In April 1914, two weeks before the Ludlow Massacre, John D. Rockefeller Jr. testifies before Congress about the ongoing Coal Miner's strike in Southern Colorado. 

The Rockefellers have a controlling interest in the company that owns the mines, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. Rockefeller Jr. claims the striking mineworkers are being forced to strike. They are being pressured by the United Mineworkers of America and have received threatening letters from "The Black Hand." Rockefeller Jr. and the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. refuse to hear the mineworkers demands for reform. They're not interested in treating these men with any dignity.

It's the same stance his son, Governor of New York Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, will take when it came to rioting prisoners at Attica in 1971. He refuses to hear demands for reform. He is not interested in treating these men with any dignity.

Music from Epidemic Sound.

Sources for this episode include:

• Titan by Ron Chernow
• democracynow.org
• The United Labor Bulletin (April 11, 1914)
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• historycolorado.org