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{{short description|Australian-American union leader}}
{{short description|Australian-American union leader}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Harry Bridges
| name = Harry Bridges
| image = File:Harry Bridges.png
| image = Harry Bridges 1935.jpg
| caption = Bridges in 1935
| image_size =
| office = 1st President of the [[International Longshore and Warehouse Union]]
| term_start = 1937
| term_end = 1977
| predecessor = ''Office established''
| successor = Jimmy Herman
| birth_name = Alfred Renton Bryant Bridges<ref name=vicbdm>{{cite web |title=Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria |url=https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/ |publisher=State of Victoria, Australia |access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref>
| birth_name = Alfred Renton Bryant Bridges<ref name=vicbdm>{{cite web |title=Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria |url=https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/ |publisher=State of Victoria, Australia |access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref>
| birth_date = {{birth date|1901|7|28}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1901|7|28}}
| birth_place = [[Kensington, Victoria|Kensington, Victoria, Australia]]<ref name="bioanu">{{cite web |last1=Love |first1=Peter |title=Bridges, Alfred Renton (Harry) (1901–1990) |url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bridges-alfred-renton-harry-12253 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Kensington, Victoria|Kensington, Victoria, Australia]]<ref name="bioanu">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |last1=Love |first1=Peter |title=Bridges, Alfred Renton (Harry) (1901–1990) |id2=bridges-alfred-renton-harry-12253 |access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref>
| death_date = {{death date and age|1990|3|30|1901|7|28}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1990|3|30|1901|7|28}}
| death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], [[United States]]
| death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], [[United States]]
| occupation = Labor leader
| occupation = Labor leader
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| parents =
| parents =
}}
}}
'''Harry Bridges''' (July 28, 1901 – March 30, 1990) was an [[Australia]]n-born [[United States|American]] [[Trade union|union]] leader, first with the [[International Longshoremen's Association]] (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the [[International Longshore and Warehouse Union]] (ILWU), expanding members to workers in warehouses, and led it for the next 40 years. He was prosecuted for his labor organizing and designated as subversive by the U.S. government during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with the goal of deportation. This was never achieved.
'''Harry Bridges''' (28 July 1901 – 30 March 1990) was an [[Australia]]n-born [[United States|American]] [[Trade union|union]] leader, first with the [[International Longshoremen's Association]] (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the [[International Longshore and Warehouse Union]] (ILWU), expanding members to workers in warehouses, and led it for the next 40 years. He was prosecuted for his labor organizing and designated as subversive by the U.S. government during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with the goal of deportation. This was never achieved.


Bridges became a naturalized citizen in 1945. His conviction by a [[United States federal courts|federal]] jury for having lied about his [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] membership when seeking naturalization was overturned by the [[SCOTUS|Supreme Court]] in 1953 as having been prosecuted untimely, outside the [[statute of limitations]]. His official power was reduced when the ILWU was expelled by the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations|CIO]] in 1950, but he continued to be re-elected by the California membership and was highly influential until his retirement in 1977.
Bridges became a naturalized citizen in 1945. His conviction by a [[United States federal courts|federal]] jury for having lied about his [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] membership when seeking naturalization was overturned by the [[SCOTUS|Supreme Court]] in 1953 as having been prosecuted untimely, outside the [[statute of limitations]]. His official power was reduced when the ILWU was expelled by the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations|CIO]] in 1950, but he continued to be re-elected by the membership and was highly influential until his retirement in 1977.


==Background==
==Background==
Bridges was born '''Alfred Renton Bryant Bridges''' in [[Kensington, Victoria|Kensington, Victoria, Australia]].<ref name="bioanu"/><ref name="vicbdm"/><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/obituaries/harry-bridges-docks-leader-dies-at-88.html "Harry Bridges Docks Leader Dies at 88"], ''New York Times,'' 31 March 2015</ref>
Bridges was born '''Alfred Renton Bryant Bridges''' in [[Kensington, Victoria|Kensington, Victoria, Australia]]. His father, Alfred Earnest Bridges, was a successful suburban realtor, and his mother, Julia ({{nee}} Dorgan) Bridges, was a devout Roman Catholic of Irish descent.<ref name="vicbdm"/><ref name="bioanu"/><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/obituaries/harry-bridges-docks-leader-dies-at-88.html "Harry Bridges Docks Leader Dies at 88"], ''New York Times'', 31 March 2015.</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2023}}
Bridges went to sea at age 16 as a [[Merchant shipping|merchant seaman]] and joined the Australian sailors' union. He took the name Harry from an uncle, who was a [[socialism|socialist]] and an adventurer, much like [[Jack London]], the writer who also inspired young Bridges to go to sea. Bridges entered the United States in 1920, where his American colleagues nicknamed him "The Beak" for his prominent nose; "The Limey," as they couldn't tell the difference between an Australian and an Englishman; and finally "Australian Harry" or "Racehorse Harry" to differentiate him from all other Harrys by his nationality and love of the [[horse racing|racetrack]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}
Bridges went to sea at age 16 as a [[Merchant shipping|merchant seaman]] and joined the Australian sailors' union. Inspired by [[Jack London]] to take to the sea, he took the name Harry from an uncle, who was a [[socialism|socialist]] and an adventurer. Bridges entered the United States in 1920, where his American colleagues gave him several nicknames, including "The Beak" for his prominent nose, "The Limey," as they couldn't tell the difference between an Australian and an Englishman, "Australian Harry," and "Racehorse Harry" for his love of [[horse racing]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}


In 1921, Bridges joined the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW), participating in an unsuccessful nationwide seamen's strike. While Bridges left the IWW shortly thereafter with doubts about the organization, his early experiences in the IWW and in Australian unions influenced his beliefs on militant unionism, based on rank and file power and involvement.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}
In 1921, Bridges joined the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW), participating in an unsuccessful nationwide seamen's strike. While Bridges left the IWW shortly thereafter with doubts about the organization, his early experiences in the IWW and in Australian unions influenced his beliefs on militant unionism, based on rank and file power and involvement.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}
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===Albion Hall group===
===Albion Hall group===
The ILA renewed its efforts to reestablish itself on the West Coast, chartering a new local in San Francisco in 1933. With the passage that year of the [[National Industrial Recovery Act]], which contained some encouraging but unenforceable provisions declaring that workers had the right to organize unions of their own choice, thousands of longshoremen joined the new ILA local.
The ILA renewed its efforts to reestablish itself on the West Coast, chartering a new local in San Francisco in 1933. With the passage that year of the [[National Industrial Recovery Act]], which contained some encouraging but unenforceable provisions declaring that workers had the right to organize unions of their own choice, thousands of longshoremen joined the new ILA local.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}


At the time Bridges was a member of a circle of longshoremen that came to be known as the "Albion Hall Group", after their meeting place.<ref name="BridgesSchmidt1950">{{cite book|author1=Harry Bridges|author2=Henry Schmidt|author3=J. R. Robertson|author4=United States. District Court (California : Northern District : Southern Division), United States. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit).|title=Harry Renton Bridges, Henry Schmidt and J.R. Robertson, appellants, vs. United States of America, appellee: transcript of record : appeals from the United States District Court, Northern District of California, Southern Division|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9o-AAAAIAAJ|year=1950|publisher=Phillips & Van Orden Co.}}</ref> It attracted members from a variety of backgrounds: members of the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]], which was then trying to organize all longshoremen, sailors and other maritime workers into the [[Marine Workers Industrial Union]] (MWIU), as a revolutionary, industry-wide alternative to the ILA and other [[American Federation of Labor]] (AFL) unions; former IWW members, and others with no clearly defined politics.<ref name="Nelson1990">{{cite book|author=Bruce Nelson|title=Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s|url=https://archive.org/details/workersonwaterfr0000nels_z8x8|url-access=registration|year=1990|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06144-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/workersonwaterfr0000nels_z8x8/page/124 124]–}}</ref>
At the time Bridges was a member of a circle of longshoremen that came to be known as the "Albion Hall Group", after their meeting place.<ref name="BridgesSchmidt1950">{{cite book|author1=Harry Bridges|author2=Henry Schmidt|author3=J. R. Robertson|author4=United States. District Court (California : Northern District : Southern Division), United States. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit).|title=Harry Renton Bridges, Henry Schmidt and J.R. Robertson, appellants, vs. United States of America, appellee: transcript of record : appeals from the United States District Court, Northern District of California, Southern Division|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9o-AAAAIAAJ|year=1950|publisher=Phillips & Van Orden Co.}}</ref> It attracted members from a variety of backgrounds: members of the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]], which was then trying to organize all longshoremen, sailors and other maritime workers into the [[Marine Workers Industrial Union]] (MWIU), as a revolutionary, industry-wide alternative to the ILA and other [[American Federation of Labor]] (AFL) unions; former IWW members, and others with no clearly defined politics.<ref name="Nelson1990">{{cite book|author=Bruce Nelson|title=Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s|url=https://archive.org/details/workersonwaterfr0000nels_z8x8|url-access=registration|year=1990|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06144-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/workersonwaterfr0000nels_z8x8/page/124 124]–}}</ref>
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===1934 West Coast Longshore Strike===
===1934 West Coast Longshore Strike===
{{Main|1934 West Coast Longshore Strike}}
{{Main|1934 West Coast Longshore Strike}}
Early in 1934, Bridges and the Albion Hall group and militants in other ports began planning a coast-wide strike. The [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] administration tried to head off the strike by appointing a mediation board to oversee negotiations, but neither side accepted its proposed compromise. Bridges was elected chairman of the strike committee. The strike began on May 9. While the elected local officers were the nominal leaders of the strike at its outset, Bridges led the planning of the strike along with his friend Sam Kagel. They recruited rank-and-file opposition to the two proposed contracts that the leadership negotiated and the membership rejected during the strike, and the dealings with other unions during related events.
Early in 1934, Bridges and the Albion Hall group and militants in other ports began planning a coast-wide strike. The [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] administration tried to head off the strike by appointing a mediation board to oversee negotiations, but neither side accepted its proposed compromise. Bridges was elected chairman of the strike committee. The strike began on 9 May. While the elected local officers were the nominal leaders of the strike at its outset, Bridges led the planning of the strike along with his friend Sam Kagel. They recruited rank-and-file opposition to the two proposed contracts that the leadership negotiated and the membership rejected during the strike, and the dealings with other unions during related events.


