Oscar Nelson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oscar Nelson was a Chicago City Alderman and interim president of the Building Service Employees International Union, the precursor of the Service Employees International Union, in 1927.

Nelson was born in Sweden. He emigrated to the United States and got a job as a delivery boy. He held employment as a grocery clerk, foundry worker and railway worker, but finally went into the banking industry and eventually became president of the Geneva State Bank and head of the Kane Co. Bankers' Association.^[1]

Nelson became a Chicago alderman in the early 1920s.

Nelson succeeded the union's founding president, William Quesse, a close friend and political backer who had died of cancer on February 16, 1927.^[2] Jerry Horan, a BSEIU organizer whose primary job was to act as Quesse's chauffeur,^[3] was elected Quesse's permanent successor as BSEIU president on September 6, 1927.^[4]

A Republican, Nelson was appointed a member of the Republican National Committee's platform drafting panel in 1937.^[5]

In 1926, Nelson won election as the Auditor for the state of Illinois. In 1931, Nelson was tried on charges of malfeasance for refusing to close banks even though he knew they were in poor financial condition. Nelson was acquitted after a state court ruled juries had no jurisdiction over state officers.^[1]

[edit] Notes

^ ^a ^b "Oscar Nelson, 1926-1933," History of the Office, Illinois State Comptroller, State of Illinois, no date.
^ "W.F. Quesse, Labor Chief, Dies of Cancer," Chicago Daily Tribune, February 16, 1927.
^ Fitch, Solidarity For Sale, 2006.
^ "Horan Installed As Head of Flat Janitor Union," Chicago Daily Tribune, September 7, 1927.
^ "100 Philosophers," Time, December 27, 1937.

[edit] References

Beadling, Tom, et al. A Need for Valor: The Roots of the Service Employees International Union, 1902-1992. Washington, D.C.: Service Employees International Union, 1992.
Fitch, Robert. Solidarity For Sale. New York: PublicAffairs, 2006. ISBN 189162072X
"Horan Installed As Head of Flat Janitor Union." Chicago Daily Tribune. September 7, 1927.
Jentz, John B. "Unions, Cartels, and the Political Economy of American Cities: The Chicago Flat Janitors' Union in the Progressive Era and the 1920s." Studies in American Political Development. 14 (Spring 2000).
Jentz, John B. "Citizenship, Self-Respect, and Political Power: Chicago's Flat Janitors Trailblaze the Service Employees International Union, 1912-1921." Labor's Heritage. 9:1 (Summer 1997).
"100 Philosophers." Time. December 27, 1937.
"Oscar Nelson, 1926-1933." History of the Office. Illinois State Comptroller. State of Illinois. No date. Accessed October 1, 2007.
"W.F. Quesse, Labor Chief, Dies of Cancer." Chicago Daily Tribune. February 16, 1927.