Memorial Day in Chicago in 1937 was hot and sunny. On the prairie outside the Republic Steel's Chicago plant the strikers and their families began to gather for picnics. Women were dressed in their holiday best. Children could be seen riding on their father's shoulders.

Youngstown was one of the hubs of the steel industry in 1916.
The mills hummed with activity as they tried to meet the demand from the war in Europe.
The steel unions had been crushed in the 1890's. The shantytown slums on the town outskirts were filled with recent immigrants from eastern Europe who were willing to work in those dangerous jobs with long hours and little pay.

It was a good time to be a capitalist.