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111-559: The NDMB was created largely in response to the high incidence of strikes during the defense-related production boom, which began in 1940. In 1941, more than two million workers participated in more than 4,000 work stoppages, some of which directly disturbed defense production. In response, several antistrike bills were pending in Congress. Sidney Hillman , a member of the National Defense Advisory Commission, recommended

222-606: A business agent for the new local. The leadership of the international union mistrusted the more militant local leadership in Chicago and in other large urban locals, which had strong Socialist loyalties. When it tried to disenfranchise those locals' members at the UGW's 1914 convention, those locals, representing two thirds of the union's membership, bolted to form the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America . Hillman had taken

333-605: A claim which was never corroborated. The Great Depression reduced the Amalgamated's membership to one third or less of its former strength. Like many other unions, the ACWA revived with the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act , whose promise of legal protection for workers' right to organize brought thousands of garment workers back to the ACWA. The AFL finally allowed the ACWA to affiliate in 1933. Hillman

444-559: A coalition of liberals , labor unions, Northern religious and ethnic minorities (Catholic, Jewish, and Black), and Southern Whites. These voting blocs together formed a majority of voters and handed the Democratic Party seven victories out of nine presidential elections (1932–1948, 1960, 1964), as well as control of both houses of Congress during all but four years between the years 1932–1980 (Republicans won small majorities in 1946 and 1952). Political scientists describe this realignment as

555-568: A college degree have tended to support the Democratic Party, especially among younger voters, while non-college graduates are more likely to support the Republican Party—a reversal of the pattern before 2000. White Southerners abandoned cotton and tobacco farming, and moved to the cities where the New Deal programs had much less impact. Beginning in the 1950s, the southern cities and suburbs started voting Republican. The White Southerners believed

666-616: A combination of defections of prominent Democrats—including Roosevelt—as well as a massive smear campaign using Hollywood techniques and a blackout whereby all the state's newspapers opposed him and refused to cover his ideas. The Republican leadership realized the California electorate was moving left so it went along. Its 1934 platform endorsed not just the Townsend Plan but also the 30 hour work week, unemployment relief, and collective bargaining for all workers. The GOP wanted to win votes but in

777-475: A deal of some sort with Buchalter, although no evidence has ever surfaced, despite intensive efforts to find it by political opponents of the union, such as Thomas Dewey and Westbrook Pegler . Buchalter claimed, before his execution in 1944, that he had never had any deal with either Hillman or Dubinsky, head of the ILGWU. He did claim to have murdered a factory owner and labour opponents of Hillman at Hillman's behest,

888-628: A decisive role in mediating the internal disputes that nearly destroyed the United Auto Workers in its infancy in 1938 and helped create the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union of America through the CIO's Department Store Workers Organizing Committee. Hillman and Lewis eventually had a falling out, with Lewis advocating a more independent tack in dealing with the federal government than Hillman. Lewis, however, gradually distanced himself from

999-469: A leading role in forming the CIO and establishing entirely new mass-production unions that confronted not small local Jewish capitalists but world-class corporations. Hillman also was a pioneer in integrating union power with major political powers on a national level. The New Deal had proven a bonanza for union membership growth, and beginning with the 1936 presidential election, Hillman pushed hard for labor to give systematic nationwide support to Roosevelt and

1110-547: A major part of the new Republican coalition. Since the 2010s, younger non-evangelical White Southerners with a college degree have been trending towards the Democratic Party, such as in Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina. The European ethnic groups came of age after the 1960s. Ronald Reagan pulled many of the working-class social conservatives into the Republican party as Reagan Democrats . Many middle-class ethnic minorities saw

1221-469: A number of manufacturers to bar the subcontracting of work to non-union or cut rate contractors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey . In the course of that strike the union picketed a number of trucks run by Buchalter's companies to prevent them from bringing finished goods back to New York. While the campaign cleaned up the ACWA, it did not drive Buchalter out of the industry. The union may, in fact, have made

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1332-450: A requirement for working. As James B. Atleson writes, mediation is a difficult model to apply unless parties can reach a compromise on conceptual principles. Thus arose the need for the NDMB to create common ground between labor and industry on union security. The NDMB enacted the “maintenance of membership clause,” a compromise between labor and management that would be adopted by its successor,

1443-605: A result, union membership steadily declined. Labor unions were painted as corrupt, ineffective, and outdated by the Republican Party. During the 1960s, issues as civil rights and racial integration , the Vietnam War and the counterculture of the 1960s , affirmative action , and large-scale urban riots further split the coalition and drove many Whites away, signalling that the coalition started to fall. The War in Vietnam split

1554-463: A setting up state-owned factories to hire the unemployed, and by increasing pensions for the elderly. Critics said it would flood the state with unemployed from everywhere else. Sinclair had a pension plan of his own and refused to endorse the Townsend Plan which had a strong following. The Republican candidate endorsed the Townsend Plan and won the movement's support. Sinclair was narrowly defeated by

