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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202 371-6422
William Green, longtime president of the American
Federation of Labor, will be the 1996 honoree of the U.S. Department of Labor's
Labor Hall of Fame, Secretary of Labor and Hall of Fame Chairman W.J. Usery,
Jr. announced today.
Reich and Usery will officiate at a program during which an
exhibit honoring Green will be unveiled. The program is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Thursday, December 12th, in the auditorium of the Labor Department's Frances
Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. John Sweeney,
president of the AFL-CIO, and Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine
Workers, will speak at the event.
The exhibit in which Green will now be featured along with
19 other honorees is located in the lobby of the Frances Perkins Building.
William Green was president of the AFL from 1924 until his
death in 1952. He succeeded Samuel Gompers, the AFL's head since its beginning
in the 1870s.
Green led the AFL through the Great Depression with its
record numbers of unemployed workers and resulting New Deal legislation
including the National Labor Relations Act. He led the AFL during the rise of
industrial unionism and played an important role in labor policies during World
War II.
A native of Coschocton, Ohio, where he was born in 1870,
Green began his working life as a coal miner. He quickly rose to leadership in
the United Mine Workers of America, and became the union's secretary-treasurer
in 1913 after serving two terms in the Ohio Senate where he was elected
president pro-tem.
In 1913 Green was also chosen to be a vice president of the
American Federation of Labor. He succeeded Gompers as president on the latter's
death in 1924.
A deeply religious man, Green spoke out effectively against
bigotry and discrimination and played a leading role in opposing both fascism
and communism.
William Green joins 19 other honorees in the Labor Hall of
Fame who come from organized labor, industry, government and academia, and who
have distinguished themselves in behalf of the American worker.
The exhibit, which includes interactive video biographies
of the honorees, is open to the public during government working hours. It is
sponsored by a non-profit group, Friends of the Department of Labor, with the
support of the Labor Department.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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