Charles James Hendley (June 4, 1881 – December 23, 1962) was an American teacher, education reformer, and union activist. He served as president of the New York City

Teachers Union The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership ...

(TU) from 1935 to 1945 (just after a minority split off to form the New York City

Teachers Guild The New York City Teachers Guild (1935-1960), AKA "Local 2, AFT" as of June 1941, was a progressive labor union that started as breakaway from the New York City Teachers Union and later merged into the United Federation of Teachers. History 19 ...

Background

Charles James Hendley was born on June 4, 1881, in North Carolina. His father was Alvis Francis Hendley, section foreman on the Southern Railway. In 1905, he graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. Later, he earned an M.A. degree from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Career

Teaching

Initially, Hendley taught in North Carolina. In 1915, he moved north. In 1919, Hendley helped organize a local of the

American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 pe ...

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, an ...

union and for a local union of telegraphers. From 1921 to 1946, Hendley taught history and economics at George Washington High School.

Union activism

In 1921, Hendley also joined the Teachers Union. From 1922 to 1932, he served as TU treasurer. In 1935, just as the Teachers Guild was splitting away, Hendley was the only executive leader to remain with the TU. He became TU president until his retirement from teaching in 1945 (or 1946 or 1947). In 1936, he advocated for the college and high school unionization of teachers and for collective bargaining rights of teachers. In 1937, the Socialist Party asked Hendley not to run again: Hendley won 3,333 votes of 3,411. His secretary at the TU was Dorothy Wallace, who was the sister of Dale Zysman, TU vice president. During his tenure as president, the Central Trades and Labor Council expelled the TU (and the ILGWU, as Hendley pointed out during testimony in 1952). the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...

also expelled the TU while he was president. After retirement, Hendley served on TU's Executive Board, on its Educational Policies Committee, and as director of the

Teachers Union Institute A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. He remained a TU member until his death in 1965. In 1946, Hendley became a field representative of the National Teachers Division of the

United Public Workers of America The United Public Workers of America (1946–1952) was an American labor union representing federal, state, county, and local government employees. The union challenged the constitutionality of the Hatch Act of 1939, which prohibited federal exec ...

(UPWA/CIO) through 1948. In 1951, he became both stockholder in and Secretary-Treasurer of Publishers New Press, Inc., publisher of CPUSA's official newspaper, the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

''. He signed the incorporation papers.

Politician

From "early years as a teacher," Hendley was member of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

through 1938. At an unspecified date, he grew "closer to the

Communist Party of the USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

." However, while

Bella Dodd Bella Dodd (née Visono; 1904 – 29 April 1969 ) was a teacher, lawyer, and labor union activist, member of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) and New York City Teachers Union (TU) in the 1930s and 1940s ("one of Communi ...

was a member of the CPUSA in the 1940s through her expulsion in 1949, she testified that Hendley was not a Communist but a Socialist. Hendley was a member of the Communist-affiliated

American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...

. In 1948 he ran for State Senate (28th District, Bronx). In 1950, he ran for U.S. Congress (25th Congressional District).

Government investigations

In 1940, Hendley appeared before the

Rapp-Coudert Committee The Rapp-Coudert Committee was the colloquial name of the New York State Legislature's Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York. Between 1940 and 1942, the Rapp-Coudert Committee sought to identif ...

and refused to surrender the TU's membership list. In January 1941, however, he complied and supplied the list. (During committee hearings, former TU member

Benjamin Mandel Benjamin Mandel (October 2, 1891 – August 8, 1973) "Bert Miller" was a New York city school teacher and communist activist who later became an ex-communist director of research for the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the Senat ...

and professor

Sidney Hook Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of pragmatism known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his youth ...

both testified that Hendely was a puppet of the Communist Party.) In 1952, as former TU president and current Secretary-Treasurer (and stockholder) of Publishers New Press, he was called before the

Senate Internal Security Subcommittee The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...

and refused to answer many questions. His attorneys were

Harold Cammer Harold I. Cammer (June 18, 1909 – October 21, 1995) was an American lawyer who co-founded the National Lawyers Guild. He was known for his participation in labor law, civil rights, peace and justice issues, and freedom of speech cases; in partic ...

(one-time partner of

Lee Pressman Lee Pressman (July 1, 1906 – November 20, 1969) was a labor attorney and earlier a US government functionary, publicly alleged in 1948 to have been a spy for Soviet intelligence during the mid-1930s (as a member of the Ware Group), following h ...

and

Nathan Witt Nathan Witt (February 11, 1903 – February 16, 1982), born Nathan Wittowsky, was an American lawyer who is best known as being the Secretary of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1937 to 1940. He resigned from the NLRB after his commu ...

of the

Ware Group The Ware Group was a covert organization of Communist Party USA operatives within the United States government in the 1930s, run first by Harold Ware (1889–1935) and then by Whittaker Chambers (1901–1961) after Ware's accidental death on Augus ...

led by

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet u ...

) and Royal W. France. He did state that TU membership "at one time" was close to "10,000." He conceded that the board of directors of the Publishers New Press controlled the editorial policy of the ''Daily Worker''. Based on "40 years or more" of study, he stated to the subcommittee that "The Communist Party in America is absolutely independent of the Communist Party of Russia." He refused to answer questions about Communist Party affiliation. The committee cited an article from the ''Daily Worker'' to list the board of directors of the Publishers New Press as of October 8, 1951: Hendley, Joseph Dermer (

Furriers Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific item ...

Howard Fast Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson. Biography Early life Fast was born in New York City. His mother, ...

(writer), Richard O. Boyer (writer), Arnold Donawa (dentist), Ulysses Campbell (dentist), Elliot White (clergyman), Helen Alfred (social worker), Vincent Provinzano (Furriers), and Alex Kolkin (ILGWU). Of Bella Dodd's assertion that Hendley's TU secretary Dorothy Wallace was TU vice president Dale Zysman's sister, Hendley first state "I think that is a fiction of Bella Dodd's imagination" and then stated "To my knowledge, she is not a sister of Dale Zysman... I am not intimately acquainted with her family." In 1962, again because of Publishers New Press, Hendley was called before a Grand Jury inquiry and refused to answer questions.

Personal life

In 1916, Charles Hendley married Okla Dees of Grantboro, North Carolina; they had two sons. In 1952, Bella Dodd characterized Hendley as "a person with very definite views on the whole question of schools and socialists."

Death and legacy

In 1962, Henley died. The

Tamiment Library The Tamiment Library is a research library at New York University that documents Far left, radical and Left-wing politics, left history, with strengths in the histories of History of communism, communism, History of socialism, socialism, History o ...

has archived the Charles J. Hendley Papers.

Works

* "Unionism in the Educational Field," ''Teachers College Record'' (1939)

References

External sources

Letter from Charles J. Hendley to Daily Worker, October 24, 1951

New York Times
Hendley proposes new arts test (1938) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hendley, Charles J. 1881 births 1956 deaths George Washington Educational Campus alumni Hungarian emigrants to the United States Trade unionists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American educators City College of New York alumni New York University alumni Trade unionists from New Jersey Trade unionists from New York (state) Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state) American Labor Party politicians New York (state) socialists