A reader and former resident writes to ask if I knew that this notorious meeting in labor union history had occurred at the Hotel Chelsea as indicated by a recent article. “…John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers, launched his famous right jab straight across the chops of Big Bill Hutcheson, President of the Carpenters' union. After Hutcheson crashed across a collapsing table, Lewis famously straightened his tie, lit a cigar, and walked out of the convention. Taking along key allies in the cause of industrial unionism, he went on to launch the CIO—an acronym that would forever be connected in to the unprecedented growth of membership, power, and mission of organized labor…” My research indicates that the scene above occured at a Hotel Chelsea which once existed in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Too bad. This definitely sounds like something that could have happened in the Hotel Chelsea.
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