James R. "Jimmy" Hoffa was elected general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 1957. When it came time to give his acceptance speech in Miami, he said he was too emotional to speak off-the-cuff, and so he read it.
Hoffa spoke of his deep feelings about charges that he'd tried to bribe an aide to the U.S. Senate's McClellan Committee earlier that year. He was later acquitted.
Something is wrong when a man may be judged guilty in the court of public opinion because some enemy or some ambitious person accuses him of wrong-doing by hearsay or inference.Many of his words ring true today. Then, as now, anti-worker forces are pushing anti-union legislation. Hoffa said labor must fight:
If we become too timid to fight for what is right and just, we will lose in the legislatures what we have won on the picket lines.He called for unity
There is too much to do—too many workers who need to be organized, too many workers who need better conditions—to waste our energies on internal warfare.He praised the labor movement
Labor has made a greater contribution to the growth of this country than any other single force. We have fought for free public schools; the right to vote; to put an end to debtor's prisons; for child labor laws.And his final words still ring true after a national election in which anti-worker politicians attacked "union bosses:"
Let no outsiders weaken us by destroying that unity. Let no outsiders by propaganda weaken the confidence of our rank-and-file in their leadership. Let us bury our differences; let us work together as a team; let us stand united, let us serve the interests and protect the welfare of our membership every hour of every day.The entire speech is as follows:
Brothers, brother teamsters, one and all. I want to express from the bottom of my heart my thanks for the action taken here today by the delegates in a free and democratic election in selecting me as the President of this International Union.
I am going to read to you a speech, because of the emotion I have, I cannot at this time make a speech, as I would normally do to you, other than read it. I want to say humbly and with the deepest sense of gratitude, thank you for this great honor which you have granted me. I realize all of the pressure that has been placed upon you and this great International Union. I appreciate deeply this vote of confidence. I want to promise you here and now I will devote myself and all my energies to serve you honestly and sincerely, and with God's help, I pledge to do all in my power to lead you and this organization to a position of respect and honor in the eyes of the rank and file of labor; in the eyes of the nation; in the eyes of the world.
I am your servant by virtue of my office as General President. This International Union exists for you and for the membership, however large or small the local union might be. We are Teamsters together, and I pledge to you that your problem is my problem. The resources of this great International Union will be spent for the benefit of the membership in the never ending fight for justice and dignity for the workers we represent. I pledge to you that this Union will be a model of trade unionism. I need time and I need the support of each and every one of you to accomplish this task. And I say to you, the rank and file . . . our 1,500,000 members. . . I want to hear from you, I want your advice, I want your guidance, I want your help. If you are dissatisfied with anything that is beng done, or in the way this Union is being run, I want to hear from you. I believe in good honest trade unionism, I believe in the welfare of our members. This Union will practice democracy in its fullest form, notwithstanding our enemies.
To say that I do not feel deeply about the charges that have been made against me would be untrue. To say that it has not been tough would be untrue. I am a family man. I have a wife and children. I am proud of my family, and they are proud of me. They know how I believe in the cause of labor. They know this is my life's work and I am not ashamed to face them at any time for anything I have ever done. I will fight to defend myself and to keep the name of Jimmy Hoffa as a symbol of good trade unionism and as a symbol of devotion to the cause of labor.
Let's go back and look at what has happened to the labor movement in this country in the last 50 years. At the beginning of that period the word "labor" was something that people hated. We know the slave wages and slave conditions that existed. We know that men like Samuel Gompers, Dan Tobin, William Green, Phil Murray and others were smeared. They were ridiculed. They were investigated and persecuted. Yet they kept fighting. Were they destroyed? No. Did they stop? No. And each hour, each day, they kept plugging away to the point where labor is and was recognized as a vital and important force in the American way of life. You men know my background, you know my experience. I have given 25 years of my life to fighting for this union. I have fought for what I believe is right and good against forces more vicious than you can ever imagine I propose to continue that fight as long as I live.
Labor has made a greater contribution to the growth of this country than any other single force. We have fought for free public schools; the right to vote; to put an end to debtor's prisons; for child labor laws. We have fought for minimum wage laws, for the eight-hour day,for social security, or the fundamental right of workers to organize. Yes, we have fought for human rights and for the dignity and freedom of the American worker.
Yet labor today is under attack. This International Union has just come through the most vicious attack any group of workers has ever experienced. From every side, inside and outside the labor movement, we have been subjected to accusations and charges of every sort and description. Never in history has so much outside effort been exerted on the internal affairs of a free organization.
I have no fight with the McClellan Committee, nor have I any desire to obstruct a true and honest investigation. Investigations by committees of Congress to aid in legislation have a useful and proper place in America. But when a Congressional Committee concentrates on a personal attack or misuses its power, it can be dangerous for all of us. Something is wrong when a man may be judged guilty in the court of public opinion because some enemy or some ambitious person accuses him of wrong-doing by hearsay or inference. What is happening to our historic principle that a man is innocent until proven guilty? Something is wrong when newspaper headlines have more force than the findings of a court of law, or a jury of one's fellow-men. Something is wrong when some Americans begin to find fault with the Bill of Rights for which our people have bled and died. The law should not be a weapon of politics. We are taught that our law is the backbone of our democracy. Let's not write law on the front pages of newspapers. Let us keep law in the statute books and in the courts of justice.
