Hoffa

There is a plenitude of journalistic comment of varying quality on Hoffa, but not much in the way of scholarly literature. By far the best account of Hoffa and his stewardship of the Teamsters is Ralph C. James Estelle , Hoffa and the Teamsters (Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1965). See also James James , “Hoffa's Acquisition of Industrial Power,” Industrial Relations, May 1963 (Reprint 202, Institute of Industrial Relations, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley); “Hoffa's Leverage Techniques in Bargaining,” Industrial Relations, Oct. 1963 (Reprint 218, Institute of Industrial Relations, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley); “Hoffa's Impact on Teamster Wages,” Industrial Relations, Oct. 1964 (Reprint 247, Institute of Industrial Relations, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley); and “The Purge of the Trotskyites from the Teamsters,” Western Political Quarterly, March 1966 (Reprint 280, Institute of Industrial Relations, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley). A valuable but somewhat self-righteous account of Hoffa is Clark Mollenhoff, The Tentacles of Power (Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1966). A brief and journalistic comment on Hoffa's problems is John Bartlow Martin, Jimmy Hoffa's Hot (Greenwich Conn.: Fawcett Publications, 1959).

The opening quotation, “Every man has his price …” is part of the folklore about Hoffa and has been reported in various sources and in varying form; see, for example, James James , Hoffa and the Teamsters, p. 64. The other two quotations at the head of the article are from “James Hoffa: A Candid Interview with the Contentious Kingpin of the Teamsters Union,” Playboy, Nov. 1963; despite the title and source, this is one of the most frank and revealing interviews with Hoffa on record. The following four italicized section headings are from the same source.” I'll be back” is taken from a farewell letter from Hoffa to Teamster members published in The International Teamster, Feb. 1967, just prior to his incarceration.

The quotations in the early part of the article from “I know where I'm going …” to “… we stayed on the picket line and won the strike” are from Jacobs Paul , “The World of Jimmy Hoffa,” Parts I and II, Reporter, Jan. 24 and Feb. 7, 1957, passim; The Name is Hoffa (Washington: International Brotherhood of Teamsters, n.d.); and Martin John Bartlow , Jimmy Hoffa's Hot, p. 29.

Hoffa's comment on Beck is in William Gomberg, “Hoffa: A Study in Power,” Nation, June 17, 1961. There are those who believe that Hoffa has a hand in Beck's public tribulations. “It is no secret here,” Jack Anderson wrote in Washington, “that one of Hoffa's aides slipped [Robert F. Kennedy, then counsel for the McClellan Committee] information that helped to topple Beck” (Parade, Feb. 17, 1963).

Except where otherwise noted, the remaining quotations in this article—as well as much of its substance—are taken from the hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Improper Practices in the Labor or Management Field (generally known as the McClellan Committee after its chairman, Senator John J. McClellan of Arkansas). The Committee sat from 1957 to 1960. Its hearings are in 58 well-indexed volumes. Its findings are in two interim reports and one final report. Interim Report, Report No. 1417, 85 Cong., 2 sess. (Washington: 1958); Second Interim Report, Report No. 621, 86 Cong., 1 sess. (Washington: 1958); Second Interim Report, Report No. 621, Part 2, 86 Cong., 1 sess. (Washington: 1959); and Final Report, Report No. 1139, Parts 1–4, 86 Cong., 1 and 2 sess. (Washington: 1959–1960).

On Hoffa's tolerance or encouragement of ex-convicts, the McClellan Committee charged that 141 Teamster officials had engaged in improper or illegal activities, that 70 of them resorted to the Fifth Amendment before the Committee, and that 46 of them were “gangsters and racketeers” (Hearings, Part 40, 85 Cong., 2 sess. [Washington: 1958], pp. 15291–15294). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 200 Teamster “officials and associates” were prosecuted on criminal grounds under federal law between 1961 and 1967 (letter and memorandum to me from U.S. Assistant Attorney General Fred M. Vinson, Jr., Sept. 1, 1967). The Teamsters claim that, of 107 alleged Teamster officials and members who were accused of criminal activities by the McClellan Committee, 16 were never members, agents, or officers of the union; that 9 were members only, admitted into the organization under union shop contracts; that 35 were no longer connected with the Teamsters; that 7 had arrests or police records followed by acquittals or no prosecutions; that 26 were convicted of misdemeanors or felonies prior to their election or appointment to office in the union; that, while 14 were arrested and convicted while in office, “most” convictions were “for matters directly relating to or growing out of bona fide labor disputes”; and that as of 1967, 21 individuals in the last two categories were no longer connected in any way with the union. (Letter and memorandum to me from Florian Bartosic, House Counsel, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sept. 14, 1967.)

For critical comments on the role of the McClellan Committee and the Department of Justice in the pursuit of Hoffa, see Jacobs Paul , “Extracurricular Activities of the McClellan Committee,” California Law Review, May 1963; Cook Fred , “The Hoffa Trail,” Nation, April 27, 1964; and Lens Sidney , “The Pursuit of Jimmy Hoffa,” The Progressive, Feb. 1963.

My comments on Hoffa's qualities are based in part on the literature, in part on interviews and conversations with Teamster officials and other observers, and in part on personal conversations with Hoffa. Hoffa's claim to seven fingertip pushups was made to me. The comment on international relations, corroboratable but conceivably facetious, was made at a private, informal gathering of faculty members of the University of California, Berkeley. The Jameses' comment on wages is in James and James, Hoffa and the Teamsters, p. 345.

Hoffa's inquiry into Sheridan's health is reported in “Hoffa: How They Nailed Him,” Life, March 13, 1964. His comment on Victor Reisel is in “A Top Teamster Hits Back at Hoffa.” His reactions to the sending of condolences to Jacqueline Kennedy and his forecast of Robert Kennedy's future status are in Business Week, Dec. 14, 1963.

The McClellan Committee's description of Hoffa's “hoodlum empire” is in Interim Report, pp. 449–450. Hoffa's experience with the St. Louis underworld is again a much discussed and sometime-recorded episode of which there are various versions; see, for example, James James , Hoffa and the Teamsters, p. 66. The version related here was told to me by a prominent Teamster official.