A four-day [[San Francisco General strike]] took place after "[[1934 West Coast waterfront strike#"Bloody Thursday"|Bloody Thursday]]" on July 5, when police aided the Waterfront Employers Association in trucking cargo from the pierheads to the warehouses through the union's picket line. Scores of strikers were beaten or wounded by gunfire during the battle. During a coordinated raid on the union mess hall at the corner of Steuart and Mission, San Francisco Police shot and killed Howard Sperry, a striking sailor, and Nick Counderakis (AKA Nick Bordoise), member of the cook's union and a strike sympathizer helping out at the mess hall. Scores of other men were wounded by police gunfire as well, including a number of bystanders, as the ensuing battle quickly spilled into the nearby downtown area.
A four-day [[San Francisco General strike]] took place after "[[1934 West Coast waterfront strike#"Bloody Thursday"|Bloody Thursday]]" on 5 July, when police aided the Waterfront Employers Association in trucking cargo from the pierheads to the warehouses through the union's picket line. Scores of strikers were beaten or wounded by gunfire during the battle. During a coordinated raid on the union mess hall at the corner of Steuart and Mission, San Francisco Police shot and killed Howard Sperry, a striking sailor, and Nick Counderakis (AKA Nick Bordoise), a member of the cooks' union and a strike sympathizer helping out at the mess hall. Scores of other men were wounded by police gunfire as well, including a number of bystanders, as the ensuing battle quickly spilled into the nearby downtown area.


Bridges became the chief spokesperson for the union in negotiations after workers rejected the second agreement negotiated by the old leadership in June. Bridges did not control the strike: over his strong objections, the ILA membership voted to accept arbitration to end the strike. Similarly, in 1935 Bridges' opposition did not stop the ILA leadership from extending the union's contract with the employers, rather than striking in solidarity with the seamen.
Bridges became the chief spokesperson for the union in negotiations after workers rejected the second agreement negotiated by the old leadership in June. Bridges did not control the strike: over his strong objections, the ILA membership voted to accept arbitration to end the strike. Similarly, in 1935, Bridges' opposition did not stop the ILA leadership from extending the union's contract with the employers, rather than striking in solidarity with the seamen.


===Growth and independence===
===Growth and independence===
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The ILWU also established strong unions on the docks in Hawai'i during this time, and later among sugar and pineapple workers there. It encountered the concerted opposition of the employers, the military and most of the political establishment but the ILWU's work changed the political climate in Hawai'i. It broke the hold on power that the white landed elite had exercised for half a century.
The ILWU also established strong unions on the docks in Hawai'i during this time, and later among sugar and pineapple workers there. It encountered the concerted opposition of the employers, the military and most of the political establishment but the ILWU's work changed the political climate in Hawai'i. It broke the hold on power that the white landed elite had exercised for half a century.


As a measure of his influence, Bridges was featured on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine on July 19, 1937.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,882738,00.html|title=Labor: C.I.O. to Sea|work=Time Magazine|date=1937-07-19|access-date = 27 July 2021}}</ref>
As a measure of his influence, Bridges was featured on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine on 19 July 1937.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,882738,00.html|title=Labor: C.I.O. to Sea|work=Time Magazine|date=1937-07-19|access-date = 27 July 2021}}</ref>


===Legal battles===
===Legal battles===
[[File:The Waterfront 20866v.jpg|right|thumb|Central figure representing Bridges, from [[Anton Refregier]]'s [[History of San Francisco (Refregier murals)|1948 murals]] at the [[Rincon Center]] (formerly the Rincon Annex Post Office)]]
[[File:The Waterfront 20866v.jpg|right|thumb|Central figure representing Bridges, from [[Anton Refregier]]'s [[History of San Francisco (Refregier murals)|1948 murals]] at the [[Rincon Center]] (formerly the Rincon Annex Post Office)]]
In mid-July 1939, hearings took place at the [[Angel Island Immigration Station]] to deport Bridges. Government witnesses included Major [[Lawrence Milner]] and ex-communist official John Lewis Leech. While Leech held fast to his testimony, Milner confessed to perjury, for which the Bridges defense team demanded indictment.<ref name=Honolulu>
In mid-July 1939, hearings took place at the [[Angel Island Immigration Station]] to deport Bridges. Government witnesses included Major [[Lawrence Milner]] and ex-communist official John Lewis Leech. While Leech held fast to his testimony, Milner confessed to perjury, for which the Bridges defense team demanded indictment, although there is no evidence Milner was ever indicted.<ref name=Honolulu>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Coercion Seen In Testimony Against Bridges
| title = Coercion Seen In Testimony Against Bridges
| publisher = Honolulu Advertiser
| publisher = Honolulu Advertiser
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/259714494/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/259714494/
| pages = 8
| page = 8
| date = 12 July 1939
| date = July 12, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref name=SFExaminer>
| access-date =January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref name=SFExaminer>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| first = Harry
| first = Harry
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| publisher = San Francisco Examiner
| publisher = San Francisco Examiner
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457800359/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457800359/
| pages = 1
| page = 1
| date = 13 July 1939
| date = July 13, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date =January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Bridges Witness Detained; May Be Faced With Charge; National Guardsman Testified He Saw Defendant Pay Dues
| title = Bridges Witness Detained; May Be Faced With Charge; National Guardsman Testified He Saw Defendant Pay Dues
| publisher = Paterson Evening News
| publisher = Paterson Evening News
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/526107023/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/526107023/
| pages = 54
| page = 54
| date = 13 July 1939
| date = July 13, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date = January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Bridges Said Eyed as Red
| title = Bridges Said Eyed as Red
| publisher = Eugene Guard
| publisher = Eugene Guard
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/96851130/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/96851130/
| pages = 2
| page = 2
| date = 12 July 1939
| date = July 12, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date = January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Here and There Calls Bridges "Red'
| title = Here and There Calls Bridges "Red'
| publisher = Marshall Evening Chronicle
| publisher = Marshall Evening Chronicle
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15094195/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15094195/
| pages = 1
| page = 1
| date = 14 July 1939
| date = July 14, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date = January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Harry Bridges Termed Leader of Communists
| title = Harry Bridges Termed Leader of Communists
| publisher = Harrisburg Evening News
| publisher = Harrisburg Evening News
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/63158105/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/63158105/
| pages = 5
| page = 5
| date = 11 July 1939
| date = July 11, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date = January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Bridges Dues Payment
| title = Bridges Dues Payment
| publisher = Arizona Republic
| publisher = Arizona Republic
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/4943183/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/4943183/
| pages = 20
| page = 20
| date = 11 July 1939
| date = July 11, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Red Party Dues Paid by Bridges
| title = Red Party Dues Paid by Bridges
| publisher = Arizona Republic
| publisher = Arizona Republic
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/489753701/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/489753701/
| pages = 5, 36
| pages = 5, 36
| date = 11 July 1939
| date = July 11, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date =January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Witness Denies Police Aided in Deport Case: Militia Sole Boss, Says Witness
| title = Witness Denies Police Aided in Deport Case: Militia Sole Boss, Says Witness
| publisher = Santa Cruz Evening News
| publisher = Santa Cruz Evening News
| url = https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCEN19390711&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
| url = https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCEN19390711&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
| pages = 1
| page = 1
| date = 11 July 1939
| date = July 11, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date = January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Former Organizer Becomes Accuser: Witness Tells Activities Under Name of Rossi
| title = Former Organizer Becomes Accuser: Witness Tells Activities Under Name of Rossi
| publisher = San Francisco Examiner
| publisher = San Francisco Examiner
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457800391/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457800391/
| pages = 2
| pages = 2
| date = 13 July 1939
| date = July 13, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date =January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
{{cite news
| title = Leech Remains Firm Under Grilling Cross-Examination; Story Unshaken As Hearing Closes
| title = Leech Remains Firm Under Grilling Cross-Examination; Story Unshaken As Hearing Closes
| publisher = San Francisco Examiner
| publisher = San Francisco Examiner
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457807590/
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457807590/
| pages = 1, 7
| pages = 1, 7
| date = 15 July 1939
| date = July 15, 1939
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref><ref>
| access-date = January 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
{{cite journal
| first = Leonard
| first = Leonard
| last = Boudin
| last = Boudin
Line 153: Line 151:
| url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1940/v36n08-aug-13-1940-NM.pdf
| url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1940/v36n08-aug-13-1940-NM.pdf
| pages = 19–20
| pages = 19–20
| date = 13 August 1940
| date = August 13, 1940
| access-date =January 5, 2020}}</ref>
| access-date = 5 January 2020}}</ref> The hearings found Bridges did not qualify for deportation because he was not ''currently''—as the [[Immigration Act of 1918|Alien Act of 1918]] required—a member of or affiliated with an organization that advocated the overthrow of the government.<ref>Richard W. Steele, ''Free Speech in the Good War'' (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1999), 102</ref> Because of this, the [[Smith Act]] of 1940 was written so that federal authorities could deport him.<ref>Steele, ''Free Speech'', 81</ref> It allowed deportation of an alien who was a member or affiliated "at any time" since arriving in the U.S. with such an organization advocating overthrow of the government. A second round of deportation hearings ended after ten weeks in June 1941.<ref>Steele, "Free Speech'', 105, 107-9</ref> In September, the special examiner who led the hearings recommended deportation, but the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed that order after finding the government's two key witnesses to be unreliable.<ref>Steel, ''Free Speech'', 208; ''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/01/06/85192709.pdf Frederick R. Barkley, "Bridges is Cleared by Appeals Board," January 6, 1942], accessed June 22, 2012. The special examiner was [[Charles B. Sears]], a distinguished attorney and retired judge.</ref> In May 1942, though the Roosevelt administration was now putting its anti-Communist activities on hold in the interest of furthering the Soviet-American alliance, Attorney General [[Francis Biddle|Biddle]] overruled the BIA and ordered Bridges be deported.<ref>Steele, ''Free Speech'', 208-11; ''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/05/29/85558116.pdf Lewis Wood, "Bridges Ordered Deported at Once," May 29, 1942], accessed June 22, 2012</ref> Bridges appealed and lost in District Court<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/02/09/88514496.pdf Lawrence E. Davies, "Bridges Loses Plea for Habeas Corpus," February 9, 1943], accessed June 22, 2012</ref> and the Court of Appeals.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/28/96578985.pdf "Denies Rehearing of Bridges' Plea," September 28, 1944], accessed June 22, 2012</ref> But the Supreme Court overruled deportation, holding 5–3 on June 18, 1945, in the case of ''Bridges v. Wixon,'' that the government had not proven Bridges was "affiliated" with the CPUSA,<ref>Steele, ''Free Speech'', 228</ref> a word it interpreted to require more than "sympathy" or "mere cooperation".<ref name=wixon>FindLaw: [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=326&invol=135 Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U.S. 135 (1945)], accessed June 22, 2012. Wixon was an official of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.</ref>

