AT the end of an elegant White House dinner held on Labor Day last year, the President of the United States rose to offer a toast. Lifting his champagne glass in the direction of the rumpled patriarch seated to his right, Richard Nixon paid tribute to "a distinguished labor statesman, a man who stands for the best in free labor and for the best of America." Flushed with presidential praise, George Meany, leader of the giant, 13.5 million-member A.F.L.-C.I.O., responded with words of glowing admiration for Nixon...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In