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George Meany has been listed as one of the Social sciences and society good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. | ||||||||||
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A
fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's
Main Page in the "
Did you know?" column on
December 3, 2011. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that, in supporting peace negotiations to end the
Vietnam War and opposing a U.S. withdrawal,
AFL–CIO President
George Meany stated that "in Vietnam the AFL–CIO is neither hawk nor dove nor chicken"? | ||||||||||
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the " On this day..." column on August 16, 2019. |
This
level-5 vital article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I haven't tackled this article, because I favor wholesale revisions over incremental changes, but it needs work. In addition to fleshing out the Lovestone/AIFLD discussion, which needs more detail, the article also needs to address the AFL-CIO's position within the Democratic Party during his tenure, its stance on civil rights and affirmative action, the anti-corruption campaign and organizational issues within the AFL-CIO. The reference to UE and the RWDSU seems out of place too; that's CIO history, from a few years before Meany succeeded Green, and not worth including in this article. Italo Svevo 04:20, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I'm no expert. I just came to the page in search of a quote I recalled and was shocked at the brevity and sketchiness of the page. This was a guy whose face was on the nightly news and whose name was on the front page of the papers pretty much daily for decades. He had huge power and influence. Google turns up a single quotation (the one about what plumbers charge) for a man who had a great deal to say and often said it well and memorably. The specific quote I was looking for (and I hope it ends up on this page if anyone can track it down) was to the effect that he didn't care if a [specific boondoggle of a cost-overrun military plane] rolled out of the Boeing factory and straight into the ocean as long as building it kept 50,000 of his union members employed (bad paraphrase fifty-some years after the fact). Dmargulis ( talk) 00:50, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
I'm upgrading the importance to high. Meany's presidency marks the beginning of the "modern" AFL and AFL-CIO, and his actions and policies led directly to the events of the Kirkland presidency and the 1995 Sweeney revolt. There are superb biographies and other sources out there about Meany's presidency, and there is no reason why this shouldn't be a priority. - Tim1965 22:33, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
Meany was a great believer in cooperation of labor and capital. During his presidency, the AFL and then the AFL-CIO supported anticommunist policies. Trade-unions deemed leftist, including the United Electrical Workers and the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, were dismissed from the CIO by the early 1950s. AFL-CIO unions then cooperated with employers to raid and decertify leftist unions. Meany was a strong advocate of the Vietnam War. citation needed
Meany was friends with Jay Lovestone, the former Communist Party USA official who became anti-communist. Lovestone established the Free Trade Union Committee (now known as the American Center for International Labor Solidarity) as the overseas organizing agent of the AFL. During Meany's tenure, Lovestone worked to establish non-communist and pro-American unions around the world. During the course of this work, the AFL collaborated with Latin American dictatorships against communist, radical, or opposition trade unions. [1]
He is famous for having said toward the end of his tenure that he had "never walked a picket line in his life." He was succeeded by Lane Kirkland.
On December 6, 1963, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson.
I have written a major expansion of this article in my sandbox and have just merged it. Comments and improvements are welcomed. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 04:57, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
Should possibly mention in some way that Meany kind of inaugurated the bureaucratic phase of labor unionism in the United States, with a strong emphasis on consolidating and institutionalizing gains already made, but relatively little focus on explaining larger goals (beyond immediate improvements in working conditions and wages), relatively little attempt to reach out to new populations of workers not included in the traditional unions, and relatively little emphasis on explaining to the increasing number of people who considered themselves to be solidly middle class why unions were still relevant to them. That was a part of why U.S. unions as a whole went into a strong decline beginning right around the time he resigned/died...
Also, Meany was not a neanderthal for opposing gay marriage in 1972 (an issue which very few people took seriously at that time). AnonMoos ( talk) 15:36, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
Cullen328, you should suggest a "hook" for a Did You Know? I'll nominate it for you, if you haven't had experience.
