-Caveat Lector-
Also on Hoffa, note the trial at Chattanooga was the second one for
the first ended in a mistrial and the judge suspected
jury-tampering in that trial, too. I would not have wanted to be
on that jury that did convict him. Also of interest was his
running feud with Robert Kennedy and the fact that Hoffa was the
recipient of one of those questionable pardons from President Nixon
but had served five of his eight year sentence.
James Hoffa
James Riddle Hoffa, the son of a coal driller, was born on 14th
February, 1913. His father died when he was seven and in 1924, the
family moved to Detroit.
Hoffa left school at fourteen and worked as a department-store
stock boy. An active trade unionist, in 1932, he led a strike at a
Detroit grocery store. By the age of 37 he was chairman of the
Central States Drivers Council in 1940 and two years was elected
president of the Michigan Conference of Teamsters.
In 1952 Hoffa became vice president of the Teamsters Union under
Dave Beck, the president. Allegations were made in 1956 that the
leadership of the union was involved in illegal activities. The
Select Committee on Labor, that included Joe McCarthy, Barry
Goldwater, Karl Mundt and John F. Kennedy, decided that these
charges needed to be investigated.
Robert Kennedy, chief counsel of the committee, was instructed to
collect information and discovered several financial
irregularities. This included taking $85,119 between 1949 and 1953
from union funds to pay his own personal bill. The investigation
also revealed that a Seattle builder had received $196,516 out of
union funds to pay for work done on Beck's home. The investigations
were televised and Kennedy's questioning turned him into a national
political figure.
Beck was eventually imprisoned for five years and Hoffa became the
new president of the Teamsters Union. Robert Kennedy now began
investigating Hoffa and he was eventually charged with corruption.
Kennedy claimed that Hoffa had misappropriated $9.5 million in
union funds and had corruptly done deals with employers. However,
the jury found Hoffa not guilty. George Meany, president of the
AFL-CIO, did not agree with the verdict and Hoffa and the Teamsters
Union were expelled from the association.
Hoffa was popular with his members and in 1960 was re-elected as
president of the Teamsters Union. A long-term supporter of the
Republican Party, Hoffa was a generous supplier of funds to Richard
Nixon in his presidential struggle with John F. Kennedy. During the
campaign, Robert Kennedy sent Hoffa a copy of his book, The Enemy
Within. Kennedy wrote inside: "To Jimmy. I'm sending you this book
so you won't have to use union funds to buy one. Bobby."
After Kennedy's election victory in 1960 he appointed Robert
Kennedy as his attorney general. Once in office, Kennedy resumed
his investigations into Hoffa's activities. Hoffa was eventually
charged with taking money from the union's $300 Pension Fund. J.
Edgar Hoover, a long-term opponent of the Kennedys, passed FBI
files on the attorney general to Roy Cohn, who in turn gave them to
Hoffa. However, Hoffa, who disapproved of the Kennedy's adulterous
behaviour, declined to use this material against his prosecutors.
A former official of the union, E. G. Partin, was in prison facing
charges of kidnapping, murder, robbery and rape, agreed to do a
deal with the authorities and provide evidence against Hoffa. At
the first trial at Nashville in October, 1962, the hung jury voted
7-5 for acquittal. The judge, believing that Hoffa's team were
guilty of jury tampering, called a mistrial. At the second trial at
Chattanooga in January, 1964, Hoffa was found guilty and sentenced
to eight years in prison.
In December, 1971, President Richard Nixon ordered Hoffa's release.
Later, FBI records revealed that Nixon had received illegal
campaign donations from the Teamsters Union in exchange for a
presidential pardon.
After his release Hoffa travelled the country campaigning for
prison reform. He also attempted to return as leader of the
Teamsters Union. On 30th July, 1975, James Hoffa disappeared when
travelling to a meeting with the Detroit gangster, Anthony
Giacalone. In 1982 Hoffa was legally declared "presumed dead".
(1) Joe Konowe, a close associate of Jimmy Hoffa, interviewed by
David Heyman for his book, A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy
(1998)
Jimmy delighted in showing people, particularly people with
substantial education, that he was their equal or better. And he
was able to do this because, notwithstanding his ninth-grade
education, he was a quick study. With the seriousness of the
depression, the loss of his father, the enormous workload that his
mother undertook - doing washing and housecleaning - and with the
children helping out, Jimmy always had a soft spot for the
so-called underclass and a great disdain for people who were not
well educated but who came from wealthy families. And that was the
cause of the fight, the ongoing vendetta between Kennedy and Hoffa.
(2) Robert Kennedy, Look magazine (2nd September, 1958)
At birth, it is a Teamster who drives the ambulance to the
hospital. At death, a Teamster who drives the hearse to the grave.
Between birth and death, it is the Teamsters who drive the trucks
that bring you your meat, milk, clothing and drugs, pick up your
garbage and perform many other essential services.
The individual truck driver is honest, and so are the vast majority
of local Teamster officials - but they are completely under the
control and domination of certain corrupt officials at the top.
Picture this power, then, and the chaos that could result in these
officials were to gain control over sea and other transportation
outlets. Such a force could conceivably cause anyone - management
and labor alike - to capitulate to its every whim. With Hoffa at
the controls of the union that will dominate the transport
alliance, this power would certainly be in the wrong hands.
(3) Roy Cohn, interviewed by David Heyman for his book, A Candid
Biography of Robert F. Kennedy (1998)
Hoffa and I would occasionally dine together in New York. I asked
Hoover if I could give Hoffa the RFK files. "Go ahead," he said.
When I presented them, Hoffa asked, "What do I do with them?" "I
don't know," I responded, "Save them for a rainy day."
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAhoffa.htm
begin 666 Jimmy Hoffa.url
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`
end
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