The hearings found Bridges did not qualify for deportation because he was not ''currently'' — as the [[Immigration Act of 1918|Alien Act of 1918]] required — a member of or affiliated with an organization that advocated the overthrow of the government.<ref>Richard W. Steele, ''Free Speech in the Good War'' (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1999), p. 102</ref> The [[Smith Act]] of 1940 was written so federal authorities could deport Bridges.<ref>Steele, ''Free Speech'', p. 81</ref> It allowed deportation of an alien who was a member or affiliated "at any time" since arriving in the U.S. with such an organization advocating overthrow of the government. A second round of deportation hearings ended after ten weeks in June 1941.<ref>Steele, "Free Speech'', pp. 105-109.</ref> In September 1941, the special examiner who led the hearings recommended deportation, but the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed that order after finding the government's two key witnesses to be unreliable.<ref>Steel, ''Free Speech'', p. 208; ''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/01/06/85192709.pdf Frederick R. Barkley, "Bridges is Cleared by Appeals Board", January 6, 1942]; accessed June 22, 2012. The special examiner was retired judge [[Charles B. Sears]].</ref>


Bridges became a [[naturalization|naturalized]] U.S. citizen in 1945. With the goal of deportation, in 1948 the federal government tried Bridges for fraud and [[perjury]], for denying when applying for naturalization that he had ever been a member of the Communist Party. The jury convicted Bridges and two co-defendants. He was sentenced to five years in prison and his citizenship was revoked.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/06/17/94075566.pdf "Bridges' Citizenship is Revoked By Judge on Perjury Conviction," June 17, 1950], accessed June 23, 2012</ref> The Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision overturned the conviction in 1953 because the indictment on fraud and perjury charges did not occur within the three years set by the statute of limitations.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/06/16/110065156.pdf Luther A. Huston, "Supreme Court Frees Bridges Under Statute of Limitations," June 16, 1953], accessed June 23, 2012</ref> The government dropped the criminal charges and pursued a case in civil court in June and July 1955, hoping to overturn Bridges' naturalization because it had been obtained by fraud.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/07/03/91361384.pdf "Bridges Charges are Heard Again," July 3, 1955], accessed June 23, 2012</ref> The trial judge ruled in Bridges' favor and the government did not appeal.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71699104 |title=Bridges case 'closed' |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 October 1955 |access-date=17 June 2018 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In May 1942, though the Roosevelt administration was now putting its anti-Communist activities on hold in the interest of furthering the Soviet-American alliance, Attorney General [[Francis Biddle|Biddle]] overruled the BIA and ordered Bridges deportation.<ref>Steele, ''Free Speech'', pp. 208-211; ''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/05/29/85558116.pdf Lewis Wood, "Bridges Ordered Deported at Once", May 29, 1942]; accessed June 22, 2012.</ref> Bridges appealed and lost in District Court<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/02/09/88514496.pdf Lawrence E. Davies, "Bridges Loses Plea for Habeas Corpus", February 9, 1943]; accessed June 22, 2012.</ref> and the Court of Appeals.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/28/96578985.pdf "Denies Rehearing of Bridges' Plea," September 28, 1944], accessed June 22, 2012.</ref> But the [[United States Supreme Court]] overruled deportation, holding 5–3 on June 18, 1945, in the case of ''Bridges v. Wixon,'' that the government had not proven Bridges was "affiliated" with the CPUSA,<ref>Steele, ''Free Speech'', p. 228</ref> a word it interpreted to require more than "sympathy" or "mere cooperation".<ref name=wixon>FindLaw: [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=326&invol=135 Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U.S. 135 (1945)]; accessed June 22, 2012. Wixon was an official of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.</ref>
{{check quotation}}

Bridges became a [[naturalization|naturalized]] U.S. citizen in 1945. With the goal of deportation, in 1948 the federal government tried Bridges for fraud and [[perjury]], for denying when applying for naturalization that he had ever been a member of the Communist Party. The jury convicted Bridges and two co-defendants. He was sentenced to five years in prison and his citizenship was revoked.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/06/17/94075566.pdf "Bridges' Citizenship is Revoked By Judge on Perjury Conviction", June 17, 1950]; accessed June 23, 2012.</ref> The Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision overturned the conviction in 1953 because the indictment on fraud and perjury charges did not occur within the three years set by the statute of limitations.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/06/16/110065156.pdf Luther A. Huston, "Supreme Court Frees Bridges Under Statute of Limitations," June 16, 1953]; accessed June 23, 2012.</ref> The government dropped the criminal charges and pursued a case in civil court in June and July 1955, hoping to overturn Bridges' naturalization because it had been obtained by fraud.<ref>''New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/07/03/91361384.pdf "Bridges Charges are Heard Again", July 3, 1955]; accessed June 23, 2012.</ref> The trial judge ruled in Bridges' favor and the government did not appeal.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71699104 |title=Bridges case 'closed' |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=October 3, 1955 |access-date=June 17, 2018 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>


===Political battles===
===Political battles===
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2021}}
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2021}}
Bridges hewed to the Communist Party line throughout the late 1930s and 1940s. After the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]] was signed in 1939, the party attacked Roosevelt and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] as warmongers and adopted the slogan "[[Over There|The Yanks Ain't Coming]]." Bridges denounced President Roosevelt for betraying labor and preparing for war. [[John L. Lewis]], the head of the CIO, responded in October 1939 by abolishing the position of West Coast director of the CIO, limiting Bridges' authority to California.
Bridges hewed to the Communist Party line throughout the late 1930s and 1940s. After the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop pact]] was signed in 1939, the party attacked Roosevelt and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] as warmongers and adopted the slogan "[[Over There|The Yanks Ain't Coming]]." Bridges denounced President Roosevelt for betraying labor and preparing for war. [[John L. Lewis]], the head of the CIO, responded in October 1939 by abolishing the position of West Coast director of the CIO, limiting Bridges' authority to California.


Bridges continued opposing the Roosevelt Administration, belittling the [[New Deal]] and urging union voters to withhold their support from Roosevelt. He said they should wait to see what Lewis, who had now also split with the Roosevelt administration, recommended. That position proved highly unpopular with the membership; many locals had already endorsed FDR for a third term and several locals passed motions calling for Bridges to resign. He refused, noting that the union's constitution allowed for a recall election if fifteen percent of the membership petitioned for one. The ILWU executive board gave him a vote of confidence.
Bridges continued opposing the Roosevelt Administration, belittling the [[New Deal]] and urging union voters to withhold their support from Roosevelt. He said they should wait to see what Lewis, who had now also split with the Roosevelt administration, recommended. That position proved highly unpopular with the membership; many locals had already endorsed FDR for a third term and several locals passed motions calling for Bridges to resign. He refused, noting that the union's constitution allowed for a recall election if fifteen percent of the membership petitioned for one. The ILWU executive board gave him a vote of confidence.
Line 180: Line 183:
The agreement, however, highlighted the lesser status of less senior members, known as "B-men." Bridges reacted defensively to these workers' complaints, which had additional sting because many of the "B-men" were [[African American|black]] and had worked hard to enter the union. The additional longshore work produced by the [[Vietnam War]] allowed Bridges to meet the challenge by opening up more jobs and making determined efforts to recruit black applicants. The ILWU later faced similar challenges from women, who found it even harder to enter the industry and the union.
The agreement, however, highlighted the lesser status of less senior members, known as "B-men." Bridges reacted defensively to these workers' complaints, which had additional sting because many of the "B-men" were [[African American|black]] and had worked hard to enter the union. The additional longshore work produced by the [[Vietnam War]] allowed Bridges to meet the challenge by opening up more jobs and making determined efforts to recruit black applicants. The ILWU later faced similar challenges from women, who found it even harder to enter the industry and the union.


Bridges had difficulty giving up his position in the ILWU. He explored the possibility of merging it with the ILA or the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters|Teamsters]] in the early 1970s. He retired in 1977 after ensuring that Louis Goldblatt, the long-time Secretary-Treasurer of the union and his logical successor, was denied the opportunity to replace him. He opposed Goldblatt.
Bridges had difficulty giving up his position in the ILWU. He explored the possibility of merging it with the ILA or the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters|Teamsters]] in the early 1970s. He retired in 1977 after ensuring that Louis Goldblatt, the long-time Secretary-Treasurer of the union and his logical successor, was denied the opportunity to replace him. He opposed Goldblatt.


