John L. Lewis
9th President of the United Mine Workers of America
Born	February 12, 1880 Lucas, Iowa
Died	June 11, 1969 Alexandria, Virginia
Occupation	Labor leader
Signature

John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. Template talkInfobox Union for usage -->The United Mine Workers of America ( UMW or UMWA) is a North Lucas is a city in Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 243 at the 2000 census Alexandria is an Independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better Events 1429 - English Forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orleans from attack by the Year 1880 ( MDCCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned according to the calculations of Eratosthenes. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Labor unions in the United States function as legally recognized representatives of workers in numerous industries Template talkInfobox Union for usage -->The United Mine Workers of America ( UMW or UMWA) is a North He was a major player in the history of coal mining. Large-scale coal mining developed during the Industrial Revolution, and coal provided the main source of Primary energy He was the driving force behind the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which established the United Steel Workers of America and helped organize millions of other industrial workers in the 1930s. The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L Template talkInfobox Union for usage --> The United Steel Paper and Forestry Rubber Manufacturing Energy Allied Industrial The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. After resigning as head of the CIO in 1941, he took the Mine Workers out of the CIO in 1942, then back into the American Federation of Labor in 1944. The American Federation of Labor (AFL was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States

Rise to Power

Lewis was born in Lucas, Iowa, the son of Thomas H. Lucas is a city in Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 243 at the 2000 census Lewis and Ann Watkins Lewis, both of whom had immigrated from Wales ^[1]. Lewis began working in the "BIG HILL" Mine at Lucas as a teenager. He began working around the countryside as a "ten day miner" in the western United States. He moved to Panama, Illinois and then to Springfield, Illinois in 1910 with other members of his family. Panama is a village in Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, United States. Springfield is the capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 116482 (U He joined the United Mine Workers and was eventually elected to the position of branch secretary. In 1911 Lewis began organizing for the AFL full time. Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year After serving as statistician and then as vice-president for the UMWA, Lewis became that union's acting president in 1919 ^[2]. On November 1 of that year, he called the first major coal union strike, as 400,000 miners walked off their jobs ^[3]. President Wilson obtained an injunction, which Lewis obeyed, telling the rank and file, "We cannot fight the Government. " ^[4]. In 1920 he was elected president of the UMWA. Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar Lewis quickly asserted himself as a dominant figure in what was then the largest and most influential trade union in the country. Labor unions in the United States function as legally recognized representatives of workers in numerous industries

Lewis was considered by some a despotic leader of the Mine Workers: he expelled his political rivals within the UMWA, such as John Brophy and Adolph Germer. John Brophy (1883 &ndash 1963 was an important figure in the United Mine Workers of America (UWMA in the 1920s and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO Communists in District 26 (Nova Scotia), including Canadian labor legend JB McLachlan, were banned from running for the union executive after a strike in 1923. Nova Scotia (ˌnəʊvəˈskəʊʃə ( Latin for New Scotland; Alba Nuadh Nouvelle-Écosse is a Canadian province located on Canada 's Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. McLachlan described him as "a traitor to the working class". Lewis nonetheless commanded great loyalty from many of his followers, even those he had exiled in the past.

A powerful speaker and strategist, Lewis used the nation's dependence on coal to increase the wages and improve the safety of miners, even during several severe recessions. He masterminded a five-month strike, ensuring that the increase in wages gained during World War I would not be lost. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Lewis challenged Samuel Gompers, who had led the AFL for nearly forty years, for the Presidency of the AFL in 1921. Samuel Gompers (January 27 1850 - December 13 1924 was an American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar William Green, one of his subordinates within the Mine Workers at the time, nominated him; William Hutcheson, the President of the Carpenters, supported him. William Green ( March 3, 1873 &ndash November 21, 1952) was president of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 to 1952 William Hutcheson ( February 6, 1874 - October 20, 1953) was the leader of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Template talkInfobox Union for usage --> The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is one of the Gompers won. Three years later, on Gompers' death, Green succeeded him as AFL President.