BTW, somebody should review the DYK nomination for Constantinos A. Patrides,
a Renaissance scholar who (as a boy) ran messages for the Greek Resistance against the Axis Occupation of Greece, so earning a heroism medal from the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Kiefer. Wolfowitz 21:19, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
Kiefer Wolfowitz, I plan to reduce the length of the lead. I am not aware that the AFL was ever a part of the World Federation of Trade Unions. I thought they had boycotted it from its founding. Am I wrong? Cullen328 Let's discuss it 21:46, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
This is cited properly, but is it really worth putting in a short biography of Meany?
" Mike Quill of the Transport Workers Union of America also fought the merger [2], saying that it amounted to a capitulation to the "racism, racketeering and raiding" of the AFL. [3]
LIFE55
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page).{{
cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors=
(
help)
"
Why not quote other Communists, recently former Communists, and Trotskyists? Much as I like the Transit Workers of NYC, this is hardly a national labor leader. Kiefer. Wolfowitz 08:04, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
This article appears to me very close to ready for GA--close enough that you could go ahead and nominate it right now. The sourcing and writing both look good and this seems likely to cover the "main aspects".
A few suggestions:
Thanks for your work on this important figure! -- Khazar2 ( talk) 11:37, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
Maybe this is not the best place to ask this, but I recall a political cartoon of Nixon and McGovern playing chess. Meany had just flipped over the board throwing pieces everywhere. This came out right after meany had announced he was not supporting either candidate. I have been looking for this and thought it might be a nice addition to the article. Anyone have suggestions where to find it? Jokem ( talk) 15:55, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
Noting here the changes I made to the article, mainly to add in some of the biographical and other sources, plus some more 'legacy' material. Pinging User:Cullen328, as the following would help take the article forward further:
The latter four are part of the bibliography recommended by Brody. Carcharoth ( talk) 20:58, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
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I recall a political cartoon appearing about the time Meany announced he would not support Nixon or McGovern. Caricatures of Nixon and McGovern were sitting opposite each other with a chessboard between them. Shows Meany walking away confidently with the chessboard behind him, flipped over. I thought that might be a useful addition to the article, but I cannot find it anywhere. I wonder if someone here has better resources? Jokem ( talk) 04:52, 3 December 2022 (UTC)
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
George Meany has been listed as one of the Social sciences and society good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
A
fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's
Main Page in the "
Did you know?" column on
December 3, 2011. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that, in supporting peace negotiations to end the
Vietnam War and opposing a U.S. withdrawal,
AFL–CIO President
George Meany stated that "in Vietnam the AFL–CIO is neither hawk nor dove nor chicken"? | ||||||||||
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the " On this day..." column on August 16, 2019. |
This
level-5 vital article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I haven't tackled this article, because I favor wholesale revisions over incremental changes, but it needs work. In addition to fleshing out the Lovestone/AIFLD discussion, which needs more detail, the article also needs to address the AFL-CIO's position within the Democratic Party during his tenure, its stance on civil rights and affirmative action, the anti-corruption campaign and organizational issues within the AFL-CIO. The reference to UE and the RWDSU seems out of place too; that's CIO history, from a few years before Meany succeeded Green, and not worth including in this article. Italo Svevo 04:20, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I'm no expert. I just came to the page in search of a quote I recalled and was shocked at the brevity and sketchiness of the page. This was a guy whose face was on the nightly news and whose name was on the front page of the papers pretty much daily for decades. He had huge power and influence. Google turns up a single quotation (the one about what plumbers charge) for a man who had a great deal to say and often said it well and memorably. The specific quote I was looking for (and I hope it ends up on this page if anyone can track it down) was to the effect that he didn't care if a [specific boondoggle of a cost-overrun military plane] rolled out of the Boeing factory and straight into the ocean as long as building it kept 50,000 of his union members employed (bad paraphrase fifty-some years after the fact). Dmargulis ( talk) 00:50, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
I'm upgrading the importance to high. Meany's presidency marks the beginning of the "modern" AFL and AFL-CIO, and his actions and policies led directly to the events of the Kirkland presidency and the 1995 Sweeney revolt. There are superb biographies and other sources out there about Meany's presidency, and there is no reason why this shouldn't be a priority. - Tim1965 22:33, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
Meany was a great believer in cooperation of labor and capital. During his presidency, the AFL and then the AFL-CIO supported anticommunist policies. Trade-unions deemed leftist, including the United Electrical Workers and the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, were dismissed from the CIO by the early 1950s. AFL-CIO unions then cooperated with employers to raid and decertify leftist unions. Meany was a strong advocate of the Vietnam War. citation needed
Meany was friends with Jay Lovestone, the former Communist Party USA official who became anti-communist. Lovestone established the Free Trade Union Committee (now known as the American Center for International Labor Solidarity) as the overseas organizing agent of the AFL. During Meany's tenure, Lovestone worked to establish non-communist and pro-American unions around the world. During the course of this work, the AFL collaborated with Latin American dictatorships against communist, radical, or opposition trade unions. [1]
He is famous for having said toward the end of his tenure that he had "never walked a picket line in his life." He was succeeded by Lane Kirkland.
