The Tragic Fall of America’s Industrial Steel Plant: The Bethlehem Steel Plant, Pennsylvania

Comments · 36

• PS

  @PsychMoney39 · 7 months ago

  While the company literally forged the American skyline, its leadership’s refusal to modernize effectively turned their legendary blast furnaces into cold, rusted monuments to stagnation.

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• WI

  @williamburdine1118 · 7 months ago

  I used to pull a flat bed. I've picked up steel from here back in the day

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• JI

  @jimmissenda6590 · 8 months ago

  Bethlehem also had a large prescence in Johnstown PA.

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• JU

  @jurgenkuhlmann9194 · 8 months ago

  Throughout Europe, this story also applies: be it Germany (Krupp, Hoesch, Ferrostaal), Belgium (Cockerill Sambre), Luxemburg (Arbed), France (Le Creusot): gone for good!

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• JE

  @JeffreySmith7777 · 5 months ago (edited)

  Having worked at the Bethlehem Steel from 1973 to 1984 here&apos;s my view.<br>I also received NO PENSION after working over 11 years due to the Bethlehem Steel filing for bankruptcy and the U.S. government taking over the pension plan. &nbsp;I received a letter stating I missed the pension by $6.10 which coincidentally was my shop number, 610.<br>Anyway, &nbsp;if the U.S. government would of had ying yangs back in the 80s and put tariffs on Japanese steel, the Bethlehem Steel would still be here today.<br>They did have great health health care and pension plan, which you see seldom of at Burger King, &nbsp;McDonald&apos;s etc. in today&apos;s world.<br>As for working every day and every shift, you cannot any where in the world close down a steel plant for weekends or holiday simply because you CANNOT &nbsp;pause steel operations

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• TH

  @thefactorywhistle · 6 months ago

  It&apos;s an interesting topic and it relects what actually happened quite well

• MA

  @Mark-t7e8u · 8 months ago

  Very disappointed how this skimmed over the deliberate emptying of pension funds by management: &nbsp;people who worked there for decades were robbed by crooks wearing suits and ties.

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• JI

  @jimmissenda6590 · 8 months ago

  This video closely reflects what happened with USS and J&amp;L/LTV here in Pittsburgh.

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• ED

  @edwardarruda7215 · 8 months ago

  Had a tour of the Bethlehem plant in 1974. &nbsp;Went everywhere except the blast furnace and coke ovens. &nbsp;It was an awesome experience

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• TH

  @thebestofu-tubebytheresaes5189 · 4 months ago

  I honor all the engineered products n our life !!!!

• WH

  @WhentheWorldWasDifferent · 7 months ago

  Really strong video. It explains Bethlehem Steel’s rise and fall clearly without turning it into nostalgia, and the focus on management decisions instead of just blaming foreign competition feels fair and grounded .One small thing worth adding. The decline was not just about imports or unions. Leadership choices made decades earlier mattered a lot. Under figures like Charles M. Schwab, the company doubled down on scale and control, which worked for a long time but made it slow to modernize when the industry changed. One extra angle that adds context. Bethlehem did not fail because steel stopped being needed. It failed because steel became global, faster, and more flexible, while Bethlehem stayed built for a mid-century world that no longer existed.<br><br>Overall, this is a solid breakdown of how industrial giants usually fall. Not from one mistake, but from being too successful at the old rules for too long.

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• MI

  @michaelciccone2194 · 8 months ago

  Irrelevant informercials during this video are ANNOYING

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