The use of the lawmaking function to smear a man's reputation without the protection of judiical processes is one of the greatest threats to freedom and the rights of the individual that America has faced in our lifetime.
I want to say that a great injustice has been done to the individual members of the Teamsters Union. You are the people whose good name has been smeared. And I want to say this to the whole country: The 1,500,000 working Amercan men and women that make up this International Brotherhood of Teamsters are your next-door neighbors. They aren't gangsters. They aren't hoodlums. They are respected citizens who live next door to you; who go to the same churches and synagogues; whose children go to the same schools that your children go to; who serve the Red Cross and the Community Chest the same as you do. Our members belong to the same clubs and societies that you do. These people are Americans. I am proud to be one of these people.
Something has happened to the labor movement in recent days, I am ashamed of what I see within labor's ranks. I see men who would betray principle to get a better headline. Samuel Gompers did not formulate his program by reading the morning newspapers. I have said before, and I repeat now, that we will never leave the AFL-CIO voluntarily. We dispute the charges that have been levelled against us. It is unfortunate that the AFL-CIO accepted unproven charges without full investigation as to their merits. We condemn the hasty action taken with regard to our International Union, we condemn the effort to interfere with our internal affairs. We believe in the autonomy of International Unions and shall defend our autonomy as Teamsters. We have taken action at this convention to comply fully and properly with ethical demands of the AFLCIO. We have stated repeatedly that this action would be taken at our convention.
The Teamsters Union will never fire the first shot in a Civil War in the American labor movement. I have worked long years and I have fought hard in the cause of America's workers. I believe strongly in unity and cooperation. Only anti-labor forces will profit from a split within the house of labor. We have no desire to become a party to disorganizing the organized. There is too much to do—too many workers who need to be organized, too many workers who need better conditions—to waste our energies on internal warfare. I say that it would be a tragedy if the selfish action of a few ambitious men in the top leadership were permitted to destroy the hard-won unity of the American labor movement.
We will do everything in our power to remain within the united labor movement. The Teamsters Union has every hope and intention of giving full cooperation in the fight for economic justice. I hope that the hasty threats of expulsion will be withdrawn as time and what we do Droves our sincerity and that we are decent, honest trade unionists and useful citizens. But I say to you that if certain forces succeed in driving us from the united labor movement for their own selfish ends, let me give them this warning. Separation didn't hurt the Machinists. It didn't hurt the Carpenters, It didn't hurt the Mine Workers. And it won't destroy us. The Teamsters Union will continue to live and grow.
If these people succeed in forcing the Teamsters out of the Federation, and attempt to raid our organization, mark my words, and mark them well, we will be ready to defend ourselves with every ounce of strength we possess.
Again I say I hope that we will not be deprived of the opportunity to serve the united labor movement. We have work to do—all of labor together—and we are prepared to cooperate with all the resources at our command. Some so-called labor leaders have fallen into a trap. They fear anti-labor legislation, and rightly so. In their fear, they have been misled by bad advice to condemn so-called labor corruption more often than the union haters. It would seem to be that the leaders of organized labor should be emphasizing the good things in the labor movement. Instead, they wind up cooperating with labor's legislative enemies. They forget that tomorrow it will be their turn to face the enemy. I hope they are able to fight back. Instead of concentrating on the protection of individual rights and human freedom, they keep quiet because they are afraid. That is not leadership. This is surrender, and that will never do. It is easy to accuse a man of corruption. It is too bad that some people are always willing to believe the worst. Too tad that some leaders of labor ignore fair play and truth and join the yapping of the union haters.
I say to you that we face the serious situation of bitter anti-union legislation unless the labor movement begins to fight for due process and an end to one-sided and unproved accusations. If we become too timid to fight for what is right and just, we will lose in the legislatures what we have won on the picket lines. As has been said on many occasions by such leaders as John L. Lewis, there is more than enough legislation on the local, state and federal books to handle and prevent whatever corruption there may be within the ranks of labor. There has been a concentrated effort to bring disunity and confusion upon us. We cannot ignore the fact that certain outside pressures want to dominate or destroy this Union. We Teamsters have not lost our unity, and we shall not lose it.
I have spent twenty-five years of my life in the labor movement. I have fought the opposing forces with every device at my command. I have been beaten, threatened, abused, and smeared. But I will continue to fight. I will fight with every weapon at my command to protect the unity and strength of our Union.
We shall go forward. We are Teamsters. We are brother unionists. As brothers, we may fight among ourselves. But we shall present a united front against any attack from the outside and we shall never surrender our birthright to fight against all odds in the service of our Brotherhood. Among all the charges, no one has said we have failed to organize. No one has said we have failed to bring to our membership a program of wage gains and improved security never equalled in the history of organized labor. We have done these things because we have worked together in the service of our rank-and-file membership.
Let no outsiders weaken us by destroying that unity. Let no outsiders by propaganda weaken the confidence of our rank-and-file in their leadership. Let us bury our differences; let us work together as a team; let us stand united, let us serve the interests and protect the welfare of our membership every hour of every day. By closing ranks, by settling our differences peacefully and democratically within our own house, we can move forward to build a greater and stronger Teamsters International Union.
. . . Applause.