On December 6, 1963, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson.
I have written a major expansion of this article in my sandbox and have just merged it. Comments and improvements are welcomed. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 04:57, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
Should possibly mention in some way that Meany kind of inaugurated the bureaucratic phase of labor unionism in the United States, with a strong emphasis on consolidating and institutionalizing gains already made, but relatively little focus on explaining larger goals (beyond immediate improvements in working conditions and wages), relatively little attempt to reach out to new populations of workers not included in the traditional unions, and relatively little emphasis on explaining to the increasing number of people who considered themselves to be solidly middle class why unions were still relevant to them. That was a part of why U.S. unions as a whole went into a strong decline beginning right around the time he resigned/died...
Also, Meany was not a neanderthal for opposing gay marriage in 1972 (an issue which very few people took seriously at that time). AnonMoos ( talk) 15:36, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
Cullen328, you should suggest a "hook" for a Did You Know? I'll nominate it for you, if you haven't had experience.
BTW, somebody should review the DYK nomination for Constantinos A. Patrides,
a Renaissance scholar who (as a boy) ran messages for the Greek Resistance against the Axis Occupation of Greece, so earning a heroism medal from the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Kiefer. Wolfowitz 21:19, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
Kiefer Wolfowitz, I plan to reduce the length of the lead. I am not aware that the AFL was ever a part of the World Federation of Trade Unions. I thought they had boycotted it from its founding. Am I wrong? Cullen328 Let's discuss it 21:46, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
This is cited properly, but is it really worth putting in a short biography of Meany?
" Mike Quill of the Transport Workers Union of America also fought the merger [2], saying that it amounted to a capitulation to the "racism, racketeering and raiding" of the AFL. [3]
LIFE55
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page).{{
cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors=
(
help)
"
Why not quote other Communists, recently former Communists, and Trotskyists? Much as I like the Transit Workers of NYC, this is hardly a national labor leader. Kiefer. Wolfowitz 08:04, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
This article appears to me very close to ready for GA--close enough that you could go ahead and nominate it right now. The sourcing and writing both look good and this seems likely to cover the "main aspects".
A few suggestions:
Thanks for your work on this important figure! -- Khazar2 ( talk) 11:37, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
Maybe this is not the best place to ask this, but I recall a political cartoon of Nixon and McGovern playing chess. Meany had just flipped over the board throwing pieces everywhere. This came out right after meany had announced he was not supporting either candidate. I have been looking for this and thought it might be a nice addition to the article. Anyone have suggestions where to find it? Jokem ( talk) 15:55, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
Noting here the changes I made to the article, mainly to add in some of the biographical and other sources, plus some more 'legacy' material. Pinging User:Cullen328, as the following would help take the article forward further:
The latter four are part of the bibliography recommended by Brody. Carcharoth ( talk) 20:58, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on George Meany. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 13:21, 14 December 2017 (UTC)
I recall a political cartoon appearing about the time Meany announced he would not support Nixon or McGovern. Caricatures of Nixon and McGovern were sitting opposite each other with a chessboard between them. Shows Meany walking away confidently with the chessboard behind him, flipped over. I thought that might be a useful addition to the article, but I cannot find it anywhere. I wonder if someone here has better resources? Jokem ( talk) 04:52, 3 December 2022 (UTC)