On July 28, 2001, on what would have been Bridges' 100th birthday, the ILWU organized a week-long event celebrating the life of the union leader. This culminated in a march of more than 8000 unionists and supporters across the [[Vincent Thomas Bridge]] from [[Terminal Island]] to [[San Pedro, California]]. The longshoremen shut down the port for eight hours in honor of Bridges.
On 28 July 2001, on what would have been Bridges' 100th birthday, the ILWU organized a week-long event celebrating the life of the union leader. This culminated in a march of more than 8000 unionists and supporters across the [[Vincent Thomas Bridge]] from [[Terminal Island]] to [[San Pedro, California]]. The longshoremen shut down the port for eight hours in honor of Bridges.


==Personal life and death==
==Personal life and death==
[[File:Harry Bridges.JPG|thumb|right|Bust of Harry Bridges at the University of Washington]]
Bridges divorced his second wife, Nancy Fenton Berdicio Bridges, a onetime professional dancer, after eight years of marriage. They had two children.<ref>
Harry Bridges began a relationship with Agnes Bridges (née Brown) at age 21 in Marshfield ([[Coos Bay, Oregon|Coos Bay]]), Oregon, in 1922. They had a child and lived as an unmarried couple for twelve years, and they formally married in 1934 shortly before the West Coast Waterfront Strike began. Their relationship deteriorated as Harry became a more prominent leader in the union, and they divorced in 1945. In a series of nasty and highly publicized divorce hearings, both accused each other of physical violence, Harry accused Agnes of alcoholism, and Agnes accused Harry of fathering a child with Nancy Berdecio. Agnes was later paid by the FBI to testify against Harry in his deportation trials.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Youst |first=Lionel |date=2015 |title=Harry and Agnes Bridges: A Couple at Odds |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44790677 |journal=The Pacific Northwest Quarterly |volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=68–83 |jstor=44790677 |issn=0030-8803}}</ref>

In the mid-1930's, Bridges was rumored to have had an affair with his secretary, Norma Perry, who later worked for and had a relationship with [[Harry Lundeberg]]. Some speculation suggests that Norma Perry was an underlying reason for Bridges' split with Lundeberg during the [[1936 Pacific Coast maritime workers' strike|1936-37 Pacific Coast Maritime Strike]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Horne |first=Gerald |title=Red Seas |chapter=Notes |date=2005-06-20 |pages=293–332 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.18574/nyu/9780814773345.003.0018/pdf |access-date=2024-02-28 |publisher=New York University Press |language=en |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814773345.003.0018 |isbn=978-0-8147-7334-5}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Howard Kimeldorf |title=Stanley Weir - Howard Kimeldorf Oral History Project - Oral History Audio |date=1981-04-22 |url=http://archive.org/details/WeirStanley_HKOHP |access-date=2024-02-28 |doi=10.6069/vwfj-ry09}}</ref>

In 1940, Bridges met Nancy Fenton Berdecio Bridges, a onetime professional dancer, while traveling in New York City. In 1943, Berdecio became pregnant with a child fathered by Bridges, though he denied paternity in his divorce hearing with Agnes. After finalizing his divorce, Harry and Nancy married in 1946.<ref name=":0" /> They divorced after eight years of marriage. They had one additional child.<ref>
{{Cite news
{{Cite news
| title = Milestones, Dec. 22, 1958: Married. Harry Bridges
| title = Milestones, Dec. 22, 1958: Married. Harry Bridges
| publisher=Time
| publisher=Time
| url = http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,937746,00.html
| url = https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,937746,00.html
| date = 22 December 1958
| date = 22 December 1958
| access-date = 27 July 2021}}</ref>
| access-date = 27 July 2021}}</ref>


Bridges met [[Noriko Sawada Bridges Flynn|Noriko Sawada]] in San Francisco, when introduced by her employer, Charles Garry, a civil rights lawyer.<ref name="flynn"/> They were attending a fund-raiser for mine, mill, and smelter workers. The two later became a couple.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/NORIKO-SAWADA-BRIDGES-FLYNN-Civil-rights-2634931.php|title=NORIKO SAWADA BRIDGES FLYNN / Civil rights activist, writer challenged law / Japanese American was interned|first=Catherine|last=Bigelow|date=9 February 2003|website=SFGate}}</ref> In 1958, the couple decided to marry in [[Reno, Nevada]]. At the county courthouse, the clerk refused the couple a marriage license because Sawada was ethnic Japanese and Nevada had an 1846 statute banning marriage between any white person and "any person of the Ethiopian or black race, Malay or brown race, Mongolian or yellow race, or American Indian, or red race." Bridges and Sawada asked the Federal District Court to order the marriage license be issued. Judge Taylor Wines granted the order and the couple married December 10, 1958. This order prompted the Nevada legislature to repeal the state's [[anti-miscegenation laws]] on March 17, 1959.<ref name="flynn">''New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/us/noriko-flynn-79-advocate-for-unions-and-civil-rights.html Michael T. Kaufman, "Noriko Flynn, 79, Advocate For Unions and Civil Rights," February 17, 2003], accessed June 23, 2012</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Earl |first=Phillip I. |journal=Nevada Historical Society Quarterly |volume=37 |date=Spring 1994 |title=Nevada's Miscegenation Laws and the Marriage of Mr. & Mrs. Harry Bridges }}</ref>
Bridges met [[Noriko Sawada Bridges Flynn|Noriko "Nikki" Sawada]] in San Francisco, when introduced by her employer, [[Charles Garry]], a civil rights lawyer.<ref name="flynn" /> They were attending a fund-raiser for mine, mill, and smelter workers. The two later became a couple.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/NORIKO-SAWADA-BRIDGES-FLYNN-Civil-rights-2634931.php|title=NORIKO SAWADA BRIDGES FLYNN / Civil rights activist, writer challenged law / Japanese American was interned|first=Catherine|last=Bigelow|date=9 February 2003|website=SFGate}}</ref> In 1958, the couple decided to marry in [[Reno, Nevada]]. At the county courthouse, the clerk refused the couple a marriage license because Sawada was ethnic Japanese and Nevada had an 1846 statute banning marriage between any white person and "any person of the Ethiopian or black race, Malay or brown race, Mongolian or yellow race, or American Indian, or red race." Bridges and Sawada asked the Federal District Court to order the marriage license be issued. Judge Taylor Wines granted the order and the couple married 10 December 1958. This order prompted the Nevada legislature to repeal the state's [[anti-miscegenation laws]] on 17 March 1959.<ref name="flynn">''New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/us/noriko-flynn-79-advocate-for-unions-and-civil-rights.html Michael T. Kaufman, "Noriko Flynn, 79, Advocate For Unions and Civil Rights," 17 February 2003], accessed 23 June 2012</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Earl |first=Phillip I. |journal=Nevada Historical Society Quarterly |volume=37 |date=Spring 1994 |title=Nevada's Miscegenation Laws and the Marriage of Mr. & Mrs. Harry Bridges }}</ref>


Harry Bridges died aged 88 on March 30, 1990.
Harry Bridges died aged 88 on 30 March 1990.

[[File:Harry Bridges.JPG|thumb|right|Bust at the University of Washington]]


==Legacy==
==Legacy==
[[File:ILWU Headquarters.jpg|thumb|ILWU Headquarters]]
The ILWU headquarters in San Francisco is called the Harry R. Bridges Memorial Building.

On the West Coast, Bridges still excites passions both for and against the labor movement.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/obituaries/harry-bridges-docks-leader-dies-at-88.html|title=Harry Bridges, Docks Leader, Dies at 88|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon|date=31 March 1990|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-06-vw-4998-story.html|title=Research Library Chronicles Career : Labor Chief Bridges Will Be Feted|date=6 February 1986|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-16-mn-785-story.html|title=Harry Bridges Eulogized as Champion of Working People|date=16 April 1990|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/34-General-Strike-laid-base-for-counterculture-3243756.php|title='34 General Strike laid base for counterculture|first=Fred|last=Glass|date=29 April 2009|website=SFGate}}</ref>
On the West Coast, Bridges still excites passions both for and against the labor movement.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/obituaries/harry-bridges-docks-leader-dies-at-88.html|title=Harry Bridges, Docks Leader, Dies at 88|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon|date=31 March 1990|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-06-vw-4998-story.html|title=Research Library Chronicles Career : Labor Chief Bridges Will Be Feted|date=6 February 1986|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-16-mn-785-story.html|title=Harry Bridges Eulogized as Champion of Working People|date=16 April 1990|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/34-General-Strike-laid-base-for-counterculture-3243756.php|title='34 General Strike laid base for counterculture|first=Fred|last=Glass|date=29 April 2009|website=SFGate}}</ref>


The Harry Bridges Institute in [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]], [[California]], is a research institute that focuses on topics of international economics and how changes in political geography affect unions.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Harry Bridges Institute |title=Welcome to the Harry Bridges Institute |url=http://harrybridges.com/index.html |access-date=9 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212100607/http://harrybridges.com/index.html |archive-date=12 December 2009 }}</ref> The archives of the Harry Bridges Institute are held in the University Library at [[California State University, Northridge]]. The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the [[University of Washington]] (UW) in [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], was established in Bridges' honor in 1992 by [[ILWU]] past and current ILWU members. The center supports research, teaching, and community outreach by UW faculty and students and labor organizations.<ref>{{Cite web
[[The Almanac Singers]], including [[Woody Guthrie]] and [[Pete Seeger]], recorded "Song for Bridges" in 1941 while working on their album ''Talking Union'' that defends Bridges' work.
|url=https://depts.washington.edu/pcls/about.html |author=Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies |title=About the Bridges Center|access-date=9 April 2010 }}</ref>
[[Rancid (band)|Rancid]], a band from [[Oakland, California]], released a song titled "Harry Bridges" on their 1994 album ''[[Let's Go (Rancid album)|Let's Go]]''. [[Rancid (band)|Rancid]] also sang about Harry Bridges on their 1993 ''[[Rancid (1993 album)|Rancid]]'' album in the song "Union Blood."


