Leonard DeCaux interview about John L. Lewis by Melvyn Dubofsky, 1971

4/7-8/1971. Run time 1:03:18. Recording begins mid-interview. Topics include Leonard DeCaux discussing his approach to books on labor history and why he wrote them the way he did including the book "Labor Radical: From the Wobblies to CIO, a personal history", Dubofsky's views on labor history, errors the 'left' made during the CIO period, DeCaux's generous attitude toward Hillman and Murray, thoughts on the communist movement, Lewis' efforts to control the union and how it changed over time, Lewis as a man without philosophy class distinctions, policy making by the AFL-CIO, discovering labor leaders that had Communist ties and the conflict about how to report it, the 'players' in building the CIO and their connections, the influence of the Cold War on the labor movement, the CIO's communist purge, Lewis and the labor movement during the 1930's, Roosevelt, the New Deal, and W. Jett Lauck's influence on Lewis.