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"I Talked and They Listened." Once elected president of the Teamsters, Hoffa declares, he will make many changes for the better in the union's structure. There will, for instance, be token constitutional revisions aimed at transferring presidential powers to the executive board. But with President Hoffa in charge of the board, this modification will be only frilly window dressing. There will be more power over the financial affairs of locals from international headquarters, i.e., Jimmy Hoffa. In deference to the A.F.L.-C.I.O. leadership, Hoffa says that he will rid himself of all his private business interests. But he will defend the right of an accused union official to cringe behind the Fifth Amendment, as Dave Beck did. Far more important is Hoffa's dream of establishing what he calls a "loose-knit council" of all the nation's transportation unions "to exchange ideas." How he would handle this enormous thumbscrew on the U.S. economy, only he can tell.
What is the engine inside Hoffa that keeps him running so hard? The coal biter's son says a lot about it himself. In Detroit's recent newspaper strike, "at 3 a.m. in the morning three editors came to see me, and we worked things out. I talked and they listened. Can you imagine how it feels to have men like that listen to reason? Did you ever hear of confidence? Did you ever hear of people accepting a man on his bond? At a meeting three weeks ago, I put out some pension checks for the first time in the history of the Teamsters. I saw old people cry. I had ladies kiss me. Can you imagine what this means? This is the satisfaction you can't buy."