John L. Lewis (right, President of the United Mine Workers (UMW), confers with Thomas Kennedy (left), Secretary-Treasurer of the UMW, and Pery Tetlow (center), president of UMW District 17, at the War Labor Board conference of January 15, 1943, discussing the anthracite coal miners' strike. Thomas Kennedy ( November 2, 1887 - January 19, 1963) was a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA In 1918 President Woodrow Wilson created the National War Labor Board ( NWLB) which was an agency composed of representatives from business and labor

In 1924, Lewis framed a plan for a three year contract between the UMWA and the coal operators, providing for a pay rate of $7. 50 per day. President Coolidge and then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover were impressed with the plan and Lewis was actually offered the post of Secretary of Labor in Coolidge's cabinet. "Secretary of Labor" redirects here See also Secretary of Labor (Mexico. Lewis declined, a move he later regretted. Without government support, the contract talks failed and coal operators hired non-union miners ^[5]. The UMWA treasury was drained, but Lewis was able to maintain the union and his position within it. He was successful in winning the 1925 anthracite miners' strike by his oratorical skills.

Historian C. L. Sulzberger later described the technique in a 1938 book called Sit Down with John L. Lewis, calling it the "Crust of Bread" speech. Operators who opposed a contract were often shamed into agreement by Lewis's accusations. A typical Lewis speech to operators would go, "Gentlemen, I speak to you for the miners' families. . . The little children are gathered around a bare table without anything to eat. They are not asking for a $100,000 yacht like yours, Mr. ______. . . " (here, he would gesture with his cigar toward an operator), ". . . or for a Rolls Royce limousine like yours, Mr. _____. . . " (staring at another operator). They are asking only for a slim crust of bread. " ^[6]. With the full support of the AFL and the UMWA, Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated and elected President in 1932, and Lewis benefitted from the New Deal programs that followed. The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D Thanks to the Wagner Act of 1935, labor union membership grew rapidly, especially in the UMWA. The National Labor Relations Act (or Wagner Act) is a 1935 United States federal law that protects the rights of most workers in the Private sector Lewis and the UMW were major backers of Roosevelt's reelection in 1936, and were firmly committed to the New Deal. The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D

Lewis sent his best organizers into heavy industry in 1935-37, to organize the auto workers, the glass workers, the rubber workers and others. He supported the illegal sit-down strike (but did not use that tactic in the mines). When the AFL balked at organizing unskilled workers, Lewis withdrew his unions and formed a new organization, the CIO. The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L By 1937-40 the CIO was spending as much time fighting the AFL as organizing, with the result that union political power was divided against itself. During the late-1930s struggle over the AFL's refusal to organize mass production workers, Green became the target of some of Lewis' most stinging attacks while Hutcheson was the recipient of a famous punch from Lewis that came to symbolize the dispute between the conservative AFL and the rebellious CIO.

In the Presidential election of 1940, Lewis, heavily dependent on pro-Soviet organizers, rejected Roosevelt and supported Wendell Willkie, a Republican candidate, fearing Roosevelt's intention for American involvement in World War II. Wendell Lewis Willkie ( February 18 1892 &ndash October 8 1944) was a corporate lawyer in the United States and the Republican After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the miners issued a no-strike pledge "for the duration" in support of the war effort. Pearl Harbor is a Harbor on the Island of O{{okina}}ahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. However, Lewis repeatedly violated the pledge, most notably in 1943 when half a million workers walked off the job. Public opinion was extremely angry and demanded new laws. President Roosevelt, a traditional ally of labor, felt he had no choice but to seize the mines. Even so, some steel mills closed for weeks and power shortages crippled production.

The 1950s

Lewis at a labor rally in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, meeting with mine workers. Shenandoah is a borough located in the lower part of the Anthracite Coal Region, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.

