Jimmy Hoffa
James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975) was an American labor union leader who vanished in late July 1975, aged 62. He is widely believed to have been murdered. Hoffa was a union activist from a young age, and was an important regional figure with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union by his mid-twenties. By 1952, Hoffa had risen to national vice-president of the IBT and served as the union's general president between 1958 and 1971. He secured the first national agreement for teamsters' rates in 1964, and played a major role in the growth and development of the union which eventually became the largest union (by membership) in the United States with over 1.5 million members at its peak, during his terms as its leader. He was a civil rights supporter and expressed this in many statements. Hoffa became involved with organized crime from the early years of his Teamsters work, and this connection continued until his disappearance in 1975. He was convicted of jury tampering, attempted bribery, and fraud in 1964. He was imprisoned in 1967 and sentenced to 13 years, after exhausting the appeal process. In mid-1971 he resigned as president of the union, an action that was part of a pardon agreement with President Richard Nixon, to facilitate his release later that year. Nixon blocked Hoffa from union activities until 1980 (which would have been the end of his prison term, had he served the full sentence). Hoffa attempted to overturn this order and to regain support. Hoffa was last seen in late July 1975, outside the Machus Red Fox, a suburban Detroit restaurant. His disappearance gave rise to many theories as to what happened to him. A collection of papers related to Hoffa is cared for by the Special Collections Research Center of The George Washington University. The collection contains a variety of materials, including newspaper and magazine articles, trial transcripts, copies of congressional hearings, and publicity materials.