Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324         Page 569570571572573574575576577578579580581582583584585586587588589590591592 of 592

television station in New York, calling and asking if they could televise the show. I recall responding that, “You can if you have a shovel.”

What were you feeling then? Frustration?

Frustration, but it was over. You couldn't bring it back. But I learned so much from it that stood me well later on.

The other things I remember is the opening day, the night before the May 8th strike in the hospitals in 1959, all of us seated in the conference room all night, we were at 709 8th Avenue.

“All of you” means?

Officers and staff, which was very small. They were drug division people. And with Davis, who had said that the strike is going to take place the next morning. We sat all night long there, with my head on my hands, you know, on the table, grabbing a nap. But we were on the eve of a historic event.

At five o'clock, Davis said, “Okay, the strike starts at six. Everybody to the hospital you've been assigned to,” and everybody went out. I remained because of talking to the press. I stayed with Davis. Elliott [Godoff], everybody went out. That's an event that stands in my mind because we didn't know, we had no idea what could happen. It was obviously an historic event, but prior to that date, Harry van Arsdale, who was really the -- I continue to call him the patron saint of 1199, had said that he'll support 1199 up to a strike, but the labor movement cannot support a strike in hospitals.

He was president of the Central Labor Council.

He was president of the Central Labor Council and the president of Local 3 of the Electrical Workers. He was a powerful person. That was a time when the AFL-CIO had merged into a central body. Harry looked at the strike, I believe, as an opportunity to bring the unions together, AFL and the CIO, around an issue, and he thought that this was the issue. But when the strike came, he said it can't be a strike against the hospitals that he could support. He ended up in the leadership.

So at that moment, the moment before the strike began, you were feeling uncertainty about the consequences. You were feeling anxiety. What else do you remember about the mood?

The mood was, we had an aggressive mood. We were fighting the good fight, and we thought and hoped that the workers would