1665-527: A supervisory and administrative nature politics plays only a minor in a comparatively insignificant role." However those who were hired were reminded at election time that FDR created their job and the Republicans would take it away. The great majority voted accordingly. After the end of the Great Depression around 1941, the next challenge was to keep Democratic majorities alive. It seemed impossible after

1776-506: A third party to the left of Roosevelt in 1936. Long was assassinated but his followers did set up the Union Party that polled 2% of the vote in the 1936 United States presidential election . In California, Upton Sinclair , a famous novelist and socialist won the Democratic nomination for governor, on a left-wing ticket in 1934. His EPIC program promised to end poverty and unemployment by

1887-562: A tripartite mediation board to President Franklin D. Roosevelt because it might be more acceptable to union leaders than antistrike legislation. Although the American Federation of Labor (AFL) quickly endorsed the proposal, labor's second major arm, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), was reluctant to support the creation of the tripartite board. CIO's president, Philip Murray , realized that in preventing and ending strikes,

1998-564: A weak third party. The White House supported the Farmer-Labor Party (FLP) in Minnesota. Roosevelt had an informal deal with Governor Floyd B. Olson whereby the FLP would get some of the patronage, and in turn the FLP would work to block a third-party ticket against Roosevelt in 1936. The radical third parties declined rapidly after 1936 and no longer played a part in the New Deal coalition. As

2109-575: The 1968 election , the turn of White Northern ethnics and Southern Whites toward conservatism on racial issues, and the rise of neoliberalism under the presidency of Ronald Reagan , with its opposition to regulation. The Great Depression in the United States began in 1929 and was often blamed on Republicans and their big business allies. Republican president Herbert Hoover opposed federal relief efforts as unwarranted, believing that market actors and local governments were better suited to address

2220-706: The Bund , a revolutionary socialist union of Jewish workers within the Pale in conflict with the Tsarist authorities. Hillman became a leading activist in the Bund, leading the first May Day march ever conducted by the organization through the streets of Kovno in 1904. Hillman was arrested shortly thereafter for his revolutionary activities and sat in prison for several months, where he learned more about revolutionary social theory from fellow prisoners. By 1905 Hillman — along with many others in

2331-860: The Civilian Conservation Corps (where the boys' wages went to the unemployed father), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration , and especially the Works Progress Administration (WPA). A representative transition came in Pittsburgh , which had long been a Republican stronghold with a promise of prosperity. The worsening depression enabled the Democrats to convince some Republicans to switch parties while mobilizing large numbers of ethnics who had not voted before. Democrats capitalized on Roosevelt's popularity to win

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2442-491: The National War Labor Board . Under the clause, employees who were already union members were required to maintain membership with the union for the life of the contract. Because employees were not forced to join unions, the policy prevented a closed shop but also avoided the complete disintegration of unions in the wartime economy. The NDMB successfully mediated labor disputes for eight months but broke down during

2553-833: The Office of Production Management in 1941. When FDR created the War Production Board in 1942, he appointed Hillman to serve as the head of its labor division. As in the case in World War I, Hillman used the influence of the federal government to advance both labor's social goals and its immediate organizing needs. Hillman was unable to persuade the Board to debar labor law violators but did help introduce arbitration as an alternative to strikes in defense industries . Hillman's prioritization of emergency production for national defense over labor radicalism brought him criticism from others within

2664-620: The Progressive Party ticket in 1924, Hillman never faced the sort of volcanic upsurge that nearly tore apart the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union during this period and never undertook the wholesale purges that David Dubinsky and other leaders of the ILGWU used to stay in power. By the end of the decade, after fighting and losing battles in Montreal , Toronto and Rochester, the CP

2775-650: The White Star liner Cedric , arriving in New York City on August 8. Hillman's prospects were poor in New York and he soon set out for Chicago , where a friend and a more favorable job market awaited him. In Chicago, Hillman worked briefly picking orders in a warehouse for $ 6 a week. He then found a slightly better-paying job as a clerk in the infants' wear department of Sears, Roebuck & Co. Hillman remained in that position for nearly two years before being fired in

2886-572: The " Fifth Party System ", in contrast to the Fourth Party System of the 1896–1932 era that proceeded it. City machines had major roles to play. Most important, the New Deal coalition had to carry entire states, not just cities. The largest possible landslide was needed, and the city machines came through in 1940, 1944, and 1948. They kept the voters by providing federal jobs aimed at the unemployed—the Civil Works Administration ,

2997-646: The 1930s into the 1960s, black voters in the North began trending Democrat, while those in the South were largely disenfranchised. Following the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, black voters became a much more important part of the Democrat voter base. Their Democratic loyalties have cut across all income and geographic lines to form the single most unified bloc of voters in the country, with over 87% of black voters voting for

3108-547: The 1933 mayoral race. The WPA then played a critical role in the consolidation of the Democratic machine. By 1936 the Democrats had a majority in the registration rolls for the first time since the Civil War. That November FDR won 70% of the Pittsburgh vote. The president in 1933 wanted to bring all major groups together, business and labor, banker and borrower, farms and towns, liberals and conservatives. The escalating attacks from

