John L. Lewis
1880-1969
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"I have pleaded (labor's) case, not in the quavering
tones of a feeble mendicant asking alms, but in the thundering voice of the
captain of a mighty host, demanding the rights to which free men are
entitled."
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A colossus of American
labor, John L. Lewis was an eloquent spokesman for working people throughout
the U.S. President of the United Mine Workers for over four decades, he won for
his members the highest wages of any of the major industries of the period, and
one of the first employer-paid health and retirement systems. A strong
proponent of industrial unionism, he revitalized the U.S. labor movement in the
thirties with the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
bringing hundreds of thousands of workers into the new CIO. The controversial
John L. Lewis was one of the most admired, feared, effective and colorful trade
unionists in American history.
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