Jimmy Hoffa Why Was Jimmy Hoffa Successful?

Jimmy Hoffa

Why was Jimmy Hoffa Successful?

Jimmy Hoffa was an American labor rights activist, who was active during early 1950's until 1975; when Hoffa's suddenly disappeared which is still a mystery even though Hoffa has been legally pronounced dead. Jimmy Hoffa was from a poor family, but after his father's death, Hoffa dropped out of the school after the 9th grade and started working stock boy. Hoffa's working job as a blue collar work might have convinced Hoffa that in order to successful money is most important.

Jimmy Hoffa's success lied in being financially strong i.e. being able to influence other through cash; Jimmy Hoffa Proclaimed in a CBS program "Retrobites" that,

"Because we are financially solid, because we do have an organization that is equipped to handle any situation that comes in front of us, we are successful in getting from the employers what are members want and need without strikes."

Even though his reliance on finance was strong, nonetheless he believed in unity and team work. In his autobiography, Hoffa writes,

In the ten years I was president of the Teamsters, I had raised the membership from eight hundred thousand to more than 2 million and made it the largest single labor union the world. (Hoffa 13)

His emphasis on a constant finance and strong union lead to Robert F. Kennedy proclaiming,

"Jimmy Hoffa is the most powerful man in United States, next to President" (Sloane 135)

One of the things that he had in common along with other rights activist was his outrageousness like Malcolm X Both of them got arrested in their lives one way or the other. And the most common feature among both of them was their struggle for the classes either from the view point of the race or from the view point of the pay scale.

His charisma was hidden in his ability to con people by manipulation of the truth or by lying flat out. Jimmy Hoffa attempted to use the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund (CSPF) to foster his unions' goals in any manner he saw fit (Ghilarducci, Mangum and Peterson 34)and that why he was arrested in 1967 for Jury tampering in case that made headlines around the U.S. newspapers. His success also depended in his temporarily taking a step back from his ideology such as his appeal President Richard M. Nixon to pardon him or at least decreasing his 13-year jail time which was awarded as a result of him charges labeled against him which range from bribery to jury tempering.

Jimmy Hoffa's secret for triumph was his honest approach towards the most basic hardships of life, which people from working class faces every day but were unable to stand them because of fear of their inner-self. Hoffa's life was indeed a success because his appeals for labor unions are still visible and the proof of his success is his name being a synonym for Labor Unions.