3219-551: The AFL, Hillman was one of the strongest advocates for organizing the mass production industries, such as automobile manufacture and steel, where unions had almost no presence, as well as the textile industry, which was only partially organized. He was one of the original founders in 1935 of the Committee for Industrial Organizing (later the Congress of Industrial Organizations ; CIO), an effort led by John L. Lewis , and became Vice-President of

3330-440: The Amalgamated became an active partner in the men's clothing business, building two banks, fostering low-cost unemployment insurance, and setting up internal educational and social support programs for union members. This was the "New Unionism"of the 1920s, which combined a large powerful union, with many small capitalist enterprises, all of them controlled by Jews who could talk together easily. Hillman's broader perspective gave him

3441-646: The Amalgamated during the 1920s. also acquired influence within the ACWA. One of his allies within the ACWA was Abraham Beckerman, a prominent member of the Socialist Party with close ties to The Forward , whom Hillman used to inflict strongarm tactics on his communist opponents within the union. Beckerman and Philip Orlofsky, another local officer in Cutters Local 4, made sweetheart deals with manufacturers that allowed them to subcontract to cut rate subcontractors out of town, using Buchalter's trucking companies to bring

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3552-469: The Amalgamated organize non-union outposts such as Rochester and control the cutthroat competition that had prevailed in the industry for decades. That policy ended in 1919, when employers in nearly every industry with a history of unionism went on the offensive. The ACWA not only survived a four-month lockout in New York City in 1919, but came away in an even stronger position. By 1920, the union had contracts with 85 percent of men's garment manufacturers in

3663-927: The Bronx was the first limited equity housing cooperative in the United States. It was funded and inspired by Hillman and Abraham Kazan . A street in the neighborhood, Hillman Avenue, is named for him. Hillman is also the namesake of the Hillman Housing Corporation , a housing cooperative sponsored by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and part of Cooperative Village in Lower East Side of Manhattan . The Sidney Hillman Foundation , established in his honor, gives annual awards to journalists and writers for work that supports social justice and progressive public policy. The first Sidney Hillman Awards were announced in 1950. In addition, from 1949 to 1995

3774-653: The Bund — had come to identify himself with the Menshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), identifying in particular with the internationalism of Julius Martov . Hillman played only a minor local role during the Russian Revolution of 1905 , engaging in the distribution of leaflets, raising funds for the revolutionary organization, and informally speaking on the streets to groups of workers. In 1906, Tsarist repression in

3885-662: The CIO when it established itself as a separate union confederation in 1937. Hillman played a role in nearly every major initiative of the CIO in those years. He oversaw, and provided major financial support for, the Textile Workers Organizing Committee , which sought to establish a new union for textile workers after the disastrous defeat of the United Textile Workers' strike in 1934. The Textile Workers Union of America , with more than 100,000 members, came out of that effort in 1939. Hillman also played

3996-812: The CIO, as when he stood with the Roosevelt administration's decision to send in troops to break a wildcat strike at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California in 1941. (The strikers' wage demands were soon conceded in arbitration, which the Communist-supported strike had forestalled.) Hillman also believed in the need for unions to mobilize their members politically. He and Lewis founded Labor's Non-Partisan League, which campaigned for Roosevelt in 1936 and again in 1940, even though Lewis himself had endorsed Wendell Willkie that year. Hillman

4107-561: The CIO, finally resigning as its head and then withdrawing the United Mine Workers from it in 1942. Hillman remained in it, still the second most visible leader after Philip Murray , Lewis' successor. Hillman and Dubinsky founded the American Labor Party in 1936, an ostensibly independent party that served as a halfway house for Socialists and other leftists who wanted to support FDR's reelection but were not prepared to join

4218-634: The Democratic Party as a working class party, and preferred the GOP as the middle class party. In addition, while many supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act, they were generally opposed to racial integration , and also supported the Republican stance against rising urban crime. However, the Jewish community has continued to vote largely Democratic: 74% voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 , 78% in 2008 , and 69% in 2012 . African Americans grew stronger in their Democratic loyalties and in their numbers. From

4329-467: The Democratic Party into the New Deal coalition. In 1940 La Guardia chaired the nationwide Committee of Independent Voters for Roosevelt; in return, the president put him in charge of the Office of Civilian Defense . He retired and was replaced as mayor in 1945 by William O'Dwyer , the Tammany candidate. Roosevelt's top aide in distributing patronage was James Farley , who served simultaneously as chair of

4440-460: The Democratic Party the majority party nationally for decades. Democrats lost control of the White House only in 1952 and 1956 during the broadly popular Eisenhower presidency . They typically controlled both Houses of Congress before the 1990s. The coalition began to weaken with the collapse of big city machines after 1940, the steady decline of labor unions after 1970, the bitter factionalism during

4551-636: The Democratic Party, with its alliance with the most reactionary white elites in the South. Dubinsky later split from the Labor Party over personal and political differences with Hillman to found the Liberal Party of New York . Hillman was a strong opponent of Nazi Germany and a supporter of U.S. aid to England and France . Roosevelt appointed Hillman to the National Defense Advisory Committee in 1940 and named him associate director of

