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The Machinists Union was founded on May 5, 1888. When 19 machinists met in secret in a engine pit in Atlanta, Georgia. Tom Talbot, the founder was the first Grand Master Machinist (today called the International Presidents). There have been 13 International Presidents since then. William L. Dawley was the first Grand Secretary (today called the General Secretary Treasurer)

About the two photo's below.

On the left; The railroad turntable in Atlanta, Georgia where the IAM was founded. The 19 machinists met secretly at night, in an engine pit, now cemented over-just to the right of the door (on the right) and founded the union on May 5, 1888.

On the right; Bust of Tom Talbot in Grant Park, Atlanta.
Photos courtesy of Harry Katopodis, Communication Officer, Web Steward and Newsletter Editor,
Airline Lodge 141 (Eastern Territory)

THE FIGHTING MACHINISTS~ A CENTURY OF STRUGGLE 
BY ROBERT G. RODDEN
INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION
 PRELUDE TO A UNION
The Times and The Man

 26. Emmet Davison - Shirt-sleeve GST and "Mr. Mayor", The "Indigestible Mass" 51. The Battle of Seattle, District 751 Meets Porky Pig, Their Finest Hour
2. The Man (Continued) 27.  The War in the War Plants, The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 52. "Give 'Em Hell Harry", The Flying Billboard, Rewriting and Righting the Ritual
3. IN THE BEGINNING 1888~1900
In The Beginning 1888~1900		 28. REPRESSION AND RETREAT 1920~1930
Repression and Retreat 1920-1930, Business Unionism and Union Businesses		 53. Reds, Witch Hunts and the IAM, The Schrank Case, Harvey Brown Meets Mandatory Retirement.
4. Dedication 29. Class Warfare in the 1920's, The NAM and The American Plan 54. PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY 1950~1965
Al Hayes--A Man For the Times, Return to the House of Labor
5. The Boomers 30. The Great Railroad Strike of 1922, A Toe in the Political Waters 55. The IAM in the Korean Conflict, Health and Welfare and Other Fringe Benefits, Boomer Jones Sings a Song of Labor
6. The Murder of Talbot 31. The B&O Plan, The Great Red Scare 56. Hands Across the Sea, Moving Toward the Merger
7. New Leadership: Creamer and O'Day 32. The Wharton Years

57. The Expanding Role of Women, The IAM and the Breakup of the UE, Eight Millionaires and a Plumber
8. New Leadership (Continued) 33. The Railway Labor Act and Company Unionism, Boom and Bust, The Seeds of The Great Depression

58. The Oregon Story, The Ivory Tower, Lloyd Weber--The Spirit of  St. Louis, The Selling of a Strike Fund.
9. The Era of O'Connell 34.THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL 1930~1940
 The Great Depression and the New Deal 1930~1940, Requiem For a Heavyweight, The Winters of Discontent, The Norris-LaGuardia Act		 59. Jettisoning the Journal, Checking the Right-to-Work Plague
10. Debs and The American Railway Union 35. Hitting Bottom, The New Deal, The NRA and the Long Road Back 60. Women Must Weep, Anatomy Of A Lie, The McClellan Committee and Landrum-Griffin 
11. Burying the Color Bar 36. Organizing the Office Equipment Industry, The Grand Lodge Research Department, Government FOR the People, Hysteria in High Places 61. Back to the Barricades, Elmer Walker--Bull of the Woods.
12. The Old Century Ends 37. John L. Lewis and the CIO, The IAM vs. the CIO 62. "Working Class Heroes" and Disillusioned Liberals", Showdown in St. Louis
13. THE NEW CENTURY 1900~1920
The New Century 1900~1920, The Nine-Hour Day and the Murray Hill Agreement		 38. Organizing the Aircraft Industry 63. Freezing the Death Benefits, Roy Brown vs. Elmer Walker, Clouds Over Camelot.
14. Employer Betrayal and The Fighting Machinists 39. James Rand and the Mohawk Valley Formula 64. Canadian Machinists and the NDP, A New Day for Federal Employees, Sweet Times and Sour Notes.
15. The IAM vs. The NMTA, King of The Strike Breakers 40. LaFollette Committee Hearings, Sit Down! Sit Down!, The Memorial Day Massacre 65. Radio and the Radical Right, In Your Guts You Know He's Nuts, All The Way With LBJ, 14(b)--Part of the Way With LBJ.
16. Opening the Door, Women Entering the Trade 41. "Will You Support the Decisions of this Convention?"
Reds and Raids		 66. The Go-Go Years 1965~1969
Matt DeMore--Vesuvius from Cleveland, Roy Siemiller--Anything But An Old Shoe
17. Years of Growth--Years of Struggle 42. Negotiations and a New Generation, Wharton's Last Stand, Harvey Brown--The Old Fashioned Machinist, On the Eve of War 67. The Big Airline Strike of '66, Bye-Bye Boulware, The Referendum to End Referendums.
18. Injunctions and the Anti-Trust Laws, Suffer The Little Children 43. Organizing on the Airlines 68. "Mediation to Finality" on the Railroads, The Millionth Member, Chicago--Turmoil and Tear Gas.
19. Class Struggle and the Wobblies 44. WORLD WAR  II AND POSTWAR REACTION 1940~1950
America Goes Back to Work, Unloading an Albatross, IAM vs. The Carpenters		 69. Donnybrook at McDonnell, The Largest Award in Labor History, Siemiller and DeMore Bow Out
20. Vigilantes and a Case of Mistaken Identity, Socialism in the IAM, The IAM and Scientific Management 45. Pearl Harbor and Patriotism--Corporate Style, Rosie the Riveter, Splitting at the Seams, FDR: "Labor Cooperative--Splendid", The War Labor Board and the Union Shop 70. Genial Gene--From Journeyman to GST, Red Smith--A Break in Tradition, Return of the Son of Boulware
21. A House Divided 46. Rising Prices and the Little Steel Formula, The IAM and the War Labor Board, Protest March in Seattle, Slowdowns and Strikes in San Francisco 71. CHANGES AND CHALLENGES ~THE 70'S AND BEYOND
How to Lose Industries and Alienate the Work Force, Obituary For An American-Built SST, Bailing Out Lockheed--And the Bankers, The Big Chill
22. The Johnston Era 47. Notes on a Union in Wartime, Jack and Heintz: "The Workers' Paradise", Nibbled by Minnows, The End of and Era 72. Just a Few Missing Fingers, Raucous Caucus in Los Angles, Gas Lines, Dim-outs and Slowdowns
23. The Lizard's Trail, The IAM and the First World War 48. Eric Peterson--The Quiet Man, What Price Affiliation?, Public Relations and the Weekly Machinist 73. Program for Progress 
24. The Battle of Cincinnati, 1915 49. Postwar Turmoil and Trouble, Hook and Dillon Meet Harvey Brown FINAL CHAPTER 03/03/03
74. Bill Winpisinger--The Beat of a Different Drummer, We Shall Overcome
25. Internal Feuds and Factions--"Catholics" versus "Masons", The removal of George Preston 50. The Taft-Hartley Act, 
The Machinists Non-Partisan Political League. Organize, Educate, One Million by '48		 About the Author
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS

OTHER U.S. LABOR HISTORY SITES:

SOURCES IN U.S. WOMEN'S LABOR HISTORY
Provided by Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

ECLECTRIC LIST OF EVENTS IN U.S. LABOR HISTORY

HISTORY OF U.S. WORKING CLASS

 


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