Germain Julien Bulcke (May 18, 1902 – April 6, 1994) was a Belgian-American longshore worker from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and leader in the

International Longshore and Warehouse Union The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada; on the East Coast, the dominant union is the Intern ...

Biography

Germain (Jerry) Bulcke was born in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and moved to the United States as a child. He began working on the waterfront in the 1920's when the union was company controlled (known as the "blue book" union). During the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, Bulcke served as a picket captain and witnessed the murders of longshore workers Nick Bordoise and Howard Sperry by police that became the impetus for the San Francisco General Strike. Bulcke also recounted that he carried another worker who had been wounded in the shootout to safety. Germaine Bulcke Speech 1939 Edit Trim

After the 1934 strike, Bulcke rose to prominence in the union. Though never a member of the Communist Party, Bulcke aligned himself with

Harry Bridges Harry Bridges (28 July 1901 – 30 March 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several Pacific Coast chapters of the ILA to form a new union, the In ...

and the left wing of the union and was often involved in factional fights. In the 1930s, he protested the

Reichstag Fire The Reichstag fire (, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, ...

that led to the rise of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and opposed US involvement in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

until 1941. He was also active in the Harry Bridges Defense Committee during Bridges' deportation trials. In 1939, Bulcke was appointed to the California Fish and Game Commission by governor

Culbert Olson Culbert Levy Olson (November 7, 1876 – April 13, 1962) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 29th governor of California from 1939 to 1943. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Olson was previous ...

, serving until 1944. Olson had previously tried to appoint him to the San Francisco Harbor Commission, but the nomination was rejected by the

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

. During the

1940 Democratic Party presidential primaries From March 12 to June 27, 1940, voters of the Democratic Party elected delegates to the 1940 Democratic National Convention through a series of primaries, caucuses, and conventions. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt was selected as the ...

, Bulcke joined a left-wing slate pledged to lieutenant governor Ellis E. Patterson for president. They opposed incumbent

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

on the grounds he was focusing too much on

foreign affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

and not enough on domestic unemployment. The Patterson slate lost to Roosevelt's by a margin of fifteen to one. Bulcke later supported former vice president

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd vice president of the United States, serving from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as the 11th U.S. secretary of agriculture and the 10th U.S ...

in the

1948 presidential election The following elections occurred in the year 1948. Previous: List of elections in 1947 Next:List of elections in 1949 Africa * 1948 Mauritian general election * 1948 South African general election * 1948 Southern Rhodesian general election Asia ...

, serving as chairman of the San Francisco County Progressive Central Committee and as a candidate for

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

. In 1938, Bulcke was elected president of ILWU

Local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

10 (

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

). He served as president for most of the 1940s, including during World War II. In 1947, he was elected international vice president (also known as second vice president), which he held until 1960. In 1960, Bulcke became the ILWU-PMA arbitrator for southern California. He held this position until his retirement in 1966.

Biography

References

Further reading