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4662-411: The GOP and were welcomed into the Democratic machine. Ethnics and Catholics were concentrated in large cities, which gave them a more Democratic hue. The 103 largest cities with a population of 100,000 or more in 1950 were Democratic strongholds, typically with former machines that had faded away during and after World War II. The largest cities averaged 66% for FDR in 1932 and 1936, compared to 58% of

4773-406: The GOP landslide in 1946. Journalist Samuel Lubell found in his in-depth interviews of voters after the 1948 presidential election that Democrat Harry Truman , not Republican Thomas E. Dewey , seemed the safer, more conservative candidate to the "new middle class " that had developed over the previous 20 years. He wrote that "to an appreciable part of the electorate, the Democrats had replaced

4884-425: The NDMB voted nine-to-two against union shop. Two labor members of the NDMB, both from the CIO, resigned from the Board, resulting in its collapse. However, shortly following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board , a similar tripartite agency with expanded powers. Sidney Hillman Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He

4995-479: The New Deal cause. His main rival was John L. Lewis, who broke with Roosevelt, and with the CIO, leaving Hillman the central labor politician in the national Democratic Party. Hillman's successor as head of the ACWA, Jacob Potofsky , took a far less visible role within the CIO, a federation which re-united with the AFL in 1955. The American Labor Party that Hillman had helped create passed out of existence in that same year. The Amalgamated Housing Cooperative in

5106-491: The New Deal coalition was the ethnic groups: Here is the distribution of party identification in 1944: The coalition was strongest among Jews and Catholics and weakest among White Protestants. The New Dealers made a major, successful effort to build up labor unions, especially through the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 . In addition, Democratic-led state governments were much more favorable to unions than

5217-750: The New York State Democratic Party, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and Postmaster General in FDR's cabinet, as well as FDR's campaign manager in 1932 and 1940. He handled traditional patronage for the Post Office . He helped with the new agencies aimed at the unemployed, especially the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps , as well as other job agencies. He helped state and local Democratic organizations set up systems to select likely candidates for

5328-469: The Republican Party frequently painted unions as corrupt and ineffective. Intellectuals gave increasing support to Democrats since 1932. The Vietnam War, however, caused a serious split, with the New Left unwilling to support most of the Democratic presidential nominees. Since the 1990s, the growing number of Americans with a post-graduate degree have supported Democrats. In recent years, White Americans with

5439-524: The Republican Wendell Willkie. The largest possible landslide was needed, and the city machines came through in 1940, 1944, and 1948. In the 1920s strong big city Republican machines were common. During the Great Depression their support plunged, and they were displaced by Democratic machines in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis, and elsewhere. Across the urban North blacks deserted

5550-456: The Republicans as the party of prosperity." In 1952 and 1956 Republican Dwight Eisenhower had been able to temporarily peel several elements of the coalition into the Republican column, notably some Northern farmers and manual workers and middle-class voters in the Border South. In the 1960 election, John F. Kennedy and his running mate Lyndon Johnson won back Southern voters. After

5661-712: The Soviet experiment won him the enthusiastic support of the Communist Party USA in the early 1920s; it also further alienated him from those in the Socialist Party and associated with the Daily Forward under the leadership of Abraham Cahan , with whom Hillman and the Amalgamated already had strained relations. While Hillman's relationship with the Communist Party ultimately broke up in the conflict over whether to support Robert La Follette, Sr. 's candidacy for President on

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5772-404: The UGW convention to form the Amalgamated sent him a telegram imploring him to accept the Presidency, followed by another telegram from Bessie Abramowitz (b.1889). She was one of the original leaders of the 1910 strike, an important figure in union politics and his fiancée. Hillman accepted and left the ILG after less than a year. Hillman knew the risks he was taking. The AFL refused to recognize

5883-462: The answers. We know there's not a program for every problem....The era of big government is over.” Clinton went on to cut New Deal-inspired welfare programs and repeal some of the New Deal's restrictions on banks. Clinton largely accepted the neoliberal argument, thereby abandoning the New Deal coalition's claim to the prosperity issue. While most Northerners supported the original civil rights movement, many conservative blue collar voters disliked

5994-427: The basis for progress was linked with a willingness to embrace industrial engineering approaches, such as Taylorism , that sought to rationalize the work processes as well. This put Hillman and the ACW leadership at odds with the strong anarcho-syndicalist tendencies within the union's membership, many of whom believed in direct action as a principle as well as tactic. On the other hand, it made Hillman receptive in

6105-423: The big cities of the North insured national hegemony for the Democratic party." The new majorities did not matter in the great 1936 landslide, but they were decisive in 1940. A third of the electorate lived in the 106 cities with a population of 100,000 or more. They were 61% for FDR. The South had a sixth of the electorate and FDR won 73%. The remaining half of the electorate—the non-metropolitan North—voted 53% for

6216-524: The campaign and downplayed the Democratic Party name. In contrast to his 1933 position as a neutral moderator between business and workers, he now became a strong labor union supporter. He crusaded against the rich upper class, denouncing the "economic royalists". He worked with third parties on the left: the Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party , the Wisconsin Progressive Party , and the American Labor Party (ALP) in New York state. In New York City he collaborated closely with Republican Fiorello La Guardia , against

