John McBride

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John McBride (1854 near Massillon, Ohio–October 9, 1917, Globe, Arizona) was an American labor union leader.

McBride was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in 1854. He started working in the coal mines at the age of nine. In 1870, McBride joined the Ohio Miners' Union, and in 1883 he became its president—a post he retained until 1889. After serving briefly in the Ohio legislature (as a Democrat, 1884–1888), McBride helped found the Ohio People’s Party in 1891. In 1892, McBride was elected president of the United Mine Workers.

McBride's prominence continued to rise with the growth of the Populist Movement in the American Midwest, and in 1894, McBride unseated labor icon Samuel Gompers as president of the American Federation of Labor. Not long after assuming the office, however, McBride became embroiled in conflicts with other union leaders and his popularity declined. Gompers regained the presidency the following year.

McBride was standing on a street corner when a runaway horse knocked him through a plate glass window, causing severe lacerations in his leg, a severed artery, great loss of blood, and death.

[edit] References

• Taft, Philip. The A.F. of L. in the Time of Gompers. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957.
• "John McBride, Labor Leader, Is Killed", The New York Times, October 10, 1917, p. 11.

Preceded by Samuel Gompers

AFL President 1894–1895

Succeeded by Samuel Gompers