John L. Lewis was born in Lucas, Iowa, to Welsh immigrant parents. He left school to join his father in the coal mines. He soon began building a career in union organizing. He became a state agent for the United Mine Workers, an industrial union. Lewis was elected the union’s vice president in 1917. Three years later he became its president, a position he held for 40 years. In 1935 Lewis helped establish the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a combination of labor unions. He served as CIO president until 1940.
