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JFK Notes On Labor And Economics

John F. Kennedy's Early Written Thoughts on Labor and Economics. 11 yellow legal pages of handwritten notes by John F. Kennedy in pen and pencil including doodles, circa Spring of 1953. Legible, not transcribed. 13 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches. Only months after entering the Senate, John F. Kennedy, a new member of the Labor Committee, took the lead on revising the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, commonly referred to as the Taft-Hartley Act. These rare handwritten notes on the revisions of the Taft-Hartley Act and its major implications demonstrate that John Kennedy made this legislation a primary focus of his Senate career. The Tart-Hartley bill was originally designed to restrict unfair labor practices and to manage the relationships between employers, unions, and workers. However, in the few years after Taft-Hartley was enacted, John Kennedy recognized that there were major flaws in the well-intended legislation. After noticing that many states were enacting their own labor laws to compensate for gaps in the federal law, Senator Kennedy advocated a revision of the Taft-Hartley Act to ensure that all American workers received the same protection. He designed specific revisions to the act that would encourage fair labor practices, yet further restrict the power-hungry unions of the day. John F. Kennedy was a crusader for the American worker and made it his mission to revise the Taft Hartley Act to create an "equalization of unionization" in every region of the country. His earliest thoughts on Taft-Hartley are extremely thorough. These notes reveal his concern that Taft-Hartley would affect the civil rights of the American worker. He clearly defines the purpose of the Taft-Hartley Act to "Give employer more power against union and give public protection...drive separation between workers and union members." Reflecting John Kennedy's legal background and Socratic method, these extraordinary papers reveal the inner workings of the methodical mind of the future President. Senator Kennedy questions, "Is it fair to say that T-H brough on discriminatory state laws?" John Kennedy lists his "Chief Objections", including "free speech abuse" and "permitting strike breakers to vote." Sale History: Guernsey's, March 1998