6327-504: The city and had reduced the workweek to 44 hours. The ACWA pioneered a version of "social unionism" in the 1920s that offered low-cost cooperative housing and unemployment insurance to union members and founded a bank ( Amalgamated Bank ) that would serve labor's interests. Hillman had strong ties to many progressive reformers, such as Jane Addams and Clarence Darrow , who had assisted the Amalgamated in its early strikes in Chicago in 1910 and New York in 1913. While other unions, notably

6438-406: The city was facilitated by keeping the vote low and under close watch. As part of the national New Deal coalition, the machines had to carry the state's electoral vote. That required turning out the largest possible majorities. They did this by converting some Republicans, mobilizing large numbers who had never voted before. Milton Rakove states: "Holding the South and delivering thumping majorities in

6549-405: The collapse of cotton agriculture, the growth of a suburban middle class, and the large-scale arrival of Northern migrants outweighed the racist factor. Both viewpoints agree that the politicization of religious issues important to White Southern Protestants (i.e. opposition to abortion and LGBT rights ) in the " Bible Belt " made for a strong Republican appeal. Roosevelt wanted a coalition that

6660-404: The competitive calculus. The ACWA tried to regulate the industry in other ways, arranging loans and conducting efficiency studies for financially troubled employers. Hillman also favored "constructive cooperation" with employers, relying on arbitration rather than strikes to resolve disputes during the life of a contract. As Hillman explained his philosophy in 1938: Hillman's belief in stability as

6771-403: The conservatives of Tammany Hall who had controlled city hall. La Guardia was the candidate of the ad-hoc City Fusion Party, winning the mayoralty in 1933 and reelection in 1937 and 1941. La Guardia was also the nominee of the American Labor Party (ALP), a union-dominated left-wing group that supported Roosevelt in 1936, 1940,and 1944. The role of the ALP was to funnel socialists who distrusted

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6882-673: The country endorsed the Townsend Plan. In the North, class and ethnicity proved decisive factors in the New Deal coalition as shown by polling data in presidential and congressional elections from 1936 through 1968. Blue-collar workers average 63% Democratic. White collar workers, representing the middle class, averaged 43% Democratic. In terms of religion, northern White Protestants were 42% Democratic, White Catholics were 68% Democratic. Social class and religious affiliation added had separate effects that could add together, so that Catholic blue-collar workers were 76% Democratic, while Protestant blue-collar workers were only 52% Democratic. Throughout

6993-520: The earliest racketeers. "Little Augie" Jacob Orgen took over the racket, providing muscle for the ILGWU in the 1926 strike. Louis "Lepke" Buchalter had Orgen assassinated in 1927 in order to take over his operations. Buchalter took an interest in the industry, acquiring ownership of a number of trucking firms and control of local unions of truckdrivers in the garment district, while acquiring an ownership interest in some garment firms and local unions. Buchalter, who had provided services for some locals of

7104-541: The early 1920s to the Soviet Union 's reconstruction efforts, particularly during its New Economic Policy phase. Hillman led the union into a joint business project with the Soviet Union that brought western technology and principles of industrial management to ten clothing factories in the Soviet Union. The mechanism for this interaction was the Russian-American Industrial Corporation (RAIC) at 31 Union Square, New York City, launched by Hillman with Max Lowenthal as his attorney. Both Hillman and Lowenthal were also among

7215-479: The economy began to improve in 1933–34, people loudly demanded faster action and pushed the New Dealers to the left. Labor strikes grew to large scale, especially in California and Minnesota. Textile workers launched the largest strike in national history in 1934 . Senator Huey Long in Louisiana and radio priest Charles Coughlin , had both been active Roosevelt supporters in 1932. They now broke away and set up national appeals to millions of supporters, with talk of

7326-479: The elderly. The 1966 elections were an unexpected disaster, with defeats for many of the more liberal Democrats. According to Alan Draper, the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Action (COPE) was the main electioneering unit of the labor movement. It ignored the White backlash against civil rights, which had become a main Republican attack point. The COPE assumed falsely that union members were interested in issues of greatest salience to union leadership, but polls showed this

7437-442: The federal payroll. In the 1940s most of the big city machines collapsed, with a few exceptions such as Chicago and Albany, New York. Being a voter or a Democrat was not a prerequisite for a relief job. Federal law specifically prohibited any political discrimination regarding WPA workers. Vague charges were bandied about at the time. The consensus of experts is that: “In the distribution of WPA project jobs as opposed to those of

7548-507: The feuding components, especially after his handling of the Vietnam War alienated the emerging New Left . Besides Johnson, another who came closest was Robert Kennedy, the likely Democratic candidate in 1968. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, in the space of just two months, seem to have been an almost fatal blow to the New Deal coalition prospects. During the Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981–1989), Republicans took control of prosperity issues, largely because of

7659-459: The form of police raids and organized pogroms forced the Russian socialist movement back underground. Hillman joined the exodus of revolutionaries from the country in October 1906, traveling under a false passport through Germany to Manchester , England , where he joined his uncle, a prosperous furniture dealer, and two brothers already living there. In the summer of 1907, Hillman emigrated once again, this time setting out for America aboard