Harry Bridges Span School, in the harbor town of [[Wilmington, California]], is named after him, as is Harry Bridges Blvd (also in Wilmington), which runs along the north side of the Port of Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/W+Harry+Bridges+Blvd,+Wilmington,+CA+90744/@33.7690532,-118.2653009,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80dd367427f7db35:0x1c63eeeae6ad36bd|title=Google Maps|website=Google Maps}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.harrybridges.net/|title=Harry Bridges Span School|website=1235 BROAD AVE WILMINGTON CA 90744}}</ref>
[[Governor of California|California Governor]] [[Gray Davis]] declared July 28, 2001, Bridges' 100th birthday, as "Harry Bridges Day". On the same day, the City of San Francisco dedicated a plaza in Bridges' honor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/LABOR-OF-LOVE-Plaza-dedication-march-honor-2894737.php|title=LABOR OF LOVE / Plaza dedication, march honor labor pioneer Harry Bridges|first1=Eric|last1=Brazil|first2=Chronicle Staff|last2=Writer|date=27 July 2001|website=SFGate}}</ref>


In 1941, [[The Almanac Singers]], including [[Woody Guthrie]] and [[Pete Seeger]], recorded "Song for Bridges" while working on their album ''Talking Union'' that defends Bridges' work. In 1994, [[Rancid (band)|Rancid]], a band from [[Oakland, California]], released a song titled "Harry Bridges" on their album ''[[Let's Go (Rancid album)|Let's Go]]'' following their song "Union Blood" on their 1993 ''[[Rancid (1993 album)|Rancid]]''.
[[File:ILWU Headquarters.jpg|thumb|ILWU Headquarters]]


[[Governor of California|California Governor]] [[Gray Davis]] declared 28 July 2001, Bridges' 100th birthday, as "Harry Bridges Day." On the same day, the City of San Francisco dedicated a plaza near the [[San Francisco Ferry Building]] in Bridges' honor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/LABOR-OF-LOVE-Plaza-dedication-march-honor-2894737.php|title=LABOR OF LOVE / Plaza dedication, march honor labor pioneer Harry Bridges|first1=Eric|last1=Brazil|first2=Chronicle Staff|last2=Writer|date=27 July 2001|website=SFGate}}</ref>
The ILWU headquarters in San Francisco is called the Harry R. Bridges Memorial Building.


In 2009, the nonprofit Harry Bridges Project produced ''From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges'', a one-man play that was directed and filmed by [[Haskell Wexler]]. It promotes Bridges' legacy and the influence of his work.<ref>{{Cite web
The Harry Bridges Institute in [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]], [[California]], is a research institute that focuses on topics of international economics and how changes in political geography affect unions.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Harry Bridges Institute |title=Welcome to the Harry Bridges Institute |url=http://harrybridges.com/index.html |access-date=April 9, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212100607/http://harrybridges.com/index.html |archive-date=December 12, 2009 }}</ref> The archives of the Harry Bridges Institute are held in the University Library at [[California State University, Northridge]].

The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the [[University of Washington]] (UW) in [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], was established in Bridges' honor in 1992 by [[ILWU]] past and current ILWU members. The center supports research, teaching, and community outreach by UW faculty and students and labor organizations.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://depts.washington.edu/pcls/about.html |author=Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies |title=About the Bridges Center|access-date=April 9, 2010 }}</ref>

The nonprofit Harry Bridges Project produced ''From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges'', a one-man play that was directed and filmed by [[Haskell Wexler]]. It promotes Bridges' legacy and the influence of his work.<ref>{{Cite web
|url = http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org/film.html
|url = http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org/film.html
|author = The Harry Bridges Project
|author = The Harry Bridges Project
|title = From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges
|title = From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges
|access-date = April 9, 2010
|access-date = 9 April 2010
|url-status = dead
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091212102730/http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org/film.html
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091212102730/http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org/film.html
|archive-date = December 12, 2009
|archive-date = 12 December 2009
}}</ref> The film was broadcast on some [[PBS]] stations on [[Labor Day]] Weekend in 2009.
}}</ref> The film was broadcast on some [[PBS]] stations on [[Labor Day]] Weekend in 2009.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


In 2010, the [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach City Council]] renamed the Queen Mary Events Park to the Harry Bridges Memorial Park.<ref>{{cite news|title=Queen Mary Events Park To Be Renamed After Labor Leader Harry Bridges|url=http://www.everythinglongbeach.com/queen-mary-events-park-renamed-harry-bridges-memorial-park/|website=Everything Long Beach|date=5 March 2010 |access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref>
Harry Bridges Span School, in the harbor town of [[Wilmington, California]], is named after him, as is Harry Bridges Blvd (also in Wilmington), which runs along the north side of the Port of Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/W+Harry+Bridges+Blvd,+Wilmington,+CA+90744/@33.7690532,-118.2653009,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80dd367427f7db35:0x1c63eeeae6ad36bd|title=Google Maps|website=Google Maps}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.harrybridges.net/|title=Harry Bridges Span School|website=1235 BROAD AVE WILMINGTON CA 90744}}</ref>


In a 2023 biography of Bridges, professor emeritus Robert W. Cherny concluded that Bridges had not been a CPUSA member based on careful checks against multiple contemporary sources, however much Bridges agreed with various aspects of Marxism or extolled the USSR. Instead, he found that Bridges was one of a few people "listened to, consulted with, offered advice, and asked for advice, but were not given directions and were not under party discipline".<ref>
In 2010 the [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach City Council]] renamed the Queen Mary Events Park to the Harry Bridges Memorial Park.<ref>{{cite web|title=Queen Mary Events Park To Be Renamed After Labor Leader Harry Bridges|url=http://www.everythinglongbeach.com/queen-mary-events-park-renamed-harry-bridges-memorial-park/|website=Everything Long Beach|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref>
{{cite journal
| author = David Chambers
| title = Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend
| journal = Labor History
| date = 11 January 2023
| volume = 64
| pages = 140–141
| doi = 10.1080/0023656X.2023.2166383
| s2cid = 255770379
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| author = Robert W. Cherny
| title = Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend
| publisher = University of Illinois Press
| url = https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c044748
| page = 162
| date = 2023
| access-date = 2 February 2023}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Refbegin}}
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last1=Gordievsky |first1=Oleg |last2=Andrew |first2=Christopher |author-link1=Oleg Gordievsky |author-link2=Christopher Andrew (historian) |title=KGB: The Inside Story |publisher=[[Harper Collins]] |date=October 12, 1990 |isbn=978-0060166052}}
*{{cite book |last1=Gordievsky |first1=Oleg |last2=Andrew |first2=Christopher |author-link1=Oleg Gordievsky |author-link2=Christopher Andrew (historian) |title=KGB: The Inside Story |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |date=12 October 1990 |isbn=978-0060166052}}
{{Refend}}
{{Refend}}
{{Portal|Organized labour}}
{{Portal|Organized labour}}
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*Bruce Nelson, ''Workers on the Waterfront, Seamen, Longshoremen and Unionism in the 1930s'', {{ISBN|0-252-06144-6}}
*Bruce Nelson, ''Workers on the Waterfront, Seamen, Longshoremen and Unionism in the 1930s'', {{ISBN|0-252-06144-6}}
*[https://archive.org/details/harrybridgesontr00wardrich Ward, Estolv Ethan, ''Harry Bridges on Trial'' (available at the Internet Archive)]
*[https://archive.org/details/harrybridgesontr00wardrich Ward, Estolv Ethan, ''Harry Bridges on Trial'' (available at the Internet Archive)]
*Robert W. Cherny, ''Harry Bridges, Labor Radical, Labor Legend'', ISBN 9780252044748


===Archives===
===Archives===
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=DugganRobertD5677.xml Robert Duggan Papers.] 1989–1992. 5 cubic feet (5 boxes). Contains records from Duggan's work of creating the Bridge's Chair in 1992.
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv55499 Robert Duggan Papers.] 1989–1992. 5 cubic feet (5 boxes). Contains records from Duggan's work of creating the Bridge's Chair in 1992. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=McAndrewRaymondL3850.xml Raymond L. McAndrew Papers.] 1934–1972. 2.5" liner. Contains some writings by Harry Bridges.
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv89059 Raymond L. McAndrew Papers.] 1934–1972. 2.5" liner. Contains some writings by Harry Bridges. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=HarryBridgesCenterLaborStudies5725.xml Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies Union Charters Collection.] 1903–1966. 0.06 cubic feet (1 oversize box).
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv27227 Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies Union Charters Collection.] 1903–1966. 0.06 cubic feet (1 oversize box). At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=MagdenRonald5185.xml Ronald Magden Papers.] 1879–2003. 28.27 cubic feet (34 boxes). Contains various writings and materials about Harry Bridges.
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv25738 Ronald Magden Papers.] 1879–2003. 28.27 cubic feet (34 boxes). Contains various writings and materials about Harry Bridges. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=OlsonDavidJUA5672.xml David Olson Papers.] 1915–2008. 6.06 cubic feet (6 boxes and one oversized folder). Contains materials related to the founding of Harry Bridges Chair of Labor Studies at the University of Washington.
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv99932 David Olson Papers.] 1915–2008. 6.06 cubic feet (6 boxes and one oversized folder). Contains materials related to the founding of Harry Bridges Chair of Labor Studies at the University of Washington. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections]
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=RennarGeorge0636_1656.xml George E. Rennar Papers.] 1933–1972. 37.43 cubic feet. Contains ephemera on the Harry Bridges Victory Committee.
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv72973 George E. Rennar Papers.] 1933–1972. 37.43 cubic feet. Contains ephemera on the Harry Bridges Victory Committee. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=CaughlanJohn0704.xml John Caughlan Papers.] 1933–1999. 54.44 cubic feet (84 boxes, 3 oversize folders, 2 vertical files.). Contains bound volume of ILWU newsletters from 1949 to 1955.
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv87319 John Caughlan Papers.] 1933–2003. 54.44 cubic feet (84 boxes, 3 oversize folders, 2 vertical files.). Contains bound volume of ILWU newsletters from 1949 to 1955. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [http://archive.ilwu.org/ Anne Rand Library, International Longshore and Warehouse Union.] Contains a digitized collection of archival news sources related to the ILWU, Pacific Coast Maritime Labor, and Harry Bridges.
* [http://archive.ilwu.org/ Anne Rand Library, International Longshore and Warehouse Union.] Contains a digitized collection of archival news sources related to the ILWU, Pacific Coast Maritime Labor, and Harry Bridges.

