When the Board issued its recommendations on March 20, 1952, it triggered a crisis which led to seizure of the nation's steel mills. The decision to give the workers a 26 cent-an-hour raise (which included bringing their pensions to parity with workers in other industries) was largely seen as an overly-generous award as well as a union victory. Although he had been bypassed by the procedures of E.O. 10233, Wilson decided to intervene in the dispute to avoid having the terms of the recommendation accepted. He met with Putnam and Arnall on March 21 and informed them he would be involved in the steel industry labor dispute personally. Wilson then traveled to Key West, Florida, to meet with a vacationing Truman. Believing he had won Truman's consent to reduce the wage recommendation, Wilson subsequently denounced the WSB recommendation and sponsored a number of collective bargaining sessions between the parties over the next few days. An angry Putnam and his deputies met with Wilson on March 27. Wilson Putnam, and his deputies then met with the president on March 28, at which time Putnam told Truman that the WSB recommendations met wage stabilization goals and that Wilson's actions were inappropriate. Truman agreed; Wilson resigned. John R. Steelman, Assistant to the President of the United States (a position which later became the White House Chief of Staff), was named interim director of the Office of Defense Mobilization on March 30. Negotiations between Steelman's staff, employers and the union unraveled over the next seven days, and the union announced it would strike on April 9. In a nationally televised address at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time on April 8, President Truman announced that he was seizing the nation's steel mills under his authority as commander-in-chief. The steelmakers sued to regain control of their property.