John L. Lewis :: Biography Biographies

bathroom L. LewisJohn L. Lewis started life in Lucas County, Iowa February 12, 1880 the son of Thomas Lewis, a coal miner and policeman. John was chisel born. In the 1880s and the 1890s their family lived in a company owned shanty with an outdoor(a) privy.Whet John was in his teens they moved to Des Moines. That is where John go to high school, completing almost all of his quad years of schooling. Family ties were strong, eventide though he did not approve of his mothers religion he did practise her when it came to sexuality and alcohol usage. For the most part he was not a troublemaker and played by the rules. In the late 1890s his family moved covering fire to Lucas County and there he became a coal miner. In 1901, he was elect secretary of the United MineWorkers of America. As holding this job, he set up many small events. That same year he left for four years to work out west in coal mines. With him doing this he saw many disasters and aided in many heroic who le caboodle to lend him authenticity to his claim to speak for the working class. In 1905 John returned to Lucas and in 1907 he ran for mayor however he was not elected and all the Lewises left Iowa and moved to southern mining town in Illinois. There the men in the family soon established themselves among the large grate force as hard workers. In 1910 John was elected electric chair of the local mining union 1475, one of the largest in the state.Shortly earlier leaving Iowa, he had married Myrta Edith Bell, the daughter of a local physician. She provided a stable home life but she did not care for her husbands politics. They kept their personal life and his political life very separated.Johns leadership in southern Illinois led to advancement in the labor movement. He was promptly the legislative agent for the UMWA of Illinois. From there on until 1920 when he became president of UMWA. He kept moving up the union corporate ladder until he was on top. During the 1920 s The UMWA declined rapidly, though the union had won some strikes about reward the competition between oil and coal was resulting in layoffs in the to the south and the Midwest.