1. Harry Bridges was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association.
45 Facts About Harry Bridges
1. 2.
Harry Bridges served as ILWU president for the next 40 years.
3.
Harry Bridges was designated a subversive alien by the US government, with the goal of deporting him, but it was never achieved.
4.
Harry Bridges was then convicted by a federal jury for having lied about his Communist Party membership when applying for naturalization; however, the perjury conviction was overturned in 1953 by the Supreme Court because the original indictment against Bridges occurred outside the statute of limitations.
5.
Harry Bridges was born Alfred Renton Bryant Harry Bridges in Kensington, Victoria, Australia.
6.
Harry Bridges's father, Alfred Earnest Bridges, was a successful suburban realtor, and his mother, Julia Bridges, was a devout Roman Catholic of Irish descent.
7.
Harry Bridges went to sea at age 16 as a merchant seaman and joined the Australian sailors' union.
8.
Harry Bridges was teased about his passion for horse racing.
9.
In 1921, Harry Bridges joined the Industrial Workers of the World, participating in an unsuccessful nationwide seamen's strike.
10.
Harry Bridges soon dropped out of the IWW with doubts about its effectiveness, but his early experiences in the IWW and in Australian unions influenced his belief that rank-and-file workers required "a militant, class-conscious organization".
11.
In 1922, Harry Bridges left the sea for longshore work in San Francisco.
12.
At first, Harry Bridges shunned the Blue Book, finding casual work on the docks as a "pirate".
13.
Harry Bridges reluctantly joined the company union in 1927 and worked as a winch driver and rigger on a steel-handling gang.
14.
At the time, Harry Bridges was a member of a circle of longshoremen referred to as the "Albion Hall group", named for their meeting place.
15.
Harry Bridges did not control the strike: over his strong objections, the ILA membership voted to accept arbitration to end the strike.
16.
Similarly, in 1935, Harry Bridges' opposition did not stop the ILA leadership from extending the union's contract with the employers, rather than striking in solidarity with the seamen.
17.
Harry Bridges was elected president of the San Francisco local in 1934 and president of the Pacific Coast District of the ILA in 1936.
18.
Harry Bridges led the effort in 1935 to form the Maritime Federation of the Pacific, which brought together seven maritime unions for common action.
19.
Later, the ILWU under Harry Bridges would organize sugar and pineapple workers on the plantations in Hawai'i, against the concerted opposition of employers and most of the Hawaiian political establishment.
20.
Harry Bridges' efforts were credited with transforming the labor landscape of the islands.
21.
Harry Bridges was elected president of the new ILWU union, which quickly affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
22.
In May 1942, though the Roosevelt administration was now putting its anti-Communist activities on hold in the interest of furthering the Soviet-American alliance, Attorney General Biddle overruled the BIA and ordered Harry Bridges deported at once.
23.
Harry Bridges appealed and lost in District Court and the Court of Appeals.
24.
Harry Bridges was sentenced to five years in prison and his citizenship was revoked.
25.
Harry Bridges hewed to the Communist Party line throughout the late 1930s and 1940s.
26.
Harry Bridges denounced Roosevelt for betraying labor and preparing for war.
27.
Harry Bridges continued opposing the Roosevelt administration, disparaging the New Deal, and urging union voters to withhold their support from Roosevelt.
28.
Harry Bridges said they should wait to see what Lewis, who had now split with the White House, recommended.
29.
Harry Bridges refused, noting that the union's constitution allowed for a recall election if fifteen percent of the membership petitioned for one.
30.
Harry Bridges later joined with Joseph Curran of the National Maritime Union, which represented sailors on the East Coast, and Julius Emspak of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, to endorse a wartime "national service law" proposal by Roosevelt that would have essentially placed the US labor force at the disposal of the federal government.
31.
Harry Bridges' attitude changed sharply after the end of World War II.
32.
Harry Bridges had his own opinions about the Marshall Plan and the application of the Truman Doctrine in Greece and Turkey, as well as participation in the World Federation of Trade Unions, viewing every element from the point of how it would affect his constituents.
33.
The organization continued to negotiate agreements, with less strife than in the 1930s and 1940s, and Harry Bridges continued to be reelected without serious opposition.
34.
The additional longshore work produced by the Vietnam War allowed Harry Bridges to meet the challenge by opening up more jobs and making determined efforts to recruit black applicants.
35.
Harry Bridges had difficulty giving up his position in the ILWU.
36.
Harry Bridges explored the possibility of merging it with the ILA or the Teamsters in the early 1970s.
37.
Harry Bridges retired in 1977 after ensuring that Louis Goldblatt, the long-time Secretary-Treasurer of the union and his logical successor, was denied the opportunity to replace him.
38.
In 1923, Harry Bridges initiated a relationship with Agnes Bridges, a waitress he met in Marshfield, Oregon.
39.
Harry Bridges accused Agnes of alcoholism, and Agnes claimed Harry Bridges had fathered a child with Nancy Berdecio.
40.
In 1940, Harry Bridges met Nancy Fenton Berdecio, a one-time professional dancer, while traveling in New York City.
41.
Harry Bridges met Noriko "Nikki" Sawada in San Francisco, when introduced by her employer, Charles Garry, a civil rights lawyer.
42.
The Harry Bridges Institute in San Pedro, California, is a research institute that focuses on topics of international economics and how changes in political geography affect unions.
43.
The archives of the Harry Bridges Institute are held in the University Library at California State University, Northridge.
44.
In 1941, The Almanac Singers, including Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, recorded "Song for Harry Bridges" while working on their album Talking Union that defends Harry Bridges' work.
45.
In 2009, the nonprofit Harry Bridges Project produced From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges, a one-man play that was directed and filmed by Haskell Wexler.