7770-401: The foundation made annual awards honoring public figures who pursue social justice and public policy for the common good. New Deal coalition The New Deal coalition was an American political coalition that supported the Democratic Party beginning in 1932. The coalition is named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal programs, and the follow-up Democratic presidents. It

7881-587: The goal of racial integration and became fearful of rising urban crime. The Republicans, first under Richard Nixon , then later under Reagan, were able to corral these voters with promises to be tough on law and order. The votes of blue-collar workers contributed heavily to the Republican landslides of 1972 and 1984, and to a lesser extent 1980 and 1988. At the presidential level, the GOP made inroads among urban, middle-class White Southerners as early as 1928 and later in 1952. Starting in 1980, Reagan pulled together both middle-class and working-class White Southerners. At

7992-500: The goods back and forth. In 1931, Hillman resolved to act against Buchalter, Beckerman, and Orlofsky. He began by orchestrating public demands on Jimmy Walker , the corrupt Tammany Hall Mayor of New York, to crack down on racketeering in the garment district, Hillman then seized control of Local 4, expelling Beckerman and Orlofsky from the union, then taking action against corrupt union officials in Newark, New Jersey . The union then struck

8103-451: The liberal coalition into hawks (led by Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey ) and doves (led by Senators Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy ). In addition after the John F. Kennedy assassination , the coalition lacked a leader of the stature of Roosevelt. The closest was Lyndon B. Johnson (president 1963–1969), who tried to reinvigorate the old coalition but was unable to hold together

8214-407: The mediation board would “find its attention directed against labor in order to maintain the status quo.” Nevertheless, Murray did not oppose the proposal. Shortly thereafter, President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the NDMB. The powers of the NDMB were severely limited by its inability to issue “directive orders” with regard to labor disputes. Under Roosevelt's executive order, only

8325-476: The more traditional American Federation of Labor in 1938. Both federations added members rapidly, but they feuded bitterly. Both supported Roosevelt and the New Deal Coalition. The nationwide wave of labor strikes in 1937–38 alienated many voters, and the split weakened the New Deal coalition. The most controversial labor leader was John L. Lewis , head of the coal miners; he headed the CIO 1938–1941. Lewis

8436-522: The new union and the UGW regularly raided it, furnishing strikebreakers and signing contracts with struck employers, in the years to come. He helped the Amalgamated solidify its gains and extend its power in Chicago through a series of strikes in the last half of the 1910s and to extend the union's membership into important garment centers in Baltimore and Rochester, New York , where the union had to overcome divisions within garment workers on ethnic lines and

8547-440: The opportunities that government intervention in labor relations presented the union; he not only did not have the ingrained distrust of governmental regulation that now marked Samuel Gompers and other leaders of the AFL, but had a firm belief in the sort of industrial democracy in which government helped mediate between labor and management. The government's interest in maintaining production and avoiding disruptive strikes helped

8658-581: The opposition of the Industrial Workers of the World . Manning ramparts for Hillman in Rochester was Paul Blanshard . The ACWA also benefited from the relatively pro-union stance of the federal government during World War I , during which the federal Board of Control and Labor Standards for Army Clothing enforced a policy of labor peace in return for union recognition . Hillman was particularly receptive to

8769-578: The original directors of the Amalgamated Bank of New York, as advertised in the Liberator magazine. The ad mentions that the bank is owned and operated by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. It lists chairman Hyman Blumberg , president R. L. Redheffer, vice president Jacob S. Potofsky , cashier Leroy Peterson, and directors including Sidney Hillman, August Bellanca , Fiorello H. La Guardia , Joseph Schlossberg , and Max Zaritsky . Hillman's support for

8880-574: The period better educated higher income middle-class voters were more Republican so that the average Northern Protestant white collar voter was 69% Republican, while a Catholic counterpart was only 41% Republican. A Gallup poll of listees in Who's Who in early 1936 showed that only 31% planned to vote for Roosevelt. Nationwide, Roosevelt won 36% of the votes of business and professional voters in 1940, 48% of lower-level white-collar workers, 66% of blue-collar workers, and 54% of farmers. The strongest component of

8991-412: The poor performance of Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) in dealing with stagflation . Reagan's new economic policy of neoliberalism held that regulation was bad for economic growth and that tax cuts would bring sustained prosperity. In 1994 the Republicans swept control of Congress for the first time since 1952. The response of Democratic President Bill Clinton was: “We know big government does not have all

9102-516: The position of Chief Clerk within the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in New York in early 1914. He found that job, in which he tried to maintain the stability imposed on a ferociously competitive industry by the Protocols of Peace, and in which the internal rivalries within the union threatened to flare up into all-out conflict, frustrating. When the insurgents who had walked out of

9213-524: The president seized the plants by executive order. Therefore, although the NDMB was often criticized for lacking formal powers of arbitration, the threat of governmental seizure and public pressure to comply with its recommendations gave the Board substantial authority in dispute mediation. The Defense Mediation Board also established precedents in union security agreements. Union security agreements are contracts between labor and industry that determine to what extent unions may compel employees to join unions as

