The Sad Legacy of John L. Lewis

Just as an occasional disaster is required to call the nation’s attention to conditions in its coal mines, so it was necessary that Joseph A. (“Jock”) Yablonski, his wife, and daughter be murdered to call attention to conditions in the United Mine Workers of America. A few weeks before his murder, Yablonski had lost his try for presidency of the union to the incumbent, W. A. (“Tony”) Boyle. The insurgents—through Yablonski’s two lawyer sons, Kenneth and Joseph, and the ever-reliable Joseph Rauh—had repeatedly petitioned the Department of Labor during the campaign to investigate their charges against Boyle & Co., but it was not until after the murders that the government roused itself to the job...