Has there ever been a famous union official in the US who wasn't an obvious crook? (not that being an obvious crook stops someone from being elected, as proof see nearly every big city mayor in the US or Donald Trump)
This is historically a meme, the notion that union officials were overly corrupt or had extensive mob ties from like 3-4 unions in the 1970s is false, especially so given the corruption swept under the rug by bosses and FBI hyperfocus on union officials on behalf of said bosses.
Whether or not this perception is accurate, it started much earlier. The modern idea of direct ties between organized crime and labor probably stems from the Goldwater-Kennedy hearings of the Labor & Public Welfare Committee c. 1958, though I'm sure the idea has much earlier hints in the labor-management violence of the 19th century.
Has there ever been a famous union official in the US who wasn't an obvious crook? (not that being an obvious crook stops someone from being elected, as proof see nearly every big city mayor in the US or Donald Trump)
Walter Reuther? I seem to recall reading that RFK wanted him on the ticket in 1960.
If that's true, the idea probably stemmed from those hearings, in which Goldwater attempted to implicate Reuther in criminal activity but was fairly deftly handled by the witness.
