ON NOVEMBER 2,1948, HarryS Truman, the incumbent, labor-friendly Democrat, narrowly won re-election as President of the United States. The pro-business Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey, was defeated and that was not good news for George Theodore 'Ted' Baker, president of National Airlines. Had Dewey won, Baker would probably have had the nation's chief executive on his side in his fight against National's Pilots, who had been on strike since February. The work stoppage had dragged on during the spring and into the summer of 1948, and President Truman had instituted an emergency fact-finding board to investigate the National strike. Then, on September 26, 1948, with the labor action still going on, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) had initiated an unprecedented investigation into National Airlines. The goal was to determine whether or not National's network should be dismembered and its routes doled out to other carriers. Ted Baker was trying to break his Pilots' union, and he was in trouble. His only hope had been a possible win by Dewey, who likely would have sided with Baker in his fight.
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