I will try to ensure that this is not a personal anecdote but I was one of those controllers and many years later chose that strike as the basis for my labor history senior thesis when I returned to university to get a history degree. During that research I spent a week at the Reagan Library perusing every piece of paper that even mentioned PATCO. I can provide sources if anyone wants them for the facts.

As to the actual involvement of Ronald Reagan, it was definitely minimal: he was only in one meeting prior to the actual strike where it was actually mentioned. Mostly this was orchestrated by Drew Lewis, his Secretary of Transportation.

An examination of the Presidential Diary shows no involvement by Reagan until August 2, the day before the strike. Once again, the President was at Camp David for the weekend and an interesting series of telephone calls were logged in the Presidential Diary. At 9:22 A.M. the President was called by Justin Dart, Chairman of the Board of Dart Industries which was based in Los Angeles. They spoke for five minutes followed by the President trying to call Ed Meese. He finally reached Mr. Meese at 10:28 and they spoke for five minutes. At 10:50, Mr. Dart called back and spoke with the President for two minutes followed immediately by the President calling Ed Meese back for two more minutes. Ten minutes later the President was called by Richard J. Ferris, President and CEO of United Airlines. At 11:37 the President was on a conference call with Drew Lewis and Ed Meese. In order to better understand the implications of these calls, it must be pointed out that although Justin Dart is not a name normally associated with aviation or widely known, Dart was the chairman of Rexall Drugs, a long time supporter of Reagan, and considered to be a member of his ‘kitchen cabinet.’ He was also a board member of UAL, Inc., the parent of United Air Lines. United Air Lines had high level access to the President by way of Mr. Dart, but no other airline had the foresight to ensure that one of the President’s friends sat on their board. While the day of the strike was a very busy one in the White House, the President found the time to call Mr. Dart and talk with him.

I could speak to what happened to many of the controllers but fear that would be only anecdotal evidence, I myself went on to be very successful in a completely different career and retired at 47. Much of the confidential advisor material was not made public when I was at the library and one of the first things that George II did upon taking office in 2000 was to change the rules from 15 years for their disclosure to i believe 40 years so they still are not available.

If there are other issues that anyone would like to know about I still have a ton of reference material on the subject.