Nashville Then: Jimmy Hoffa's Teamster ties and trials in Tennessee date back to 1950

The Tennessean

Martin Scorsese's latest movie, "The Irishman," prominently features the life and death of Jimmy Hoffa, the longtime president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The longtime labor union leader, portrayed by Al Pacino, was a larger-than-life figure who ultimately was sentenced to federal prison after facing multiple trials in Tennessee.

His ties to Tennessee dated back to 1950, when he sent Teamster Don Vestal to Nashville to head up the local chapter of the union.

When a U.S. Senate committee was investigating labor racketeering and management malpractices in 1956 and 1957, witnesses told the panel the Teamsters were linked to more than 170 acts of violence throughout the state and the region since 1953.

During the federal hearings, Hoffa squared off against Robert F. Kennedy, the committee's counsel and brother of John F. Kennedy, who would later become president.

Teamster Union President Jimmy Hoffa, left, with one of his attorneys, Z.T. Osborn of Nashville by his side, speaks to the media after his $1 million conspiracy trial ended in a mistrial when the jury reported for the fourth time that it was hopelessly deadlocked Dec. 23, 1962. Hoffa told reporters he grateful for the outcome, but surprised that the jury did not return a not guilty verdict.

Throughout the 1950s, Hoffa visited Nashville on many occasions. In 1959, he spoke to 1,000 Teamsters and their wives at War Memorial Auditorium. While in Music City in 1960, Hoffa blasted John F. Kennedy, saying he "has a police mentality and is not fit to be president of the United States."

But beyond traveling to Tennessee for rallies and other events, Hoffa found himself in the Volunteer State on several occasions because of legal battles.

In 1962, Hoffa faced trial in Nashville, his fourth trial since the mid-1950s. He and another man were accused of setting up a Nashville trucking firm that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hoffa in exchange for settling a strike.

The trial came just two years after his longtime nemesis Robert Kennedy was appointed U.S. Attorney General.

During the trial, 28-year-old Warren Swanson fired at Hoffa inside the courtroom with a pellet gun. Swanson was later acquitted after a judge ruled he was insane.

Although Hoffa was acquitted in the 1962 trial, he quickly faced allegations of bribing a patrolman who was married to a juror. A judge ordered a grand jury to look into the matter.

Hoffa returned to Nashville in 1963, pleading not guilty to charges of jury tampering. Prominent Nashvillian John Jay Hooker Sr. served as one of the lead prosecuting attorneys.

The trial was ongoing when President Kennedy was shot on Nov. 22 by Lee Harvey Oswald. Upon hearing of the assassination, Hoffa was quoted as saying, "Bobby Kennedy is just another lawyer now."

The jury tampering trial was moved to Chattanooga in 1964. Hoffa was ultimately convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Over the years, prominent Tennessean reporters filed stories about Hoffa: among them, Frank Sutherland, who later became the paper's editor; longtime statehouse reporter Larry Daughtrey; and Nellie Kenyon, who was the only female reporter to cover the infamous "Scopes monkey trial" in 1925.

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Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.