# CIO-PAC

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{{Short description|Political action committee of the Congress of Industrial Organizations}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Congress of Industrial Organizations – Political Action Committee (CIO-PAC)
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| caption             = Congress of Industrial Organizations logo, parent of the CIO-PAC
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| formation           = July 1943 <!-- use {{start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
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| merger              = 1955
| type                = [Political action committee](/source/Political_action_committee)
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| leader_title        = Chairman
| leader_name         = [Sidney Hillman](/source/Sidney_Hillman) ([ACW](/source/Amalgamated_Clothing_Workers_of_America))
| leader_title2       = Treasurer
| leader_name2        = [R. J. Thomas](/source/R._J._Thomas) ([UAW](/source/United_Auto_Workers))
| leader_title3       = Member of the Board
| board_of_directors  = Vann Bittner ([UMW](/source/United_Mine_Workers)), Sherman Dalrymple ([URW](/source/United_Rubber_Workers)), [Albert Fitzgerald](/source/Albert_Fitzgerald) ([UE](/source/United_Electrical%2C_Radio_and_Machine_Workers_of_America)), [David McDonald](/source/David_J._McDonald) ([USWA](/source/United_Steel_Workers_of_America))
| key_people          = [John Abt](/source/John_Abt) (co-counsel), [Lee Pressman](/source/Lee_Pressman) (co-counsel), [Calvin Benham Baldwin](/source/Calvin_Benham_Baldwin)
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| parent_organization = [Congress of Industrial Organizations](/source/Congress_of_Industrial_Organizations)
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The '''Congress of Industrial Organizations – Political Action Committee''' ('''CIO-PAC''') was a [political action committee](/source/political_action_committee) in the United States, active from 1943 to 1955. It was the first political action committee established in the country. It was established by the [Congress of Industrial Organizations](/source/Congress_of_Industrial_Organizations) (CIO), a federation of industrial unions.

What distinguished the CIO-PAC from previous political groups (including the [AFL](/source/American_Federation_of_Labor)'s political operations) was its "open, public operation, soliciting support from non-CIO unionists and from the progressive public. ... Moreover, CIO political operatives would actively participate in intraparty platform, policy, and candidate selection processes, pressing the broad agenda of the industrial union movement."{{Sfn|Zieger|1997|pp=181–182}}

==Background==
[[File:DennisEugene.jpg|right|thumb|[FBI](/source/FBI) [mugshot](/source/mugshot) of [Eugene Dennis](/source/Eugene_Dennis) (1948)]]
In his 1993 memoir, [John Abt](/source/John_Abt), general counsel for the [Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America](/source/Amalgamated_Clothing_Workers_of_America) under [Sidney Hillman](/source/Sidney_Hillman), claimed the leaders of the [Communist Party of the USA](/source/Communist_Party_of_the_USA) had inspired the idea of the CIO-PAC:  <blockquote>In 1943, [Gene Dennis](/source/Eugene_Dennis) came to me and [Lee Pressman](/source/Lee_Pressman) to first raise the idea of a political action committee to organize labor support for Roosevelt in the approaching 1944 election. Pressman approached Murray with the idea, as I did with Hillman. Both men seized upon the proposal with great enthusiasm.{{Sfn|Abt|Myerson|1993|p=99}}</blockquote> Abt and Pressman become the CIO-PAC's co-counsels.{{Sfn|Gall|1999|pp=183–184}}
Momentum for the CIO-PAC came from the Smith–Connally Act<ref>The Act's correct title is "Smith-Connally," not "Smith-Connelly". See: Wagner, Kennedy, Osborne, and Reyburn, ''The Library of Congress World War II Companion'', 2007, p. 196.</ref> or War Labor Disputes Act{{Sfn|Malsberger|2000|p=104}} (50 U.S.C. App. 1501 et seq.) was an American law passed on June 25, 1943, over President [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt)'s veto.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16420 |title=Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Veto of the Smith-Connally Bill.," June 25, 1943 |author1=Peters, Gerhard |author2=Woolley, John T |work=The American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California – Santa Barbara}}</ref><ref>Karatnycky, ''Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, 2000–2001'', 2000, p. 115.</ref> The legislation was hurriedly created after 400,000 coal miners, their wages significantly lowered because of high wartime inflation, [struck](/source/Strike_action) for a $2-a-day wage increase.{{Sfn|Malsberger|2000|p=104}}<ref>Karatnycky, ''Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, 2000–2001'', 2000, p. 114; Atleson, ''Labor and the Wartime State: Labor Relations and Law During World War II'', 1998, p. 195.</ref>  The Act allowed the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by or under strikes that would interfere with war production,<ref>Wagner, Kennedy, Osborne, and Reyburn, ''The Library of Congress World War II Companion'', 2007, p. 196.</ref> and prohibited unions from making contributions in federal elections.<ref>La Raja, ''Small Change: Money, Political Parties, and Campaign Finance Reform'', 2008, p. 63; Sabato and Ernst, ''Encyclopedia of American Political Parties and Elections'', 2006, p. 279.</ref>

