Background
Green was born March 3, 1873 in Coshocton, Ohio, to the Welsh immigrants.
Green was born March 3, 1873 in Coshocton, Ohio, to the Welsh immigrants.
He left school at the age of sixteen.
Green left school to work in the coal mines and early in life developed an interest in the labor movement.
In 1900 he became subdistrict president of the United Mine Workers of America and in 1906 president of the union's Ohio District.
He served two terms in the Ohio senate, from 1910 to 1913, as a Democrat, and at that time he introduced and obtained passage of a workmen's compensation bill. From 1912 to 1922 Green was secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers. In 1914 he became fourth vice-president of the American Federation of Labor and, following the death of Samuel Gompers in 1924, was elected to succeed him as president. John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers, was one of Green's staunchest supporters and was largely responsible for Green's election to the presidency of the A. F. of L. , but in 1935 a split occurred over the question of industrial versus craft unionism. Green insisted on adherence to the latter system. Lewis then formed a separate organization consisting of eight of the largest unions now known as the Congress of Industrial Organizations (C. I. O. ), and Green suspended their membership in the A. F. of L. A long battle ensued in which Green continued to reject industrial unionism. He opposed the National Labor Relations Board, but pledged cooperation and cessation of hostilities against the C. I. O. during World War II. He was author of Labor and Democracy (1939). In 1947 he began an unsuccessful fight against the Taft-Hartley law. In the 1952 elections, the A. F. of L. broke a tradition of nonpartisanship by endorsing Adlai E. Stevenson.
The Labor Hall of Fame
