g the Teamsters began to rise.” (Time, 1964, 26) When Hoffa saw a local as having potential to interrupt his plans, his men would not collect the dues on time. This disqualified all members within the local form voting and kept the approval of Hoffa at high percentages. Hoffa knew the key to all issues with the Teamsters was money. His corrupt practices that ensured he would retain the title of president included keeping connections in the right place. The Teamsters had plenty of money and the Teamsters “spend lots of dough to keep their connections.” (Nossiter, 1959, 74)As Kennedy investigated the true under workings of the Teamsters, he saw the corruptness the Teamsters had always been associated with. Though the investigations into Hoffa and the Teamsters were justifiable, Kennedy made Hoffa his “mortal enemy.” (Hoffa, 1975, 98) Kennedy’s investigation into Hoffa caught the eye of Congress, the public and the Teamsters. By simply publicizing what he had found, Kennedy achieved some early success in that the AFL - CIO kicked out the Teamsters. The breaking up of the conglomerate was a plus for Kennedy as it gave him some support within the Teamsters and a lot of support from unionists within the AFL – CIO. It was always clear that Kennedy and Hoffa never liked each other. They both came from very different backgrounds and grew into leaders in their own areas of interest. They both shared the same personality of believing they were kings above everyone else. It was the unwillingness of one to back down to the other that made their encounters more painful than it needed to be. As the frequency with which the skirmishes took place increased, the two men began to display large amounts of immaturity. Kennedy’s first attempt to bring down Hoffa displayed how low he was willing to go. Kennedy had Hoffa buy false McClellan Committee documents from his former lawyer with the FBI r...
