Jimmy Hoffa

James Riddle Hoffa (February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975) was an American labor union leader and author who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union from 1958 until 1971. He vanished in late July 1975, at age 62. Hoffa was a union activist from a young age and an important regional figure with the IBT by his mid-20s. By 1952 he had risen to national vice-president of the IBT, and served as the union's general president between 1958 and 1971. He secured the first national agreement for teamsters' rates in 1964. he played a major role in the growth and development of the union, which eventually became the largest (by membership) in the United States with over 1.5 million members at its peak, during his terms as its leader. Hoffa became involved with organized crime from the early years of his Teamsters work, and this connection continued until his disappearance in 1975. He was convicted of jury tampering, attempted bribery, and fraud in 1964, in two separate trials. He was imprisoned in 1967 and sentenced to 13 years. In mid-1971, he resigned as president of the union as part of a pardon agreement with President Richard Nixon; he was released later that year, though barred from union activities until 1980. Hoffa, hoping to regain support and to return to IBT leadership, unsuccessfully attempted to overturn this order. Hoffa vanished in late July 1975 and was declared legally dead in 1982. There are many theories as to what happened to him.