Jack Wayne Hall

From dKosopedia

Category: Unions in Hawaii

Jack Wayne Hall was born on Feb. 28, 1915, in Ashland, Wis. He joined the merchant marine at age 17 and decided to stay in Hawaii after a brief visit in 1932.

Hall served for more than a quarter-century as the ILWU's regional director in Hawai'i. He was a leader in organizing of Hawaiian longshoremen and later in the organizing of the sugar and pineapple plantations.

Under Hall's leadership, the ILWU successfully pushed through the Territorial Legislature the Little Wagner Act in 1945. An extension of a federal act, the state law formally gave Hawai'i plantation workers the right to organize.

The ILWU under Hall's leadership became a political force in Hawai'i, helping to drive the Democratic Revolution of 1954, which shifted control of the Legislature out of Republican hands to the Democratic Party control.

Once a member of the Communist Party, Hall was among the "Hawaii Seven" charged with conspiring to overthrow the government. The seven were convicted after a seven-month trial in 1953 but the convictions were overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

When Jack Hall died, flags were flown at half-staff throughout Hawaii, longshoremen closed the ports of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego for 24 hours, and thousands of other workers in Hawaii and along the west coast of the United States and Canada also stopped work to show their respect.

Related Links

• Hawaii Seven

External Links

• Jack Wayne Hall -- Upstart led labor to power By Peter Wagner Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 9-13-99.
• Fear of Communist infiltrators engulfed postwar Hawaii -- A telling showdown came in 1954 at a rally when injured war hero Dan Inouye dramatically defended his patriotism By Richard Borreca Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 9-13-99.
• Gordon, Michael. Jack Hall Honolulu Advertiser, July 2, 2006.
• Meister, Dick. Labor - And A Whole Lot More On the Right Side of the Fence