=== Oral history ===

* {{Citation |last=Kimeldorf |first=Howard |title=Harry Bridges - Howard Kimeldorf Oral History Project - Oral History Audio |date=1984-02-25 |url=https://archive.org/details/BridgesHarry_HKOHP |doi=10.6069/e72z-8t19}}


==External links==
==External links==
Line 257: Line 284:


*{{IMDb name|1980501}}
*{{IMDb name|1980501}}
*[http://www.ilwu19.com/history/biography.htm ILWU Local 19: Harry Bridges A Biography], accessed June 23, 2012
*[http://www.ilwu19.com/history/biography.htm ILWU Local 19: Harry Bridges A Biography], accessed 23 June 2012
*[https://depts.washington.edu/dock/Harry_Bridges_intro.shtml Harry Bridges: Life and Legacy], a multimedia section of the [[Waterfront Workers History Project]]
*[https://depts.washington.edu/dock/Harry_Bridges_intro.shtml Harry Bridges: Life and Legacy], a multimedia section of the [[Waterfront Workers History Project]]
*[[iarchive:casacsh 000506/casacsh 000506 b access.mp3|Speech delivered by Harry Bridges to the Comstock Club of Sacramento, California on June 6, 1967]]
*[[iarchive:casacsh 000506/casacsh 000506 b access.mp3|Speech delivered by Harry Bridges to the Comstock Club of Sacramento, California on June 6, 1967]]
*[https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/subversives-stories-from-the-red-scare/ Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare]. Lesson by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca (Harry Bridges is featured in this lesson).


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Harry}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Harry}}
[[Category:Leaders of American trade unions]]
[[Category:American trade union leaders]]
[[Category:Australian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Australian emigrants to the United States]]
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[[Category:Australian waterside workers]]
[[Category:Australian waterside workers]]
[[Category:Australian sailors]]
[[Category:Australian sailors]]
[[Category:Members of the Communist Party USA]]
[[Category:Australian communists]]
[[Category:People from Kensington, Victoria]]

Latest revision as of 21:35, 13 December 2024

Harry Bridges
Bridges in 1935
1st President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
In office
1937–1977
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJimmy Herman
Personal details
Born
Alfred Renton Bryant Bridges[1]

(1901-07-28)28 July 1901
Kensington, Victoria, Australia[2]
Died30 March 1990(1990-03-30) (aged 88)
San Francisco, California, United States
Spouses
Children4
OccupationLabor leader

Harry Bridges (28 July 1901 – 30 March 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), expanding members to workers in warehouses, and led it for the next 40 years. He was prosecuted for his labor organizing and designated as subversive by the U.S. government during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with the goal of deportation. This was never achieved.

Bridges became a naturalized citizen in 1945. His conviction by a federal jury for having lied about his Communist Party membership when seeking naturalization was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1953 as having been prosecuted untimely, outside the statute of limitations. His official power was reduced when the ILWU was expelled by the CIO in 1950, but he continued to be re-elected by the membership and was highly influential until his retirement in 1977.

Background

[edit]

Bridges was born Alfred Renton Bryant Bridges in Kensington, Victoria, Australia. His father, Alfred Earnest Bridges, was a successful suburban realtor, and his mother, Julia (née Dorgan) Bridges, was a devout Roman Catholic of Irish descent.[1][2][3]

Career

[edit]

Bridges went to sea at age 16 as a merchant seaman and joined the Australian sailors' union. Inspired by Jack London to take to the sea, he took the name Harry from an uncle, who was a socialist and an adventurer. Bridges entered the United States in 1920, where his American colleagues gave him several nicknames, including "The Beak" for his prominent nose, "The Limey," as they couldn't tell the difference between an Australian and an Englishman, "Australian Harry," and "Racehorse Harry" for his love of horse racing.[citation needed]

In 1921, Bridges joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), participating in an unsuccessful nationwide seamen's strike. While Bridges left the IWW shortly thereafter with doubts about the organization, his early experiences in the IWW and in Australian unions influenced his beliefs on militant unionism, based on rank and file power and involvement.[citation needed]

Bridges left the sea for longshore work in San Francisco in 1922. The shipowners had created a company union after the International Longshoremen's Association local in San Francisco was destroyed by a strike it lost in 1919. Bridges resisted joining that union, finding casual work on the docks as a "pirate". After he joined the San Francisco local of the ILA and participated in a Labor Day parade in 1924, he was blacklisted for several years. Bridges eventually joined the company union in 1927 and worked as a winch operator and rigger on a steel-handling gang.[citation needed]

Albion Hall group

[edit]

The ILA renewed its efforts to reestablish itself on the West Coast, chartering a new local in San Francisco in 1933. With the passage that year of the National Industrial Recovery Act, which contained some encouraging but unenforceable provisions declaring that workers had the right to organize unions of their own choice, thousands of longshoremen joined the new ILA local.[citation needed]

At the time Bridges was a member of a circle of longshoremen that came to be known as the "Albion Hall Group", after their meeting place.[4] It attracted members from a variety of backgrounds: members of the Communist Party, which was then trying to organize all longshoremen, sailors and other maritime workers into the Marine Workers Industrial Union (MWIU), as a revolutionary, industry-wide alternative to the ILA and other American Federation of Labor (AFL) unions; former IWW members, and others with no clearly defined politics.[5]

This group had acquired some influence on the docks through its publication The Waterfront Worker, a mimeographed sheet sold for a penny that published articles written by longshoremen and seamen, almost always under pseudonyms. These articles focused on workers' day-to-day concerns: the pace of work, the weight of loads, abusive bosses, and unsafe working conditions. While the first editions were published in the apartment of an MWIU member on a second-hand mimeograph machine, the paper remained independent of both the party and the MWIU.[5][6]

Although Bridges was sympathetic to much of the MWIU's program in 1933, he chose to join the new ILA local. When the local held elections, Bridges and fellow members of the Albion Hall group made up a majority of the executive board and held two of the three business agents positions.[6]

The Albion Hall Group stressed the self-help tactics of syndicalism, urging workers to organize by taking part in strikes and slowdowns, rather than depending on governmental assistance under the NIRA.[7] It also campaigned for membership participation in the new ILA local, which had not bothered to hold any membership meetings. Finally, the group started laying the groundwork for organizing on a coastwide basis, meeting with activists from Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington and organizing a federation of all of the different unions that represented maritime workers.

Under Bridges' leadership, the group organized a successful 5-day strike in October 1933 to force Matson Navigation Company to reinstate four longshoremen it had fired for wearing ILA buttons on the job. Longshoremen at other ports threatened to refuse to handle Matson cargo unless the company rehired the four men.[8][9]

1934 West Coast Longshore Strike

[edit]

Early in 1934, Bridges and the Albion Hall group and militants in other ports began planning a coast-wide strike. The Roosevelt administration tried to head off the strike by appointing a mediation board to oversee negotiations, but neither side accepted its proposed compromise. Bridges was elected chairman of the strike committee. The strike began on 9 May. While the elected local officers were the nominal leaders of the strike at its outset, Bridges led the planning of the strike along with his friend Sam Kagel. They recruited rank-and-file opposition to the two proposed contracts that the leadership negotiated and the membership rejected during the strike, and the dealings with other unions during related events.

A four-day San Francisco General strike took place after "Bloody Thursday" on 5 July, when police aided the Waterfront Employers Association in trucking cargo from the pierheads to the warehouses through the union's picket line. Scores of strikers were beaten or wounded by gunfire during the battle. During a coordinated raid on the union mess hall at the corner of Steuart and Mission, San Francisco Police shot and killed Howard Sperry, a striking sailor, and Nick Counderakis (AKA Nick Bordoise), a member of the cooks' union and a strike sympathizer helping out at the mess hall. Scores of other men were wounded by police gunfire as well, including a number of bystanders, as the ensuing battle quickly spilled into the nearby downtown area.

Bridges became the chief spokesperson for the union in negotiations after workers rejected the second agreement negotiated by the old leadership in June. Bridges did not control the strike: over his strong objections, the ILA membership voted to accept arbitration to end the strike. Similarly, in 1935, Bridges' opposition did not stop the ILA leadership from extending the union's contract with the employers, rather than striking in solidarity with the seamen.

Growth and independence

[edit]

Bridges was elected president of the San Francisco local in 1934 and president of the Pacific Coast District of the ILA in 1936. During this period the ILA commenced "the March Inland", in which it organized the many warehouses, both in the ports and those at a distance from them, which received the goods that longshoremen handled. Bridges led efforts to form Maritime Federation of the Pacific, which brought all of the maritime unions together for common action. That federation helped the sailors union win the same sort of contract after a long strike in 1936 that the ILA had achieved in 1934.