In the 1950s, Lewis won periodic wage and benefit increases for miners and led the campaign for the first Federal Mine Safety Act in 1952. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Lewis tried to impose some order on a declining industry through collective bargaining, maintaining standards for his members by insisting that small operators agree to contract terms that effectively put many of them out of business. Collective bargaining is the process whereby workers organize together to meet converse and compromise upon the work environment with their employers Mechanization nonetheless eliminated many of the jobs in his industry while scattered non-union operations persisted. Mechanization or mechanisation ( BE) is providing human operators with machinery to assist them with the physical requirements of work

Lewis continued to be as autocratic as ever within the UMWA: until the passage of the Landrum-Griffin Act in 1959, the UMWA had kept a number of its districts in trusteeship for decades, meaning that Lewis appointed union officers who otherwise would have been elected by the membership. The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (or LMRDA) also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act (for its sponsors Democrat Phil Landrum and Republican

Lewis retired as president of the UMWA in 1960 and was succeeded as president by Thomas Kennedy until his death in, 1963, when he was succeeded by Lewis-anointed successor W. A. Boyle, who was just as dictatorial, but without any of Lewis' leadership skills or vision. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Thomas Kennedy ( November 2, 1887 - January 19, 1963) was a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. William Anthony "Tony" Boyle ( December 1, 1904 - May 31, 1985) was president of the United Mine Workers of America union

Retirement and Final Years

On September 14, 1964, four years after his retirement from the UMWA, Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson,^[7] his citation reading:

"[An] eloquent spokesman of labor, [Lewis] has given voice to the aspirations of the industrial workers of the country and led the cause of free trade unions within a healthy system of free enterprise. Events 81 - Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus. Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is along with the equivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed "

Lewis retired to his family home, the "Lee-Fendall House", in Alexandria, Virginia, where he had lived since 1937. The Lee-Fendall House is a historic house located at 614 Oronoco St Alexandria is an Independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He lived there until his death on June 11, 1969. Events 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned according to the calculations of Eratosthenes. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois. Oak Ridge Cemetery is a cemetery located in Springfield Illinois in the United States. Springfield is the capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 116482 (U ^[1]

References in popular culture

• In the 1938 motion picture Holiday the character of Linda Seton played by Katharine Hepburn describes how she tried to help some strikers in Jersey. Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Holiday is a 1938 Remake of the 1930 film of the same name &mdash a Romantic comedy which tells the story of a man who Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12 1907 – June 29 2003 was an American actress of film television and stage "I never could decide whether I wanted to be Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale or John L. Joan of Arc (c 1412 Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC (in her own pronunciation ˈflɒɾəns ˈnaɪtɪŋgeɪl 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910 who came to be known as "The Lewis. "
• In an episode of the Jack Benny radio program, a friend brings a baby over to Benny's house. Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky February 14, 1894 - December 26, 1974) was an American Comedian, vaudevillian The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, was a radio-TV comedy series which ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century When the infant breaks a jar of home-made chili, Benny demands fifteen cents as compensation. When his friend protests by saying that he shouldn't have to pay because the baby is a minor. Benny retorts: "I don't care if he's John L. Lewis!" causing the audience to roar with laughter at the minor/miner play on words. Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body Word play is a Literary technique in which the nature of the words that are used become the main subject of the work

Notes

References

• Alinsky, Saul. John L. Lewis: An Unauthorized Biography. Reprint paperback ed. Vancouver, Wash. : Vintage Books, 1970. ISBN 0394708822 (Originally published in 1949. )
• Bernstein, Irving. Irving Bernstein ( 1916 - September 25, 2001) was an American professor of Political science at the University of California Los Angeles The Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933-1941. Paperback edition. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co. , 1970. ISBN 039511778X (Originally published 1969. )
• Cantril, Hadley and Strunk, Mildred, eds. Public Opinion, 1935-1946. Princeton, N. J. " Princeton University Press, 1951.
• Dubofsky, Warren and Van Tine, Warren. John L. Lewis: A Biography. Reprint ed. Champaign, Ill. : University of Illinois Press, 1992. ISBN 081290673X
• Galenson, Walter. The CIO Challenge to the AFL: A History of the American Labor Movement, 1935-1941. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1960. ISBN 0674131509
• Zieger, Robert. The CIO, 1935-1955. Reprint ed. Chapel Hill, N. C. : University of North Carolina Press, 1997. ISBN 0807846309

External links

• Lewis's biography on the United Mine Workers of America's website
• Medium-length biography from a history site
• Transcript of Lewis' speech "Labor and the Nation".
• John L. Lewis Museum of Mining and Labor in Lucas, Iowa