Jimmy Hoffa (1913 – 1975)
American labor union leader and author.
At least one time in adulthood, on the other hand, Hoffa claimed just seven school grades.
Hell, I'm not saying I'm an angel, but when it came to dirty tricks I couldn't hold a candle to the Irish Mafia.
When you go to prison they forget it's your Constitution, too.
A slab of bread "buttered" with lard and, if you were lucky, seasoned with salt and pepper, was a luxury.
Mob guys had muscle, and where in hell do you think employers got the tough guys when they wanted to break a strike?
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.
It has to be considered damned unusual that no other union was ever investigated.
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.
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.
Sure, we loaned money to build hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. So what? Las Vegas borrowers were good customers.
No more than one third of his working time, indeed, was spent in his office.
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.
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.
When you run an organization like the Teamsters one man has to be the boss and run things.
I let him strain for a couple of seconds. Then like taking candy from a baby, I flipped his arm over and cracked his knuckles on the top of the table. It was strictly no contest and he knew it. But he had to try again. Same results.
I do to others what they do to me, only worse.
Nobody in this country respects what's weak. You believe me!
If you see a beggar on a corner, with his hat in his hand, nobody respects him.
Dress the same man up, give him an air of dignity, and he can command respect.
The same thing applies to this union.
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.
"He's not just the most powerful man in labor," Robert Kennedy had said in the wake of Hoffa's announcement; "he's the most powerful man in the country, next to the President."