The war powers bestowed by the Act were first used in August 1944 when the [Fair Employment Practices Commission](/source/Fair_Employment_Practices_Commission) ordered the [Philadelphia Transportation Company](/source/Philadelphia_Transportation_Company) to hire [African Americans](/source/African_Americans) as [motormen](/source/Motorman_(locomotive)). The 10,000 members of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Employees Union (PRTEU), a labor union unaffiliated with either the [American Federation of Labor](/source/American_Federation_of_Labor) or the [Congress of Industrial Organizations](/source/Congress_of_Industrial_Organizations), led a [sick-out strike](/source/Strike_action), now known as the [Philadelphia transit strike of 1944](/source/Philadelphia_transit_strike_of_1944), for six days.<ref>Goodwin, ''No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II'', 1995, p. 537; "Philadelphia Transit Strike (1944)," in ''Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History'', 2007, p. 1087–1088; Winkler, "The Philadelphia Transit Strike of 1944," ''Journal of American History'', June 1972.</ref><ref name="Time">{{cite magazine
| url = https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,775130,00.html
| title = Trouble in Philadelphia
| magazine = Time
| date = August 14, 1944
| access-date = 27 July 2021}}</ref> President Roosevelt sent 8,000 [United States Army](/source/United_States_Army) troops to the city to seize and operate the transit system, and threatened to draft any PRTEU member who did not return to the job within 48 hours.<ref name="Time" /><ref>Klinkner and Smith, ''The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America'', 2002, p. 191.</ref> Roosevelt's actions broke the strike.

[[File:Philip Murray.jpg|thumb|right|[Philip Murray](/source/Philip_Murray), 2nd CIO president]]
In November 1946, prior to passage of the Smith–Connally Act, the CIO's second president, [Philip Murray](/source/Philip_Murray) appointed [John Brophy](/source/John_Brophy_(labor)) (a UMW leader, by then head of the CIO's director of Industrial Union Councils), [Nathan Cowan](/source/Nathan_Cowan) (CIO legislative director), and [J. Raymond Walsh](/source/J._Raymond_Walsh) (CIO research director) to report on CIO political operations. Their report of December 1946 included recommendation for a permanent CIO national political group and consideration for formation of an American Labor Party. During CIO Executive Board meetings in January and February 1943, the board approved most recommendations.{{Sfn|Zieger|1997|pp=181–182}}

==Formation==
[[File:Cairo conference.jpg|thumb|right|[FDR](/source/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt) with [Chiang Kai-shek](/source/Chiang_Kai-shek) and [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill) at the [Cairo Conference](/source/Cairo_Conference) (December 1943)]]
Upon passage of the Smith–Connally Act on June 25, 1943, Murray called for a political action committee. The CIO-PAC formed in July 1943 to support the fourth candidacy of [Franklin Delano Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt) for U.S. President in 1944 toward the end of [World War II](/source/World_War_II). It also provided financial assistance to other CIO-endorsed political candidates and pro-labor legislation (e.g., continuation of the [Wagner Act](/source/Wagner_Act) against the [Taft–Hartley Act](/source/Taft%E2%80%93Hartley_Act) in 1947). CIO member unions funded it. Its first head was [Sidney Hillman](/source/Sidney_Hillman), founder and head of the [Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America](/source/Amalgamated_Clothing_Workers_of_America), from 1943 to 1946.{{Sfn|Zieger|1997|pp=181–182}}<ref name=Reuther>{{cite web
| title = CIO Political Action Committee (PAC) Collection
| publisher = Wayne State University – Reuther Library
| url = https://reuther.wayne.edu/files/LR000647.pdf
| date = 
| accessdate = 4 September 2017}}</ref><ref name=Moyers>{{cite web
| title = Moyer's Report: Trade Secrets
| publisher = PBS
| url = http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/evidence/pop_pac.html
| date = 
| accessdate = 4 September 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Sidney Hillman, circa 1940.jpg|thumb|right|[Sidney Hillman](/source/Sidney_Hillman), first CIO-PAC chairman and [ACW](/source/Amalgamated_Clothing_Workers_of_America) president]]
First members of the CIO-PAC included the following:

* [Sidney Hillman](/source/Sidney_Hillman), chairman (founder and head of the [Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America](/source/Amalgamated_Clothing_Workers_of_America) or ACW)
* [R. J. Thomas](/source/R._J._Thomas), treasurer (president of the [United Auto Workers](/source/United_Auto_Workers) or UAW)
* Vann Bittner, member (national organizer for the [United Mine Workers](/source/United_Mine_Workers) or UMW)
* [Sherman Dalrymple](/source/Sherman_Dalrymple), member (president of the [United Rubber Workers](/source/United_Rubber_Workers)) or URW)
* [Albert Fitzgerald](/source/Albert_Fitzgerald), member (president of the [United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America](/source/United_Electrical%2C_Radio_and_Machine_Workers_of_America) or UE)
* [David McDonald](/source/David_J._McDonald), member (secretary-treasurer of the [United Steel Workers of America](/source/United_Steel_Workers_of_America) or USWA){{Sfn|Zieger|1997|pp=181–182}}

John Abt and Lee Pressman became the CIO-PAC's co-counsels.{{Sfn|Gall|1999|pp=183–184}} [Calvin Benham Baldwin](/source/Calvin_Benham_Baldwin) left government at that time to go work for the CIO-PAC.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Guide to the C.B. Baldwin Papers
| publisher = University of Iowa
| url = http://collguides.lib.uiowa.edu/?MSC0343
| date = 
| accessdate = 25 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| title = C.B. Baldwin Dies; New Deal Official Shifted to Wallace
| work = New York Times
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/13/archives/cb-baldwin-dies-new-deal-official-shifted-to-wallace.html
| date = 13 May 1975
| accessdate = 25 November 2016}}</ref> (By August 1948, the ''Washington Post'' had dubbed Baldwin along with [John Abt](/source/John_Abt) and [Lee Pressman](/source/Lee_Pressman) (the latter two members of the Soviet underground [Ware Group](/source/Ware_group) involved in the [Hiss](/source/Alger_Hiss)-[Chambers](/source/Whittaker_Chambers) Case) as "influential insiders" and "stage managers" in the [Wallace](/source/Henry_A._Wallace) presidential campaign.<ref>{{cite news
| first1 = Joseph
| last1 = Alsop
| first2 = Stewart
| last2 = Alsop
| title = Wallace Must Wonder Sometimes
| newspaper = Washington Post
| url=
| page = B5
| date = 25 July 1948
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| first1 = Joseph
| last1 = Alsop
| first2 = Stewart
| last2 = Alsop
| title = Progressives Open Doors To Other Like-Minded Groups
| newspaper = Washington Post
| url=
| page = B5
| date = 28 July 1948
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| first1 = Marquis
| last1 = Childs
| title = Calling Washington: Wallace's Stage Managers
| newspaper = Washington Post
| url=
| page = 9
| date = 24 July 1948
}}</ref>)

==20th century==
After 1944, [Lucy Randolph Mason](/source/Lucy_Randolph_Mason) worked with the CIO-PAC in the South, helping to register union members, black and white, and working for the elimination of the [poll tax](/source/Poll_tax_(United_States)). She also forged lasting links between labor and religious groups.{{Sfn|Salmond|1988|pp=106–109}}

