Word: hoffa
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When Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa was serving a 13-year term in Lewisburg penitentiary for fraud and jury tampering, some of his friends claimed that he wanted a parole not to resume his rambunctious union ways but simply to lead a quiet life-"teaching and lecturing," as New Hampshire Publisher William Loeb put it. The parole board quite clearly did not believe...
...Hoffa became a model prisoner, dutifully stuffing mattresses and keeping in shape by doing pushups. "He has an excellent mental attitude," the prison warden said. "He gives us most courteous treatment and we give him the same." The parole board still did not budge on his case...
...Hoffa then made the ultimate sacrifice. He stepped down as president of the Teamsters in the summer of 1971, throwing his support to sleepy, sluggish Frank Fitzsimmons. Fitz handily won the election at the Teamsters convention in Miami Beach that same summer, and Hoffa became "General President Emeritus" for life, with a consoling pension that he quickly converted into a lump-sum payment worth some $1.7 million...
Tainted Union. Meanwhile, a campaign for clemency was organized. Assorted allies called on White House aides and the Justice Department. Political support was recruited, petitions signed. There were three requests for parole, and three times the board unanimously voted no. Then President Nixon commuted Hoffa's sentence, and the famous convict was home for Christmas. As the election year began. White House relations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters flourished as never before...
Fall and Rise is a sad book. Sheridan admits that despite Robert Kennedy's crusade, the Teamsters have changed little. Despite the law-and-order banner, the Administration seems happy to play footsie with this tainted union. Despite the restriction imposed in the commutation of Hoffa's sentence - he is barred from an active leader ship role in the union until 1980 - ways around that problem can be found, or the terms can be amended. Before the next election...