Daniel J. Tobin

Daniel Joseph Tobin (born April 3, 1875 in County Clare , Ireland ; † November 14, 1955 in Indianapolis , Indiana ) was president of the union " International Brotherhood of Teamsters " from 1907 to 1952 .

Born in Ireland, Tobin came to Boston in 1890 . He worked during the day and attended school at night. In the late 1890s he owned his own small haulage company and married Elizabeth Reagan in August 1898, who died in 1920. Together they had five sons.

Although he was an independent and self-employed driver, he already joined the "Local 25" of the Team Drivers International Union in Boston in 1900 and helped to form the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 1903 , of which he became president in 1907. He moved to Indianapolis .

Tobin published the union's own magazine (International Teamsters) in order to strengthen cohesion, which was not necessarily given due to the independence of the individual branches and their freedom of contract, which also led to legal disputes among themselves. Regardless of bureaucratic details, Tobin rose to be the international representative of his union and also pursued his interests at the AFL , which was then headed by Samuel Gompers .

In a long legal dispute with the "United Brewery Workers", whose drivers would have liked to represent the Teamsters, he was ultimately defeated by the relevant AFL committee. Due to prohibition , the brewery drivers then voluntarily converted in 1933 in order to escape a ban on their organization.

In 1924 Tobin tried Robert M. La Follette sr. to make the president of the AFL, which failed. He then became a leading member of the Democratic Party and headed the campaign committee's union office in the 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944 election campaigns.

In 1940 the membership had grown to about 450,000 and Tobin was on a salary of $ 30,000. Tobin was considered an aggressive anti-communist and continued to be active in international trade union issues.

In 1947 he handed over management to his successor, Dave Beck , and resigned as president in 1952. The Teamsters had around 1.1 million members at that time.

predecessor	Office	successor
Cornelius Shea	President of the " Teamsters " -Union 1907 - 1952	Dave Beck