In 1937, the Pacific Coast district, with the exception of three locals in the Northwest, formally seceded from the ILA, renaming itself as the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, after the ILA tried to reorganize the existing locals, abandon representation of warehousemen, and reverse the unions' policies on issues such as unemployment insurance.

Bridges was elected president of the new union, which quickly affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Bridges became the West Coast Director for the CIO shortly thereafter.

The ILWU also established strong unions on the docks in Hawai'i during this time, and later among sugar and pineapple workers there. It encountered the concerted opposition of the employers, the military and most of the political establishment but the ILWU's work changed the political climate in Hawai'i. It broke the hold on power that the white landed elite had exercised for half a century.

As a measure of his influence, Bridges was featured on the cover of Time magazine on 19 July 1937.[10]

[edit]
Central figure representing Bridges, from Anton Refregier's 1948 murals at the Rincon Center (formerly the Rincon Annex Post Office)

In mid-July 1939, hearings took place at the Angel Island Immigration Station to deport Bridges. Government witnesses included Major Lawrence Milner and ex-communist official John Lewis Leech. While Leech held fast to his testimony, Milner confessed to perjury, for which the Bridges defense team demanded indictment, although there is no evidence Milner was ever indicted.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

The hearings found Bridges did not qualify for deportation because he was not currently — as the Alien Act of 1918 required — a member of or affiliated with an organization that advocated the overthrow of the government.[23] The Smith Act of 1940 was written so federal authorities could deport Bridges.[24] It allowed deportation of an alien who was a member or affiliated "at any time" since arriving in the U.S. with such an organization advocating overthrow of the government. A second round of deportation hearings ended after ten weeks in June 1941.[25] In September 1941, the special examiner who led the hearings recommended deportation, but the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed that order after finding the government's two key witnesses to be unreliable.[26]

In May 1942, though the Roosevelt administration was now putting its anti-Communist activities on hold in the interest of furthering the Soviet-American alliance, Attorney General Biddle overruled the BIA and ordered Bridges deportation.[27] Bridges appealed and lost in District Court[28] and the Court of Appeals.[29] But the United States Supreme Court overruled deportation, holding 5–3 on June 18, 1945, in the case of Bridges v. Wixon, that the government had not proven Bridges was "affiliated" with the CPUSA,[30] a word it interpreted to require more than "sympathy" or "mere cooperation".[31] [check quotation syntax]

Bridges became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1945. With the goal of deportation, in 1948 the federal government tried Bridges for fraud and perjury, for denying when applying for naturalization that he had ever been a member of the Communist Party. The jury convicted Bridges and two co-defendants. He was sentenced to five years in prison and his citizenship was revoked.[32] The Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision overturned the conviction in 1953 because the indictment on fraud and perjury charges did not occur within the three years set by the statute of limitations.[33] The government dropped the criminal charges and pursued a case in civil court in June and July 1955, hoping to overturn Bridges' naturalization because it had been obtained by fraud.[34] The trial judge ruled in Bridges' favor and the government did not appeal.[35]

Political battles

[edit]

Bridges hewed to the Communist Party line throughout the late 1930s and 1940s. After the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact was signed in 1939, the party attacked Roosevelt and Churchill as warmongers and adopted the slogan "The Yanks Ain't Coming." Bridges denounced President Roosevelt for betraying labor and preparing for war. John L. Lewis, the head of the CIO, responded in October 1939 by abolishing the position of West Coast director of the CIO, limiting Bridges' authority to California.

Bridges continued opposing the Roosevelt Administration, belittling the New Deal and urging union voters to withhold their support from Roosevelt. He said they should wait to see what Lewis, who had now also split with the Roosevelt administration, recommended. That position proved highly unpopular with the membership; many locals had already endorsed FDR for a third term and several locals passed motions calling for Bridges to resign. He refused, noting that the union's constitution allowed for a recall election if fifteen percent of the membership petitioned for one. The ILWU executive board gave him a vote of confidence.

After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, Bridges urged employers to increase productivity in order to prepare for war. When the CIO later adopted a wartime no-strike pledge, Bridges supported the pledge.[36] He proposed at the high point of the Communist Party's enthusiasm for unity—immediately after the Teheran Conference in 1943—that the pledge continue after the end of the war. The ILWU not only condemned the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Employees union for striking Montgomery Ward in 1943—after management refused to sign a new contract, cut wages, and fired union activists—but also assisted it in breaking the strike, by ordering members in St. Paul, Minnesota to work overtime, to handle overflow from the struck Chicago plant.

Bridges also called for a speedup of the pace of work—which may not have been inconsistent with the ILWU's goal of controlling the way that work was done on the docks. It had struggled with employers on this issue and the speedup was rejected by many ILWU members. Bridges later joined with Joseph Curran of the National Maritime Union, which represented sailors on the East Coast, and Julius Emspak of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, to support a proposal by Roosevelt in 1944, to militarize some civilian workplaces.

Bridges' attitude changed sharply after the end of World War II. While he still advocated the post-war plan for industrial peace that the Communist Party, along with the leaders of the CIO, the AFL and the Chamber of Commerce, were advocating, he differed sharply with CIO leadership on Cold War politics. He had his own opinions about the Marshall Plan and the application of the Truman Doctrine in Greece and Turkey, as well as participation in the World Federation of Trade Unions, viewing every element from the point of how it would affect his constituents.

Those foreign policy issues became labor issues for the ILWU in 1948, when the employers claimed that the union was preparing to strike in order to cripple the Marshall Plan. Emboldened by the new provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act, which required union officers to sign an oath that they were not members of the Communist Party, outlawed the closed shop, and gave the President authority to seek an 80-day "cooling off" period before a strike that would imperil the national health or safety, the employers pushed for a strike. They hoped to rid themselves of Bridges and reclaim control over the hiring hall. As it turned out, their strategy was a failure. The employer group reached a new agreement with the union after replacing their bargaining representatives and enduring a ninety-five-day strike.

At the same time, Philip Murray, Lewis' successor as head of the CIO, had started reducing Bridges' power within the CIO, removing him from his position as the CIO's California Regional Director in 1948. In 1950, after an internal trial, the CIO expelled the ILWU due to its communist leadership.[37]

Coping with change

[edit]

Expulsion had no real effect, however, on either the ILWU or Bridges' power within it. The organization continued to negotiate agreements, with less strife than in the 1930s and 1940s, and Bridges continued to be reelected without serious opposition. The union negotiated a groundbreaking agreement in 1960, that permitted the extensive mechanization of the docks. Its leadership agreed to significantly reducing the number of longshore workers in return for generous job guarantees and benefits for those displaced by the changes.

The agreement, however, highlighted the lesser status of less senior members, known as "B-men." Bridges reacted defensively to these workers' complaints, which had additional sting because many of the "B-men" were black and had worked hard to enter the union. The additional longshore work produced by the Vietnam War allowed Bridges to meet the challenge by opening up more jobs and making determined efforts to recruit black applicants. The ILWU later faced similar challenges from women, who found it even harder to enter the industry and the union.

Bridges had difficulty giving up his position in the ILWU. He explored the possibility of merging it with the ILA or the Teamsters in the early 1970s. He retired in 1977 after ensuring that Louis Goldblatt, the long-time Secretary-Treasurer of the union and his logical successor, was denied the opportunity to replace him. He opposed Goldblatt.

On 28 July 2001, on what would have been Bridges' 100th birthday, the ILWU organized a week-long event celebrating the life of the union leader. This culminated in a march of more than 8000 unionists and supporters across the Vincent Thomas Bridge from Terminal Island to San Pedro, California. The longshoremen shut down the port for eight hours in honor of Bridges.

Personal life and death

[edit]
Bust of Harry Bridges at the University of Washington

Harry Bridges began a relationship with Agnes Bridges (née Brown) at age 21 in Marshfield (Coos Bay), Oregon, in 1922. They had a child and lived as an unmarried couple for twelve years, and they formally married in 1934 shortly before the West Coast Waterfront Strike began. Their relationship deteriorated as Harry became a more prominent leader in the union, and they divorced in 1945. In a series of nasty and highly publicized divorce hearings, both accused each other of physical violence, Harry accused Agnes of alcoholism, and Agnes accused Harry of fathering a child with Nancy Berdecio. Agnes was later paid by the FBI to testify against Harry in his deportation trials.[38]

In the mid-1930's, Bridges was rumored to have had an affair with his secretary, Norma Perry, who later worked for and had a relationship with Harry Lundeberg. Some speculation suggests that Norma Perry was an underlying reason for Bridges' split with Lundeberg during the 1936-37 Pacific Coast Maritime Strike.[39][40]

In 1940, Bridges met Nancy Fenton Berdecio Bridges, a onetime professional dancer, while traveling in New York City. In 1943, Berdecio became pregnant with a child fathered by Bridges, though he denied paternity in his divorce hearing with Agnes. After finalizing his divorce, Harry and Nancy married in 1946.[38] They divorced after eight years of marriage. They had one additional child.[41]

Bridges met Noriko "Nikki" Sawada in San Francisco, when introduced by her employer, Charles Garry, a civil rights lawyer.[42] They were attending a fund-raiser for mine, mill, and smelter workers. The two later became a couple.[43] In 1958, the couple decided to marry in Reno, Nevada. At the county courthouse, the clerk refused the couple a marriage license because Sawada was ethnic Japanese and Nevada had an 1846 statute banning marriage between any white person and "any person of the Ethiopian or black race, Malay or brown race, Mongolian or yellow race, or American Indian, or red race." Bridges and Sawada asked the Federal District Court to order the marriage license be issued. Judge Taylor Wines granted the order and the couple married 10 December 1958. This order prompted the Nevada legislature to repeal the state's anti-miscegenation laws on 17 March 1959.[42][44]

Harry Bridges died aged 88 on 30 March 1990.

