Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa
James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffawas an American labor union leader and author who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamstersunion from 1958 until 1971. He vanished in late July 1975 at age 62...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth14 February 1913
CountryUnited States of America
fire challenges trying
I've said consistently that no employer ever really accepts a union. They tolerate the unions. The very minute they can get a pool of unemployment they'll challenge the unions and try to get back what they call managements prerogatives, meaning hire, fire, pay what you want.
strong politics weak
I've told you before and I'll tell you again. The strong survive and the weak disappear. We do not intend to disappear.
needs lawyer needed
In the old days all you needed was a handshake. Nowadays you need forty lawyers.
class government challenges
There are simply no public figures today who so challenge the elite business and government establishment and so champion the working class as Jimmy Hoffa did almost daily and with arrogance.
faults may being-wrong
I may have my faults, but being wrong ain't one of them.
years eight president
In the ten years I was president of the Teamsters, I had raised the membership from eight hundred thousand to more than 2 million and made it the largest single labor union the world.
needs bodyguard
I don't need a bodyguard.
misery violent guts
You almost had to live through it to really know the gut ripping misery of the depression during the early thirties which led to labor's bloodiest and most violent days.
sheets our-family silk
We never had any silk sheets in our family...
needs bodyguard
I don't need bodyguards.
vegas casinos hotel
Sure, we loaned money to build hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. So what? Las Vegas borrowers were good customers.
unions unusual
It has to be considered damned unusual that no other union was ever investigated.
smart matter influential
Power leads to more power, no matter what your racket, and not only were they rich and influential but they were smart as hell, too.
tangible gains lapses
More apparent to Teamster members than any moral lapses were the tangible gains that had been steadily realized under Hoffa since his advent to power.