On October 17, 1950, [New York State Supreme Court](/source/New_York_State_Supreme_Court) Judge [Ferdinand Pecora](/source/Ferdinand_Pecora) and US Senator [Herbert H. Lehman](/source/Herbert_H._Lehman) (D-NY) gave radio addresses on behalf of the CIO-PAC during prime (10:30–11:15 pm.).<ref>{{cite web
| title = CIO Political Action Committee 1950-10-17 [sound recording]
| publisher = Library of Congress
| date = 17 October 1950
| url = https://lccn.loc.gov/2005652886
| accessdate = 20 May 2020}}</ref>

In 1955, when the CIO rejoined the [American Federation of Labor](/source/American_Federation_of_Labor) to form the [AFL–CIO](/source/AFL%E2%80%93CIO), [Jack Kroll](/source/Jack_Kroll) became head of the CIO-PAC, which merged with the AFL's "League for Political Education" to form the AFL–CIO [Committee on Political Education](/source/Committee_on_Political_Education).<ref name=Reuther />

==21st century==
PAC activities by AFL–CIO and its members continue into the 21st century. In 2015, an AFL–CIO's moratorium on federal PAC contributions by its member unions began to fall apart weeks after its announcement. Defiant unions included: [United Food and Commercial Workers](/source/United_Food_and_Commercial_Workers), the [International Association of Machinists](/source/International_Association_of_Machinists), and the [Laborers' International Union of North America](/source/Laborers'_International_Union_of_North_America)–13% were non-compliant.<ref>{{cite web
| first1 = Brian
| last1 = Mahoney
| first2 = Marianne
| last2 = Levine
| title = Unions Defy AFL-CIO PAC Freeze
| publisher = Political
| url = https://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/afl-cio-pac-freeze-unions-defy-117298
| date = 23 April 2015
| access-date = 4 September 2017}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Works cited ==
*{{Cite book
| last1=Abt
| first=John
| authorlink1 = John Abt
| last2=Myerson
| first2=Michael
| title=Advocate and Activist: Memoirs of an American Communist Lawyer
| publisher=University of Illinois Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9REaIPPh4k4C
| year=1993
| isbn=978-0-252-02030-8}}
*{{cite book |first=Gilbert J. |last=Gall |title=Pursuing Justice: Lee Pressman, the New Deal, and the CIO |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0791441046 |url=http://www.sunypress.edu/p-2934-pursuing-justice.aspx |date=February 25, 1999}}
* {{Cite book
|last=Malsberger
|first=John W.
|title=From Obstruction to Moderation: The Transformation of Senate Conservatism, 1938–1952
|publisher=Susquehanna University Press
|year=2000
|isbn=978-1575910260}}
*{{cite book |last=Salmond |first=John A. |year=1988 |title=Miss Lucy of the CIO: The Life and Times of Lucy Randolph Mason |location=Athens, GA |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-0956-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/misslucyofciolif00salm/page/106 }}
* {{cite book
| first = Robert H.
| last = Zieger
| title = The CIO, 1935–1955
| publisher = University of North Carolina Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ghy45fyXYyoC
| date = 1997
| isbn = 978-0-8078-4630-8
| language=en}}

==External sources==
* {{cite book
| title = The Union Politic: The CIO Political Action Committee
| first = James Caldwell
| last = Foster
| publisher = University of Missouri Press
| url = https://archive.org/details/unionpoliticciop00fost
| url-access = registration
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/unionpoliticciop00fost/page/247 247]
| date = 1975
| accessdate = 5 September 2017}}
* {{cite book
| title = The CIO and the Democratic Party
| first = Fay
| last = Calkins
| publisher = University of Chicago Press
| url =
| pages = 
| date = 1952
}}
* {{cite book
| title = Labor's Struggles, 1945–1950: A Participant's View
| url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0521533260
| first = Irving
| last = Richter
| date = 2003
| accessdate = 5 September 2017}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Labor's Communists Come Under Fire |journal=[Life](/source/Life_(magazine)) |date=24 March 1947 |volume=22 |issue=12 |url=https://archive.org/details/Life-1947-03-24-Vol-22-No-12/page/31/mode/1up}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:United States political action committees
Category:American organizations established in 1943
Category:Organizations disestablished in 1955
Category:1955 disestablishments in the United States

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [CIO-PAC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIO-PAC) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIO-PAC?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.