Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Printed page 13275 of the McClellan Committee hearings, Tuesday, August 5, 1958, cut off at the right margin in the scan: the chairman's opening statement on Mr. Hoffa as general president.
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McClellan Committee hearings, Part 36: Hoffa recalled as general president (5 to 12 August 1958)

The committee resumed its inquiry into the Teamsters under James R. Hoffa, by then general president. The chairman's opening statement recalls the interim report's finding that Hoffa had "alined himself with certain underworld characters."

Date
1958-08-05/1958-08-12
Kind
hearing
Source
Internet Archive, scan of the printed hearings, Part 36
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Docket
Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, Hearings before the Select Committee, 85th Cong., 2d sess., Part 36 (printed pages from 13275)
Rights
A work of the United States Senate, printed by the Government Printing Office. Public domain in the United States under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Read from the Internet Archive scan of the print and its OCR text; the page image stored here is from that scan.

Part 36 covers the hearings of 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12 August 1958. The page shown here opens the first day. The scan cuts off the right edge of the page, and the quotations below use only complete lines.

The chairman said the committee was resuming its inquiry into the Teamsters under the leadership of James R. Hoffa, “general president of this labor organization,” and that since Hoffa’s last appearance he had been elected at a convention in Miami, Fla. “Nevertheless, he now heads the Nation’s most powerful union.” He continued: “As spelled out in the committee’s interim report, the evidence had shown that in numerous instances Mr. Hoffa has alined himself with certain underworld characters, who are a part and parcel of the criminal elements and most sinister forces in this country.” He added that when Hoffa testified before, “he suffered seriously from ‘lack of memory.’”

The chairman’s statement repeats the committee’s own earlier findings; it is not a court’s finding. Later testimony in the same volume about Detroit is filed elsewhere on this site as a separate record.

itemMcClellan Committee hearings, Part 13: James R. Hoffa's first testimony (20 to 23 August 1957)The hearing at which James R. Hoffa first testified before the select committee. Sworn on 20 August 1957, he identified himself as "a business representative and a vice president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters."itemInterim Report of the McClellan Committee, S. Rept. 85-1417 (March 1958)The select committee's report on its first year, ordered printed 24 March 1958. It finds that Dave Beck "took, not borrowed, more than $370,000 in union funds" and that James R. Hoffa "repeatedly betrayed the members of his own union."itemFinal Report of the McClellan Committee, Part 3, S. Rept. 86-1139 (March 1960): the criminal syndicate, and HoffaPart 3 of the committee's final report, ordered printed 28 March 1960. It finds that "underworld infiltration of business and labor is a national problem" and restates its findings on James R. Hoffa, adding that it had found him "faithless to the members of his own union."itemRobert Kennedy briefing the press for the McClellan Committee, 20 January 1958 (Library of Congress)U.S. News & World Report photograph by Warren K. Leffler of Robert Kennedy, chief counsel to the Senate McClellan Committee, briefing the press on graft in the Operating Engineers Union, 20 January 1958. A copy is stored here.