President Barack Obama bestowed the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on John J. Sweeney. Sweeney served as president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009. He is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Although the labor movement has always heavily favored Democrats, Sweeney’s predecessor, the late Lane Kirkland, was an anti-Communist liberal who assisted Poland’s Solidarity movement. Sweeney, on the other hand, repealed the union’s longstanding rule banning Communists from meaningfully participating in the union.
Sweeney, a former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), rose to power because he and handpicked successor Richard Trumka believed Kirkland was too moderate. Sweeney became a founder of the AFL-CIO’s Committee for Change, which took the nation’s largest coalition of labor unions in a more radical direction. Sweeney maintained his personal ties to far-Left organizations as a founder of the Campaign for America’s Future and a participant in CAF’s annual “Take Back America” conferences.
Obama rewarded Sweeney’s shared commitment to radicalism.
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