Philip Murray - CIO

CIO

When Lewis retired as CIO president in 1940, Murray was elected president as his successor. The CIO absorbed a large amount of UMWA's dues at a time when the ongoing Great Depression and employer resistance had stalled the influx of new members. Lewis soon broke with President Franklin D. Roosevelt over the need for war with Germany and Japan, and with his CIO colleagues over the need for government protection (as embodied by the National Labor Relations Act). Lewis endorsed Wendell Wilkie for president just 11 days before the 1940 presidential election, and threatened to resign as CIO president if union members did not follow him. They did not. Despite a Lewis draft at the CIO convention two weeks after the November election, Sidney Hillman and other CIO leaders pushed for a Murray candidacy. Although Murray had supported Roosevelt in the election, Lewis placed Murray's name into nomination himself. Philip Murray was elected president of the CIO on November 22, 1940.