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But what really accounts for whatever lingering esteem there may be for Jimmy Hoffa is' the image of him as a dedicated labor leader. Sure, the argument runs, Hoffa is tough, rough, and he pals with crooks; but at least it can be said for him that i) unlike Beck, he is not interested in making money for himself, and 2) unlike Beck, he is devoted to the interests of rank-and-file workers. The record, which Jimmy Hoffa says speaks for itself, explodes both of these notions as myths.
Myth No. I. Jimmy Hoffa, the committee charges, has shown a keen interest in making money for Jimmy Hoffa. Tracing the web of Hoffa's financial dealings proved to be difficult, because he deals entirely in cash, leaving no personal-check stubs or canceled checks behind. Asked to explain this peculiarity, Hoffa bristles and replies that as a U.S. citizen he has a "right" to deal in cash if he wants to.
On Hoffa's 1948-56 income tax returns, the committee found $60.322 reported under such vague headings as "miscellaneous income" and "wagering." He explained that his friend Bert Brennan placed racetrack bets for him and always showed a yearly profit. Invited by the committee to explain his system, Brennan took the Fifth Amendment.
Committee investigators tracked down many loans made to Jimmy Hoffa, but found remarkably little evidence of repayments. Several recipients of Teamster loans showed their gratitude by lending Hoffa money or showing excessive kindness to his buddies. Teamster Lawyer George Fitzgerald got the Michigan Conference of Teamsters Welfare Fund to loan $1,000,000 to a realtor who paid Fitzgerald a $15,750 "finder's fee."
Hoffa, the committee found, has been involved in many business undertakings, including two summer camps, oil leases, a cattle farm, intricate real-estate deals, and various trucking ventures in which he got generous help from trucking-company owners with whom he negotiated as a labor leader. The most profitable trucking deal, as far as the committee investigators could trace, was Test Fleet, Inc., set up for Hoffa by a big Midwest trucking firm, Commercial Carriers Co. Commercial Carriers had some trouble with striking Teamster drivers in Flint. Mich., and Hoffa threw his weight into the dispute in favor of the company. Commercial Carriers then set up Test Fleet, transferred, all the stock to Mrs. Hoffa and Mrs. Bert Brennan in their maiden names, then guaranteed a $50,000 bank loan so that Test Fleet could buy trucking equipment to lease to Commercial Carriers. Under this can't-lose agreement, Mrs. Hoffa and Mrs. Brennan took in $125,000 profit from 1949 to 1956.
Myth No. 2. Hoffa has told the committee (and anyone else who would listen) that no matter what else can be said about him, he is first and foremost interested in the betterment of the working conditions of his union members.
But in Hoffa's own Detroit bailiwick, Teamster Business Agent Zigmont Snyder owned a nonunion car-wash that paid workers as little as $1 a day. Many a Hoffa crony has collected payoffs from employers for "sweetheart" contracts. Teamster Officer Gerald Connelly negotiated Teamster sweetheart contracts in Minneapolis, including one that lowered wages from $1.32 an hour to $1, another that cut workers back from $65 a week to $58.