9324-449: The pro-business Republicans had been. In 1940 FDR won 64% of non-union manual workers, 71% of AFL members, and 79% of CIO members. Union membership grew rapidly during World War II. In 1944 FDR won 56% of non-union manual workers, 69% of AFL members, and 79% of CIO members. Truman in 1948 had similar results. The more militant industrial unions, led by John L. Lewis formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), and split off from

9435-472: The process it legitimized a social welfare state as a bipartisan ideal. Consequently, the California experience helped push New Deal towards social welfare legislation, especially the WPA and Social Security. Sinclair's campaign gave aspiring Democratic leaders a boost, most notably Culbert Olson , who was elected governor in 1938. Needing an alternative to the New Deal's Social Security system, many Republicans around

9546-426: The railroad brotherhoods and building trades unions within the AFL also founded banks of their own, the Amalgamated also used its banks to supervise the business operations of those garment businesses that came to it for loans. Under Hillman's leadership, the union tried to moderate the fierce competition between employers in the industry by imposing industry wide working standards, thereby taking wages and hours out of

9657-548: The rest of the country. The cities dropped 5 points to 61% for FDR in 1940 and 1944, while the rest dropped 7 points to 51%. Source: Gallup Polls in Gallup (1972) The big-city machines faded away in the 1940s with a few exceptions that lingered a bit such as Albany and Chicago. Local Democrats in most cities were heavily dependent on the WPA for patronage; when it ended in 1943, there was full employment and no replacement patronage source

9768-501: The right, typified by the American Liberty League led by his old friend Al Smith , spoiled the dream. Sensing how quickly public opinion was becoming more radical, Roosevelt moved left. He attacked big business. His major innovations now were social security for the elderly, the WPA for the unemployed, and a new labor relations act to support and encourage labor unions. Running for reelection in 1936, Roosevelt personalized

9879-523: The secret meetings of an illegal study circle headed by a local druggist . The study circle's members read radical literature and books on political economy , and Hillman was here exposed to the works of Charles Darwin , Karl Marx , John Stuart Mill , and Herbert Spencer in Russian translation. Early in 1903, Hillman passed from the training grounds of the Marxist study circle to fully fledged membership in

9990-519: The secretary of labor could certify the NDMB to rule on disputes threatening defense production. Such certification only occurred during disputes that the U.S. Conciliation Service could not resolve. Thus, partly because of its inability to render final decision, the NDMB emphasized collective bargaining and voluntarism, rather than federal determination, in settling labor disputes. In the two cases where voluntary arbitration and mediation had failed and management refused to accept Board recommendations,

10101-409: The situation. As the depression worsened, voters became increasingly dissatisfied with this approach and came to view President Hoover as indifferent to their economic struggles. Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide in 1932 and spent his time in office building a powerful nationwide coalition and keeping his partners from squabbling with each other. Over the course of the 1930s, Roosevelt forged

10212-577: The smashing reelection victory of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 , the heavily Democratic Congress passed a raft of liberal legislation. Labor union leaders claimed credit for the widest range of liberal laws since the New Deal era, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the War on Poverty; aid to cities and education; increased Social Security benefits; and Medicare for

10323-419: The spring of 1909 during a downturn of business. The unemployed Hillman found work in the garment industry as an apprentice garment cutter for Hart Schaffner & Marx , a prominent manufacturer of men's clothing. It would prove to be Hillman's last job as a worker at the bench. When a spontaneous strike by a handful of women workers there led to a citywide strike of 45,000 garment workers in 1910, Hillman

10434-442: The state and local level the GOP made steady gains in both White groups until reaching majority status in most of the South by 2000. Scholars debate exactly why the New Deal coalition collapsed so completely. Most emphasize a Southern Strategy by Republicans to appeal to a backlash against Democratic national support for civil rights. However, a minority of scholars consider a demographic change in addition to race. They argue that

10545-612: The support that northern Democrats gave to the Civil Rights Movement to be a direct political assault on their interests, which opened the way to protest votes for Barry Goldwater , who, in 1964, was the first Republican to carry the Deep South . Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton lured many of the Southern Whites back at the level of presidential voting, but by 2000, White males in the South were 2–1 Republican and, indeed, formed

10656-596: The “captive mines” conflict between the steel industry and the United Mine Workers. At the heart of the conflict were labor's demands for union shop in the commercial mines. After the UMW called out 50,000 miners in its first strike, the NDMB convinced workers to go back to work while it mediated a settlement. However, these attempts at mediation were unsuccessful, and the UMW called a second strike in spite of Roosevelt's exhortations to not strike again. On November 10, 1941,

10767-470: Was a rank-and-file leader in the strike . That strike was a bitter one and pitted the strikers against not only their employers and the local authorities, but also their own union, the United Garment Workers , a conservative AFL affiliate. When the UGW accepted an inadequate settlement, the membership rejected the offer and continued the strike, winning some gains at Hart, Schaffner. Hillman became

