Letter to Secretary Mitchell on Receiving Report on the Effectiveness of the Labor-Management Act
[ Released October 7, 1960. Dated October 6, 1960 ]
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I have read with interest your October first report to me on the Labor Department's first year of operations under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959.
It is indeed heartening to see how the provisions of this law are being utilized by America's working men and women to safeguard against the corruption and abuses of power it was designed to correct. While such corruption and abuses have occurred only among a small minority of those in the labor-management field, all of us are agreed that in a free society these practices cannot be tolerated no matter how few may engage in them.
Clearly, the experience of the past year under this statute attests to the wisdom of those who worked so diligently for passage of an adequate labor reform law, and it particularly supports the judgment of those in the House of Representatives who voted for the Landrum-Griffin bill to replace the weak and ineffective measure approved earlier by the Senate.
It is my hope that our working men and women will continue to use the provisions of this law where they are appropriate, and that our Nation will continue its advance toward truly responsible labor-management relations.
Sincerely,
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Note: Secretary Mitchell's report stated that the law had brought about a renewed awareness and participation on the part of union members in the affairs of their unions; a restoration, where it had been denied, of the democratic fights of union members to manage their own affairs; the protection of the dues moneys paid by union members from their wages; and the curbing of improper practices and collusion between union officials and management, or by management and their representatives against the interest of working people.
The report, in the form of a letter dated October 1, 1960, was released with the President's reply.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Letter to Secretary Mitchell on Receiving Report on the Effectiveness of the Labor-Management Act Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235477