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Special Message to the Congress Upon Approving the Hobbs Bill.

July 03, 1946

To the Congress of the United States:

I have today approved H.R. 32, the so-called Hobbs Bill. This measure makes it a felony for any person to commit robbery or extortion which in any way obstructs, delays, or affects interstate commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in interstate commerce.

This Bill corresponds in terms to section 7 of H.R. 4908, the Case Bill, which I returned on June 11, 1946, without my approval. In my message of June 11, I stated that I was in full accord with the objectives of section 7 of the Case Bill. I added that "some question may arise from the fact that section 7 omits from the original act the provision that it was not to be construed so as to 'impair, diminish or in any manner affect the rights of bona fide labor organizations in lawfully carrying out the legitimate objects thereof.'"

The measure now comes before me as a separate enactment, rather than as one provision of the Case Bill.

Section 11 of the Case Bill seriously weakened the protection afforded to labor by the Norris-La Guardia Act and correspondingly crippled the specific exceptions contained in section 7 of the Case Bill. The present act, standing alone, is not subject to this objection.

The Attorney General advises me that the present Bill does not in any way interfere with the rights of unions in carrying out their legitimate objectives. He bases this conclusion upon the language of the Bill, as a separate measure, and upon the legislative history.

He makes reference, in particular, to Title II of the Bill. That title provides that nothing in the Bill shall be construed to repeal, modify, or affect the Railway Labor Act, the Norris-La Guardia Act, the Wagner Act, and specified sections of the Clayton Act, i.e., the great legislative safeguards which the Congress has established for the protection of labor in the exercise of its fundamental rights. The Attorney General also advises that the legislative history shows that the Bill is not intended to deprive labor of any of its recognized rights, including the right to strike and to picket, and to take other legitimate and peaceful concerted action.

On this understanding, I am approving the Bill.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

Note: As enacted, H.R. 32 is Public Law 486, 79th Congress (60 Stat. 420).

Harry S Truman, Special Message to the Congress Upon Approving the Hobbs Bill. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232514

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