CIO-PAC
| Formation | July 1943 |
|---|---|
| Merger of | 1955 |
| Type | Political action committee |
Chairman | Sidney Hillman (ACW) |
Treasurer | R. J. Thomas (UAW) |
| Vann Bittner (UMW), Sherman Dalrymple (URW), Albert Fitzgerald (UE), David McDonald (USWA) | |
Key people | John Abt (co-counsel), Lee Pressman (co-counsel), Calvin Benham Baldwin |
Parent organization | Congress of Industrial Organizations |
The first-ever "political action committee" in the United States of America was the Congress of Industrial Organizations – Political Action Committee or CIO-PAC (1943–1955). What distinguished the CIO-PAC from previous political groups (including the AFL's political operations) was its "open, public operation, soliciting support from non-CIO unionists and from the progressive public. ... Moreover, CIO political operatives would actively participate in intraparty platform, policy, and candidate selection processes, pressing the broad agenda of the industrial union movement."