BSEIU Presidency
Oscar Nelson, who had succeeded Quesse as president of BSEIU in February 1927, resigned his union office for health reasons on September 3, 1927. Jerry Horan was formally elected Nelson's successor on September 6, 1927. Horan's brother-in-law, local Sheet Metal Workers' International Association president William J. "Wild Bill" Rooney—an alleged murderer and noted crime figure in the city—engineered Horan's accession to the union presidency.
Horan quickly began a campaign of Americanism in BSEIU, pushing his members to learn English and become American citizens.
By the fall of 1929, his political fortunes within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) had risen to the point where he was named a member of the AFL delegation to the annual meeting of the British Trades Union Congress.
Horan's political activity also continued. He took over the Cook County Wage Earner's League, a quasi-political action committee established by William Quesse in 1924 to promote pro-labor candidates for office. He was a prominent supporter of Republican William "Big Bill" Thompson during his successful run for Mayor of Chicago in 1927, and was elected chairman of the Republican Party's 27th Ward Committee in November 1929. He backed Republican Governor Louis Emmerson's plan to pass a state constitutional amendment legalizing an income tax, and supported Charles W. Brooks in that candidate's unsuccessful run as the Republican candidate for governor of Illinois in 1936. However, Horan used the Wage Earners' League to not only promote candidates for office (allegedly through intimidation and vote-rigging) but also to run an illegal gambling operation near Chicago City Hall.
New member organizing was initially not very high on Horan's list of priorities. He established a union of maids and butlers in December 1927, but shuttered it less than six months later. He also established a council of trade union leaders to identify and respond to the open shop movement, but the council never engaged in any activity.
Read more about this topic: Jerry Horan
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