Legacy

[edit]
ILWU Headquarters

The ILWU headquarters in San Francisco is called the Harry R. Bridges Memorial Building.

On the West Coast, Bridges still excites passions both for and against the labor movement.[45][46][47][48]

The Harry Bridges Institute in San Pedro, California, is a research institute that focuses on topics of international economics and how changes in political geography affect unions.[49] The archives of the Harry Bridges Institute are held in the University Library at California State University, Northridge. The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, Washington, was established in Bridges' honor in 1992 by ILWU past and current ILWU members. The center supports research, teaching, and community outreach by UW faculty and students and labor organizations.[50]

Harry Bridges Span School, in the harbor town of Wilmington, California, is named after him, as is Harry Bridges Blvd (also in Wilmington), which runs along the north side of the Port of Los Angeles.[51][52]

In 1941, The Almanac Singers, including Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, recorded "Song for Bridges" while working on their album Talking Union that defends Bridges' work. In 1994, Rancid, a band from Oakland, California, released a song titled "Harry Bridges" on their album Let's Go following their song "Union Blood" on their 1993 Rancid.

California Governor Gray Davis declared 28 July 2001, Bridges' 100th birthday, as "Harry Bridges Day." On the same day, the City of San Francisco dedicated a plaza near the San Francisco Ferry Building in Bridges' honor.[53]

In 2009, the nonprofit Harry Bridges Project produced From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges, a one-man play that was directed and filmed by Haskell Wexler. It promotes Bridges' legacy and the influence of his work.[54] The film was broadcast on some PBS stations on Labor Day Weekend in 2009.[citation needed]

In 2010, the Long Beach City Council renamed the Queen Mary Events Park to the Harry Bridges Memorial Park.[55]

In a 2023 biography of Bridges, professor emeritus Robert W. Cherny concluded that Bridges had not been a CPUSA member based on careful checks against multiple contemporary sources, however much Bridges agreed with various aspects of Marxism or extolled the USSR. Instead, he found that Bridges was one of a few people "listened to, consulted with, offered advice, and asked for advice, but were not given directions and were not under party discipline".[56][57]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria". State of Victoria, Australia. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b Love, Peter. "Bridges, Alfred Renton (Harry) (1901–1990)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Harry Bridges Docks Leader Dies at 88", New York Times, 31 March 2015.
  4. ^ Harry Bridges; Henry Schmidt; J. R. Robertson; United States. District Court (California : Northern District : Southern Division), United States. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit). (1950). Harry Renton Bridges, Henry Schmidt and J.R. Robertson, appellants, vs. United States of America, appellee: transcript of record : appeals from the United States District Court, Northern District of California, Southern Division. Phillips & Van Orden Co.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b Bruce Nelson (1990). Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s. University of Illinois Press. pp. 124–. ISBN 978-0-252-06144-8.
  6. ^ a b Howard Kimeldorf (9 July 1992). Reds Or Rackets?: The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Waterfront. University of California Press. pp. 88–. ISBN 978-0-520-07886-4.
  7. ^ Sean Burns (1 November 2011). Archie Green: The Making of a Working-Class Hero. University of Illinois Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-0-252-09363-0.
  8. ^ Kevin Starr (1997). Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California. Oxford University Press. pp. 87–. ISBN 978-0-19-511802-5.
  9. ^ David Milton (1982). Politics of US Labor. NYU Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-0-85345-570-7.
  10. ^ "Labor: C.I.O. to Sea". Time Magazine. 19 July 1937. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Coercion Seen In Testimony Against Bridges". Honolulu Advertiser. 12 July 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  12. ^ Lang, Harry (13 July 1939). "Witness Bares Name Alien Allegedly Used at Gatherings". San Francisco Examiner. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Bridges Witness Detained; May Be Faced With Charge; National Guardsman Testified He Saw Defendant Pay Dues". Paterson Evening News. 13 July 1939. p. 54. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Bridges Said Eyed as Red". Eugene Guard. 12 July 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Here and There Calls Bridges "Red'". Marshall Evening Chronicle. 14 July 1939. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Harry Bridges Termed Leader of Communists". Harrisburg Evening News. 11 July 1939. p. 5. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  17. ^ "Bridges Dues Payment". Arizona Republic. 11 July 1939. p. 20. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  18. ^ "Red Party Dues Paid by Bridges". Arizona Republic. 11 July 1939. pp. 5, 36. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Witness Denies Police Aided in Deport Case: Militia Sole Boss, Says Witness". Santa Cruz Evening News. 11 July 1939. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  20. ^ "Former Organizer Becomes Accuser: Witness Tells Activities Under Name of Rossi". San Francisco Examiner. 13 July 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  21. ^ "Leech Remains Firm Under Grilling Cross-Examination; Story Unshaken As Hearing Closes". San Francisco Examiner. 15 July 1939. pp. 1, 7. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  22. ^ Boudin, Leonard (13 August 1940). "Books: The Bridges Case (Harry Bridges On Trial, by Estolv E. Ward)" (PDF). New Masses. Weekly Masses Co., Inc.: 19–20. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  23. ^ Richard W. Steele, Free Speech in the Good War (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1999), p. 102
  24. ^ Steele, Free Speech, p. 81
  25. ^ Steele, "Free Speech, pp. 105-109.
  26. ^ Steel, Free Speech, p. 208; New York Times: Frederick R. Barkley, "Bridges is Cleared by Appeals Board", January 6, 1942; accessed June 22, 2012. The special examiner was retired judge Charles B. Sears.
  27. ^ Steele, Free Speech, pp. 208-211; New York Times: Lewis Wood, "Bridges Ordered Deported at Once", May 29, 1942; accessed June 22, 2012.
  28. ^ New York Times: Lawrence E. Davies, "Bridges Loses Plea for Habeas Corpus", February 9, 1943; accessed June 22, 2012.
  29. ^ New York Times: "Denies Rehearing of Bridges' Plea," September 28, 1944, accessed June 22, 2012.
  30. ^ Steele, Free Speech, p. 228
  31. ^ FindLaw: Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U.S. 135 (1945); accessed June 22, 2012. Wixon was an official of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
  32. ^ New York Times: "Bridges' Citizenship is Revoked By Judge on Perjury Conviction", June 17, 1950; accessed June 23, 2012.
  33. ^ New York Times: Luther A. Huston, "Supreme Court Frees Bridges Under Statute of Limitations," June 16, 1953; accessed June 23, 2012.
  34. ^ New York Times: "Bridges Charges are Heard Again", July 3, 1955; accessed June 23, 2012.
  35. ^ "Bridges case 'closed'". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 3 October 1955. p. 6. Retrieved 17 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  36. ^ "U.S. NO-STRIKE PLEDGE". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. VIII, no. 66. New South Wales, Australia. 7 June 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 17 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  37. ^ "Harry Bridges is expelled". The Evening Advocate. Queensland, Australia. 30 August 1950. p. 6. Retrieved 17 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  38. ^ a b Youst, Lionel (2015). "Harry and Agnes Bridges: A Couple at Odds". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 106 (2): 68–83. ISSN 0030-8803. JSTOR 44790677.
  39. ^ Horne, Gerald (20 June 2005), "Notes", Red Seas, New York University Press, pp. 293–332, doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814773345.003.0018, ISBN 978-0-8147-7334-5, retrieved 28 February 2024
  40. ^ Howard Kimeldorf (22 April 1981), Stanley Weir - Howard Kimeldorf Oral History Project - Oral History Audio, doi:10.6069/vwfj-ry09, retrieved 28 February 2024
  41. ^ "Milestones, Dec. 22, 1958: Married. Harry Bridges". Time. 22 December 1958. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  42. ^ a b New York Times: Michael T. Kaufman, "Noriko Flynn, 79, Advocate For Unions and Civil Rights," 17 February 2003, accessed 23 June 2012
  43. ^ Bigelow, Catherine (9 February 2003). "NORIKO SAWADA BRIDGES FLYNN / Civil rights activist, writer challenged law / Japanese American was interned". SFGate.
  44. ^ Earl, Phillip I. (Spring 1994). "Nevada's Miscegenation Laws and the Marriage of Mr. & Mrs. Harry Bridges". Nevada Historical Society Quarterly. 37.
  45. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (31 March 1990). "Harry Bridges, Docks Leader, Dies at 88". The New York Times.
  46. ^ "Research Library Chronicles Career : Labor Chief Bridges Will Be Feted". Los Angeles Times. 6 February 1986.
  47. ^ "Harry Bridges Eulogized as Champion of Working People". Los Angeles Times. 16 April 1990.
  48. ^ Glass, Fred (29 April 2009). "'34 General Strike laid base for counterculture". SFGate.
  49. ^ Harry Bridges Institute. "Welcome to the Harry Bridges Institute". Archived from the original on 12 December 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  50. ^ Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. "About the Bridges Center". Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  51. ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps.
  52. ^ "Harry Bridges Span School". 1235 BROAD AVE WILMINGTON CA 90744.
  53. ^ Brazil, Eric; Writer, Chronicle Staff (27 July 2001). "LABOR OF LOVE / Plaza dedication, march honor labor pioneer Harry Bridges". SFGate.
  54. ^ The Harry Bridges Project. "From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges". Archived from the original on 12 December 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  55. ^ "Queen Mary Events Park To Be Renamed After Labor Leader Harry Bridges". Everything Long Beach. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  56. ^ David Chambers (11 January 2023). "Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend". Labor History. 64: 140–141. doi:10.1080/0023656X.2023.2166383. S2CID 255770379.
  57. ^ Robert W. Cherny (2023). Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend. University of Illinois Press. p. 162. Retrieved 2 February 2023.

Further reading

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Archives

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Oral history

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