taft asked

Majority Leader Charles Halleck for "trading stock" and wanted the House to pass a

bill that was stronger than necessary so that it could be weakened in the name of

compromise and still be satisfactory in Taft's mind.58 The House passed the Hartley

Act after six hours of debate by a vote of 308 to 107. The Senate Labor Committee

narrowly approved the Taft bill after Ives and Morse submitted a number of

amendments to weaken or split the bill, reflecting the moderately pro-labor stance of

the liberal Republicans. The full Senate passed the measure after ten days of debate

by an overwhelming 68-24 majority.

 The language in the House and Senate bills differed widely. After a conference

committee agreed on provisions, the resulting Taft-Hartley Act emerged weaker than

the initial House bill but still modified the current Federal system of labor mediation

drastically. The bill reversed several key principles of the Wagner Act. It permitted

the states to outlaw all forms of union security, prohibited secondary boycotts, and by

allowed states to create "right to work" laws. The law also required selected union

officials to sign an affidavit confirming that they were not members of the Communist

Party or else lose access to the services of the National Labor Relations Board

(NLRB). This would make their organizations vulnerable to raids from rival unions.

These measures reinforced government regulation of labor unions and arguably

placed organized labor on an equal footing with management in dealings with the

NLRB.59 Both chambers passed the new legislation by similar margins in late June





58 Charles Halleck, Interview by Thomas Soapes, 26 April 1977. Transcript in Dwight D. Eisnehower
Library, Abilene, KS.

59 R. Alton Lee, Truman and Taft-Hartley: A Question of Mandate (Lexington, KY: University of
Kentucky Press, 1966).