The elevator operators’ union was seventeen thousand strong in 1920, although its ability to paralyze cities with strikes like the one its members staged in New York in September 1945 surely cost them more than a few mourners when automatic push-button elevators began to replace them in the 1950s. According to the Associated Press, “Thousands struggled up stairways that seemed endless, including the Empire State Building, tallest structure in the world.” Good riddance, you might imagine. But the worries about operator-less elevators were quite similar to the concerns we hear today about
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