He found employment as a sheet metal worker, and attended high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts at night.

[4] Much of Tobin's presidency was consumed by a long-running and sometimes physically violent jurisdictional battle with the National Union of United Brewery Workmen.

As the case worked its way to the Supreme Court of the United States the AFL attempted to mediate the dispute to no avail.

An NLRB election held in 1949 was won by the United Brewery Workers and defused the tense situation, but raiding continued for the next 20 years.

When he was elected president, power in the union was held by big-city locals—which handled all research, contract negotiations, legal services, communication and strike activity.

As collective bargaining became the norm throughout the Teamsters, Tobin actively discouraged strikes in order to bring discipline to the union and encourage employers to sign contracts.

[4] In late 1916, Samuel Gompers began pushing for the AFL to take a strongly supportive stance on President Woodrow Wilson's pro-war policies vis-a-vis Germany.

Unwilling to actually oppose war, the group asked Gompers to form a committee to enunciate labor's stand on the European conflict.

On March 11, 1917, the AFL Executive Council met and (reportedly) unanimously endorsed American entry in the war.

After the United States entered World War I, Tobin initially refused to acceded to Gompers' request for a ban on strikes.

[4] Tobin, however, was forced to defend his previous actions, denounce pacifism, and declare his full support for the war effort.

[2] Tobin quickly became one of the inner circle of AFL vice presidents (which included Matthew Woll, John P. Frey and William Hutcheson).

[1] That same year, Gompers chose Tobin as the AFL's second delegate to the founding convention of the International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU).

[2][4][9][14] His re-appointment in 1936 by DNC chair James A. Farley deeply upset the leadership of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), who felt Tobin an uninspired campaigner and strategist.

[27] When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, William Green and other AFL officials attempted to have Tobin appointed Secretary of Labor.

[9] Roosevelt appeared to express an interest in Tobin, but told close associates he was also considering John P. Frey and Edward McGrady.

Tobin took advantage of the wave of pro-union sentiment engendered by the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act, and by 1935 union membership had risen nearly 65 percent to 135,000.

In 1937, Beck persuaded Tobin that the Western Conference of Teamsters was no threat to the power and authority of the international union.

[20] He argued that holding radical ideas was not enough to warrant expulsion of a union from the AFL, but supporting the Communist Party was.

But after Local 574 secured a jurisdictional agreement in early 1935 from the Minneapolis Central Labor Union, it undertook a wildly successful organizing campaign and thrived.

He did not oppose its passage, but expressed deep concern that the Act did not expressly protect craft unionism and allow the creation of craft-based bargaining units.

Tobin convinced the AFL to seek introduction of an amendment permitting bargaining units along craft lines.

In a front-page article which appeared in The New York Times on January 19, 1942, Lewis claimed that he and Tobin had agreed to merge the AFL and CIO on the condition that William Green retire, George Meany become president, and Philip Murray accept demotion to secretary-treasurer.

[8][9][13][20][40] Tobin had long opposed UMWA reaffiliation except on the terms dictated by the 1935 AFL Executive Council's trial of the CIO unions.

He accepted re-appointment as chair of the Labor Division of the Democratic National Committee as worries about Roosevelt's ability to win a third term mounted.

This time, he appointed Tobin as a special representative to the United Kingdom and charged him with investigating the state of the labor movement there.

But as the mid-October Teamster convention neared, Tobin and his supporters formed a draft movement designed to subvert Beck's control of the delegates.

Beck retaliated by publicly supporting the draft movement, but privately threatening to strip Tobin of his pension and benefits should he lose an election.

Beck pushed through a number of changes intended to make it harder for a challenger to build the necessary majority to unseat a president or reject his policies.

[1] Tobin settled in Miami Beach, Florida, in a lavish home built for him by the union (which also supplied him, free of charge, with a car and driver, full-time maid, and reimbursement for all incidental expenses for the rest of his life).