For years the UMWA was under the tight control of John L. Lewis. After he retired in 1960, he engineered the election of his hand-picked successor, Tony Boyle, as vice-president and then, on the death of Lewis’ successor, he made sure he became UMWA president. Six years later Boyle was challenged for the union presidency by long time UMWA officer Joseph (Jock) Yablonski on a platform of reforming the union to better serve the needs of rank and file miners. Yablonski lost, amid allegations of wide-spread voter fraud.
And then Jock Yablonski, his wife and his daughter were murdered in their home on New Year’s Eve, 1969.
Today we tell the story of the Yablonski murders.
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