Biography
Julius Emspak was the Founding General Secretary-Treasurer of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) 1936-1962. Phi Beta Kappa Union College. Authored the UE's preamble; central to its policies of refusing Taft-Hartley affidavits and resisting Cold War anti-Communism. July 1950, HUAC cited him and five other UE leaders for contempt of Congress. Convicted; conviction reversed in Emspak v. United States, 349 U.S. 190 (1955), holding his Fifth Amendment invocation was sufficient.
The dictionary identifies Emspak as a New York union leader and officer of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. It records that he led a strike against RCA and describes expulsion from the CIO for left-wing views. Its approximate birth year of 1905 is not substituted for the existing exact birth date.
Jacob Rader Marcus, editor, and Judith M. Daniels, associate editor, The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography, printed page 137 (PDF page 142).
