End Of Hoffa’s Reign May Be Near

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 13

End Of Hoffa’s Reign May Be Near

(N .Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK, March 13. The continued reign of James Riddle Hoffa over the powerful Teamsters’ Union —the world’s biggest trade union—is in doubt as a result of the eight-year prison sentence imposed on him in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for trying to influence a Federal jury.

Hoffa will appeal against the conviction and the sentence, including a 10,000dollar fine, imposed on him by Federal Judge Frank Wilson yesterday for trying to tamper with a jury which failed to agree on a verdict in a 1962 Federal trial of Hoffa on a conspiracy charge. Although the appeal may go on for two years and Hoffa may stall win his case, the conviction is his first major defeat hi his 32-year rise to power. Until yesterday, he was perhaps one of the most powerful men in the United Stales.

Since rising to the Teamsters’ presidency in 1957, shortly after the former

president, Dave Beck, was convicted of income tax evasion, Hoffa has kept his leadership by the simple method of pleasing the union’s 1.700,000 members. He has consistently been able to get more money and better working conditions for the lorry drivers and other workers who come under the heading of “teamsters.” His appearance before the United States Senate Rackets Committee made Hoffa known to people outside the union movement and it was there he encountered a young man named Robert Kennedy, then counsel for the committee and now AttorneyGeneral.

They first met when a mutual acquaintance invited them to dinner. The dislike was intense and mutual. Hoffa was quoted as having described Mr Kennedy as "a spoiled little jerk” after they parted. (Earlier report: page 19)