, Thomas,
Sidney Hillman,
William S. Knudsen and
Charles Erwin Wilson. Thomas became active in efforts to organize the automobile industry and was the president of
Chrysler Local 7 when it affiliated with the
United Auto Workers (UAW) in 1936. He was a leader of the 1937 Chrysler sit-down strike and that same year was elected a vice president of the UAW. He assumed the presidency in 1938 after the president,
Homer Martin was ousted, and he was president until 1946. During this period, the UAW developed into a dynamic, stable union. In 1945, he attended the
World Trade Union Conference in London alongside many renowned trade unionists. Thomas lost the presidency to
Walter Reuther in 1946 by a margin of 124 out of almost 9,000 votes cast, but was elected first vice president. During World War II and until 1946, communists had outnumbered liberals in the UAW Executive Committee; but by 1947, as U.S.-Soviet tensions grew, workers' support of the communists waned. A series of bitter internal disputes led to Thomas losing the office of the vice presidency in the following year's election, with most of the leading Communists replaced, in what became known as "the biggest setback of all time for the Communists in the American Labor Movement." After his defeat in 1947, Thomas was named assistant to
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) president
Philip Murray. With the merger of the
American Federation of Labor and CIO in 1955, he served under
George Meany until his retirement in 1964 due to ill health. ==Personal life==