10878-403: Was a small-scale merchant; his paternal grandfather was a rabbi known for his piety and lack of concern for material possessions. Hillman's father was himself an impoverished merchant, more concerned with reading and prayer than with his faltering business. From a young age Sidney had shown great academic promise, mastering the rote memorization upon which the cheder education of the day

10989-766: Was a supporter of the New Deal and Roosevelt from the outset. FDR named him to the Labor Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration in 1933 and to the National Industrial Recovery Board in 1934. Hillman provided key assistance to Senator Robert F. Wagner in the drafting of the National Labor Relations Act and to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins in winning enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act . Within

11100-635: Was also credited with grass roots activities, registering labor voters and bringing them in heavy numbers to the polls. In 1945, he attended the World Trade Union Conference in London alongside many renowned trade unionists. Hillman and Bessie Abramowitz were married in 1916 and had two daughters. Hillman, who had been sick for some time, died of a heart attack at age 59 on July 10, 1946, at his summer home in Point Lookout, New York . His body

11211-408: Was an isolationist and broke with Roosevelt and endorsed his Republican opponent in the 1940 election, a position demanded by the pro-Soviet far left element in the CIO. Nevertheless, CIO members voted for Roosevelt and Lewis was forced to leave the CIO, taking his United Mine Workers of America union along. City Democratic machines had a new role to play. Traditionally the goal of winning power in

11322-643: Was based. By the age of 13, Hillman had memorized several volumes of the Talmud . The next year he was chosen by the Hillman rabbinical clan to go away to attend yeshiva in Vilijampolė , a small town across the river from the city of Kaunas . It was hoped that Sidney would follow in the Hillman family tradition by becoming a rabbi. Things did not proceed as planned, however. While in Slobodka, Hillman began to regularly attend

11433-542: Was broader than just the Democratic Party. He admired old Progressives now in the GOP, such as George W. Norris of Nebraska and Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. of Wisconsin. He disliked the conservativism of Wisconsin Democrats and preferred to work with the Progressive Party there. The Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota made an informal alliance with FDR and supported him in 1936; the Minnesota Democrats were

11544-449: Was composed of voting blocs who supported them. The coalition included labor unions , blue-collar workers, big city machines, racial and religious minorities (especially Jews, Catholics, and African Americans), white Southerners, and intellectuals. Besides voters the coalition included powerful interest groups: Democratic Party organizations in most states, city machines , labor unions , some third parties, universities, and foundations. It

11655-489: Was created. Furthermore, World War II brought such a surge of prosperity that the relief mechanism of the New Deal was no longer needed. Labor unions crested in size and power in the 1950s but then went into steady decline. They continue to be major backers of the Democrats, but with so few members, they have lost much of their influence. From the 1960s into the 1990s, many jobs moved to the Sun Belt free of union influences, and

11766-457: Was interred in a mausoleum located at Westchester Hills Cemetery , 20 miles north of New York City. According to labor historian David Brody , Hillman built upon the conservative job-oriented unionism that dominated the American scene, discarding his youthful radicalism and opposition to capitalism. Hillman was realistic, nonideological, and eager for tangible results. Under Hillman's leadership,

11877-465: Was largely opposed by the Republican Party, the business community, and rich Protestants. In creating his coalition, Roosevelt was at first eager to include liberal Republicans and some radical third parties, even if it meant downplaying the "Democratic" name. By the 1940s, the Republican and third-party allies had mostly been defeated. In 1948, the Democratic Party stood alone and survived the splits that created two splinter parties. The coalition made

11988-685: Was no longer a significant force in the union. While battling the CP, Hillman turned a blind eye to the infiltration of gangsters within the union. The garment industry had been riddled for decades with small-time gangsters, who ran protection and loansharking rackets while offering muscle in labor disputes. First hired to strongarm strikers, some went to work for unions, who used them first for self-defense, then to intimidate strikebreakers and recalcitrant employers. ILG locals used "Dopey" Benny Fein and his sluggers, who were more often hired by unions than employers although they were thugs for hire. Internecine warfare between labor sluggers eliminated many of

12099-473: Was not true as the members were much more conservative. The younger ones were much more concerned about taxes and crime, and the older ones had not overcome racial biases. Labor unions began to lose their members and influence in the 1970s as the economy became more service-oriented and the proportion of manufacturing jobs declined. Companies began relocating manufacturing jobs to Sun Belt states, free of labor union influences, and many Americans followed suit. As

12210-642: Was the first chair of the CIO Political Action Committee , founded in 1942, as well as of the National Citizens Political Action Committee (NCPAC) (which co-founded the 1948 Progressive Party ). In July 1943, Philip Murray of the CIO led formation of the CIO-PAC , of which Hillman was the first head. In Roosevelt's last election in 1944 , Hillman raised nearly $ 1 million on behalf of the Democrat national ticket. Hillman

12321-562: Was the head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor's support for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal coalition of the Democratic Party . Sidney Hillman was born in Žagarė , Lithuania , then part of the Russian Empire , on March 23, 1887, the son of Lithuanian Jewish parents. Sidney's maternal grandfather

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