Cornelius Shea - Teamsters Presidency: 1907

Teamsters Presidency: 1907

Cornelius Shea's second conspiracy trial began on February 1, 1907. In comparison to the 119-day first trial, the second trial ended in just 19 days. Shea's defense team was so confident of acquittal that they waived final arguments before the jury. The defense team's confidence was not misplaced: The jury took just two hours to return a verdict of "not guilty." A disheartened state's attorney subsequently announced that all additional charges against Shea and his co-conspirators would be dropped.

Despite Shea's legal successes, he lost control of the Teamsters union. Shea initially attempted to assert his power by replacing and blacklisting his opponents within the union as he had done before. But at a closed-door meeting of the union's executive board, the board expressed its anger that Shea had not resigned as promised after the conclusion of his two trials. Subsequently, nearly all of Shea's backers withdrew their support for his presidency.

At the Teamsters' international convention in Boston in August 1907, Shea lost re-election to Daniel J. Tobin, president of Local 25 in Boston and president of the Teamsters' Joint District Council. The election turned on the question of whether the remaining Chicago locals and all the New York City locals would bolt the union if Shea were re-elected. By a vote of 94 to 104, the delegates believed they would, and so elected Tobin the new president of the union. Shea's supporters won only three of the seven slots on the executive board, as well as the offices of secretary-treasurer and auditor. Tobin candidates won seven of the eight other offices (which included two of the three union trustees and all AFL delegate positions). Shea announced his full support for Tobin's presidency, and left office on October 1, 1907.