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That Punk Jimmy Hoffa!: Coffey's Transfer at War with the Teamsters
Award-winning Great Plains writer Marilyn Coffey recounts her family’s intricate dance with the Teamsters, beginning with her dad’s tiny trucking company spawned on a front porch in 1929, in a David-and-Goliath encounter that spanned decades.
In 1956, Tom Coffey knuckled under Jimmy Hoffa’s six-month-long Teamsters strike. He sold his 27-year-old truckline, Coffey’s Transfer Company, rather than sign Hoffa’s contract.
But the story didn’t end there - and Hoffa didn’t win after all. In 1958, the Coffey family gathered in Washington, DC, to see Tom testify against Jimmy Hoffa before then-Senator John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, the Rackets Committee’s counsel who had sworn to put Hoffa behind bars.
Get the exclusive insider’s perspective with Marilyn’s firsthand narrative of this feud in That Punk Jimmy Hoffa!
In 1956, Tom Coffey knuckled under Jimmy Hoffa’s six-month-long Teamsters strike. He sold his 27-year-old truckline, Coffey’s Transfer Company, rather than sign Hoffa’s contract.
But the story didn’t end there - and Hoffa didn’t win after all. In 1958, the Coffey family gathered in Washington, DC, to see Tom testify against Jimmy Hoffa before then-Senator John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, the Rackets Committee’s counsel who had sworn to put Hoffa behind bars.
Get the exclusive insider’s perspective with Marilyn’s firsthand narrative of this feud in That Punk Jimmy Hoffa!
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Published February 1, 2021
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About the author
Marilyn Coffey
12 books23 followersGreat Plains writer Marilyn Coffey has written three books, 600 poems, and dozens of articles and stories. A trained journalist (B.A., University of Nebraska, 1959) and creative writer (M.F.A., Brooklyn College, 1981), she has produced work that includes a popular memoir, a record-setting novel, and a prize-winning poem.
Her poem, "Pricksong," reviewed in the Los Angeles Times Book Review and Newsweek, won a national Pushcart Prize. Coffey’s novel "Marcella" made literary history. It was the first novel written in English to use female autoeroticism as a main theme. Gloria Steinem called it "an important part of the truth
telling by and for women."
In 1989, Coffey’s memoir, Great Plains Patchwork, appeared. The New York Times called it entertaining and insightful. Atlantic Monthly featured a chapter as its cover story. Natural History bought two chapters, American Heritage one. Harper & Row, McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich printed excerpts.
Known as a prose stylist, Coffey eceived a Master Alumnus award for distinction in the field of writing from the University of Nebraska in 1977. Since 1987, the UNL Archives has collected
forty boxes of Coffey’s papers in its Mari Sandoz room. In 1991, Coffey investigated the orphan train movement, developing three programs for the Nebraska Humanities Council. One became the second most popular of the 232 programs underwritten by NHC and spurred her to write Mail-Order Kid.
Now retired, Coffey taught writing at Boston University, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and Fort Hays State University in Kansas for thirty-four years, twice earning tenure. She became an interpretive reader/performer, appearing on local radio stations, statewide TV, and before more than 130 groups in twelve states, from Maine to Texas.
Coffey is an Admiral in the Great Navy of Nebraska, the state's highest honor. However, the honorary title is given
tongue in cheek, since Admirals in landlocked Nebraska claim jurisdiction over little but tadpoles. Governor J. James Exon appointed Coffey, a Nebraska native, an Admiral in 1977 for her writing achievements.
Marilyn Coffey also writes as Marilyn June Coffey
Her poem, "Pricksong," reviewed in the Los Angeles Times Book Review and Newsweek, won a national Pushcart Prize. Coffey’s novel "Marcella" made literary history. It was the first novel written in English to use female autoeroticism as a main theme. Gloria Steinem called it "an important part of the truth
telling by and for women."
In 1989, Coffey’s memoir, Great Plains Patchwork, appeared. The New York Times called it entertaining and insightful. Atlantic Monthly featured a chapter as its cover story. Natural History bought two chapters, American Heritage one. Harper & Row, McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich printed excerpts.
Known as a prose stylist, Coffey eceived a Master Alumnus award for distinction in the field of writing from the University of Nebraska in 1977. Since 1987, the UNL Archives has collected
forty boxes of Coffey’s papers in its Mari Sandoz room. In 1991, Coffey investigated the orphan train movement, developing three programs for the Nebraska Humanities Council. One became the second most popular of the 232 programs underwritten by NHC and spurred her to write Mail-Order Kid.
Now retired, Coffey taught writing at Boston University, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and Fort Hays State University in Kansas for thirty-four years, twice earning tenure. She became an interpretive reader/performer, appearing on local radio stations, statewide TV, and before more than 130 groups in twelve states, from Maine to Texas.
Coffey is an Admiral in the Great Navy of Nebraska, the state's highest honor. However, the honorary title is given
tongue in cheek, since Admirals in landlocked Nebraska claim jurisdiction over little but tadpoles. Governor J. James Exon appointed Coffey, a Nebraska native, an Admiral in 1977 for her writing achievements.
Marilyn Coffey also writes as Marilyn June Coffey
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 30, 2021
Disclaimer: I received this book from Good Reads as part of their First Reads program.
This book is about the rise and fall of Jimmy Hoffa. That story is embedded in the memoir of the life of the daughter of Tom Coffey, who owned a regional trucking company on the mid-west. Clashing with Hoffa, who was attempting to steamroll him into becoming a union business, despite his drivers' desires, Coffey eventually went out of business due to the ever mounting legal costs of fighting the teamsters. Eventually he would win his lawsuits against the union, but it came too late to save his company. Along the way, though, he helped influence legislation that would limit their activities in the future. Written in a very personal and readable style, this book can be recommended to anyone interested in the history of the twentieth century.
This book is about the rise and fall of Jimmy Hoffa. That story is embedded in the memoir of the life of the daughter of Tom Coffey, who owned a regional trucking company on the mid-west. Clashing with Hoffa, who was attempting to steamroll him into becoming a union business, despite his drivers' desires, Coffey eventually went out of business due to the ever mounting legal costs of fighting the teamsters. Eventually he would win his lawsuits against the union, but it came too late to save his company. Along the way, though, he helped influence legislation that would limit their activities in the future. Written in a very personal and readable style, this book can be recommended to anyone interested in the history of the twentieth century.
November 2, 2017
An interesting book that explains how the author's Father dealt with Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters when he owned his trucking company. The book tells how Hoffa tried to get companies to join the Teamsters and what would happen if they didn't agree. Some tactics were later outlawed. This is the story of her family and the employees that worked for her father.
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April 30, 2024Bobby Kennedy was a punk who tried to intimidate Hoffa with that finger pointing thing he did. Hoffa could destroy almost anyone in an argument, no doubt about that. Hoffa's death was a massive blow to unions. Hoffa did a lot of great work since he was a youngster and and until he died. Another punk was Fitzsimmons, who tried to take Hoffa's position as President of the Teamsters. One glance at the book and one can tell it is going to be biased. I guess it might be worth a read but there is plenty of better books out there based on Hoffa.
October 30, 2020
Wow!
What an interesting book. It starts off, about the author's family. Her Dad, owned a trucking company. That is how
What an interesting book. It starts off, about the author's family. Her Dad, owned a trucking company. That is how
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews