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Heady with his new power, Hoffa jumped into Michigan politics. Once, in 1948, he helped his old friend and confidant. Attorney George Fitzgerald, in a successful campaign for Democratic National Committeeman. But the state's Democratic powerhouse, then abuilding under such shrewd carpenters as G. Mennen Williams and United Auto Workers' Walter Reuther, soon brought down Fitzgerald and Hoffa. Jimmy himself tried twice to win a precinct delegate election, but each time he lost. In the 1950 precinct elections. Hoffa men filed fraudulent petitions in an effort to move in at the local level, but the petitions were tossed out. He tried to get Fitzgerald nominated for lieutenant governor in 1954, but failed. Since that time, says one Michigan Democrat, Hoffa has been "on the outside, glaring in."
There were no such setbacks in the Teamsters Union. He joined forces with Dave Beck, who had organized his own network into an eleven-state Western Conference (over the futile opposition of President Tobin) and had forced his way into the newly created job of Tobin's executive vice president. A gentle push in 1952 moved 77-year-old Dan Tobin into retirement and Beck into the big chair. The pusher: James Riddle Hoffa, the man with the Central Teamster organization—and the critical packet of votes—safely in his pocket. His reward: virtually limitless autonomy in his area.
As an international vice president in his own right, Empire-Builder Hoffa, with all his growing power, began to push Beck in a different direction. He cornered trusteeships, i.e., almost complete control, over 16 locals. Operating at the bargaining table like a master surgeon, he carved gain after gain out of the hides of truckers. Employers, some of them onetime drivers and consequently tough eggs to meet, found Hoffa almost unbeatable. He could sit at negotiation sessions for 36 hours at a stretch, with only a quick shower to put him back into shape.
An Industry's Stability. One top Hoffa staffer says, with considerable justification, that "the stability of the trucking industry depends to a large extent on Jimmy Hoffa." Says Victor Schaeffner, counsel for the Michigan Cartagemen's Association: "Hoffa knows the trucking business better than probably 99% of the owners. He knows what he wants, and he knows what he can get. That's why his demands are never out of line with what the industry can pay." Says one experienced negotiator: "You don't go into negotiations thinking you are going to be enemies from the word go. Hoffa is a businessman. He's trying to build up that impression. He's not a crusader, not like Reuther." Adds a labor-relations expert: "When you finish negotiations with Jimmy Hoffa, you can sleep well that night. When you finish with Walter Reuther, the trouble is often just beginning."