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N0KFQ > TODAY 31.07.10 18:31l 57 Lines 2712 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Jul 31
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Sent: 100731/1612Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:13373 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:13373_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Jul 31, 1975:
Jimmy Hoffa disappears
On July 31, 1975, James Riddle Hoffa, one of the most
influential American labor leaders of the 20th century,
disappears in Detroit, Michigan, never to be heard from again.
Though he is popularly believed to have been the victim of a
Mafia hit, conclusive evidence was never found, and Hoffa's
death remains shrouded in mystery to this day.
Born in 1913 to a poor coal miner in Brazil, Indiana, Jimmy
Hoffa proved a natural leader in his youth. At the age of 20, he
helped organize a labor strike in Detroit, and remained an
advocate for downtrodden workers for the rest of his life.
Hoffa's charisma and talents as a local organizer quickly got
him noticed by the Teamsters and carried him upward through its
ranks. Then a small but rapidly growing union, the Teamsters
organized truckers across the country, and through the use of
strikes, boycotts and some more powerful though less legal
methods of protest, won contract demands on behalf of workers.
Hoffa became president of the Teamsters in 1957, when its former
leader was imprisoned for bribery. As chief, Hoffa was lauded
for his tireless work to expand the union, and for his
unflagging devotion to even the organization's least powerful
members. His caring and approachability were captured in one of
the more well-known quotes attributed to him: "You got a
problem? Call me. Just pick up the phone."
Hoffa's dedication to the worker and his electrifying public
speeches made him wildly popular, both among his fellow workers
and the politicians and businessmen with whom he negotiated.
Yet, for all the battles he fought and won on behalf of American
drivers, he also had a dark side. In Hoffa's time, many Teamster
leaders partnered with the Mafia in racketeering, extortion and
embezzlement. Hoffa himself had relationships with high-ranking
mobsters, and was the target of several government
investigations throughout the 1960s. In 1967, he was convicted
of bribery and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
While in jail, Hoffa never ceded his office, and when Richard
Nixon commuted his sentence in 1971, he was poised to make a
comeback. Released on condition of not participating in union
activities for 10 years, Hoffa was planning to fight the
restriction in court when he disappeared on July 31, 1975, from
the parking lot of a restaurant in Detroit, not far from where
he got his start as a labor organizer. Several conspiracy
theories have been floated about Hoffa’s disappearance and the
location of his remains, but the truth remains unknown.
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