Joseph Lane Kirkland (March 12, 1922 – August 14, 1999) was an American
labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
leader who served as President of the
AFL–CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...
from 1979 to 1995.
Life and career
Kirkland was born in
Camden, South Carolina
Camden is the largest city and county seat of Kershaw County, South Carolina. The population was 7,764 in the 2020 census. It is part of the Columbia, South Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Camden is the oldest inland city in South Caro ...
, the son of Louise Beardsley (Richardson) and Randolph Withers Kirkland. He rose over his career to head the 16-million-member American labor movement.
In 1941, Kirkland entered the
United States Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...
, graduated 1942, and became a
deck officer
The deck department is an organisational team on board naval and merchant ships. The department and its manning requirements, including the responsibilities of each rank are regulated within the STCW Convention, applicable only to the merchant ...
on U.S. merchant ships during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After the war, he worked in the Research Department of the AFL. He received a B.S. degree from the
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector".
Persons named Edmund include:
People Kings ...
at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
.
Kirkland married Edith Draper Hollyday in June 1944, with whom he had five daughters.
A year after their
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
in 1972, he married the
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
-born Irena Neumann (1925–2007).
An
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
survivor, Neumann had previously been married to film producer
Henry T. Weinstein
Henry T. Weinstein (July 12, 1924, Brooklyn, New York City, United States – September 17, 2000, Boca Raton, Florida, United States) was an American film producer.
Biography
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Weinstein graduated from City College o ...
, who had directed
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
's final unfinished picture. The couple had been close to Monroe during the last months of her life.
From 1979 to 1995 Kirkland was president of the
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
–
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
(
AFL–CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...
). During his tenure, union membership in the United States declined precipitously. The unions suffered some of their most serious defeats, including the 1981
air traffic controllers' strike and the
1985–1986 Hormel strike. He also served on the
Federal Prison Industries
Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI), doing business as UNICOR (stylized as unicor) since 1977, is a wholly owned United States government corporation created in 1934 as a prison labor program for inmates within the Federal Bureau of Prisons, ...
, Incorporated (FPI) board from 1980-1988, representing Labor during FPI's growth years. On the international front, Kirkland's support of the
Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
movement in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
contributed to the decline of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
. According to Michael Szporer in ''Solidarity: The Great Workers Strike of 1980'', American Unions under the leadership of Lane Kirkland contributed $150,000 shortly after the successful Solidarity Strike, as early as September 1980. At the time, the Carter administration, including its two prominent Polish Americans,
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński ( , ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), or Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter's ...
and
Ed Muskie
Edmund Sixtus Muskie (March 28, 1914March 26, 1996) was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, a United States Senator from Maine from 1959 to 1980, the 6 ...
advised against such aid fearing Soviet reaction. Kirkland boldly took the initiative persuading
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński ( , ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), or Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter's ...
of the wisdom of supporting the Solidarity movement. In all U.S. union support of Solidarity far exceeded its European counterparts. Solidarity aid was part of Lane Kirkland's internationalist vision for the labor movement and the building of the global consensus on human rights. After the changes in Eastern Europe, Kirkland became a mentor for many prominent labor leaders who saw him as a visionary and visited him in his office at the
George Meany Center
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd President ...
. He befriended
Lech Walesa
Lech may refer to:
People
* Lech (name), a name of Polish origin
* Lech, Czech, and Rus, Lech, the legendary founder of Poland
* Lech (Bohemian prince)
Products and organizations
* Lech (beer), Polish beer produced by Kompania Piwowarska, in Po ...
as well as
Marian Krzaklewski
Marian Krzaklewski (; born 23 August 1950 in Kolbuszowa) is a Polish politician. A member of Solidarity since the 1980s, he was one of the most known and influential Polish politicians in the late 1990s, when he created the Solidarity Electora ...
who replaced Lech Walesa at the helm of Solidarity. Kirkland was awarded posthumously with the highest Polish award, the
Order of the White Eagle. The Polish American Freedom Foundation has established a grant in Lane Kirkland's honor, and his union, the
International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots
The International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots or MM&P is a United States labor union representing licensed mariners.
MM&P represents licensed deck officers on U.S.- flag commercial vessels sailing offshore, on the inland waterways a ...
, has established the non-profit
Captain Richard Phillips-Lane Kirkland Maritime Trust partly in his memory.
His best remembered quotation is:
On November 13, 1989, Kirkland was presented with the
Presidential Citizens Medal
The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the President of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on Nov ...
by President
Bush
Bush commonly refers to:
* Shrub, a small or medium woody plant
Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to:
People
* Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name
**Bush family, a prominent American family that includes:
*** ...
.
In 1994, Kirkland was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...
by President
Clinton.
In 1999, Lane Kirkland was awarded the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom.
[Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom]
Lane Kirkland died in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, age 77, from complications of
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
.
Notes
References
*
External links
*
American Center for International Labor Solidarity, formerly the International Affairs Department of the AFL–CIO
Lane Kirkland: The AFL–CIO's last cold warriorby Jim Smith
Freedom's Labors: Lane Kirkland worked for more than his unionby Fred Siegel. ''
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''. OpinionJournal.com. Tuesday, March 8, 2005. Accessed April 3, 2005.
*
Lane Kirkland papersat the
University of Maryland libraries
The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...
*
The American Presidency ProjectLane Kirkland (1922–1999)AFL–CIO history page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkland, Lane
1922 births
1999 deaths
American sailors
Presidents of the AFL–CIO
Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
People from Camden, South Carolina
United States Merchant Marine Academy alumni
20th-century American politicians
Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C.
Presidential Citizens Medal recipients
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award
United States Merchant Mariners of World War II
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)