{"value"=>"<p>The letters of the socialist, Powers Hapgood, to Pesotta (and copies of a few letters to Hapgood from Pesotta) contain a wealth of information concerning vital period in the history of the labor movement in the United States. They also form a narrative of ten years in the lives of two dedicated labor organizers who forged a lasting friendship in spite of fundamental differences in social class and political ideology. Among the the historical events recorded in these letters are the strikes at Flint, Michigan, and Akron, Ohio, in 1936 and 1937, in which Hapgood and Pesotta (on loan from ILGWU) joined Adolph Germer and Leo Krzycki to form the celebrated \"Four Horsemen of the CIO\". Also reflected are Hapgood's involvement in the 1937 strike of shoemakers in Maine which resulted in his brief imprisonment for contempt of court, his work for the CIO as representative of the farm equipment workers in their strike against the International Harvester Company, and his efforts as an organizer of shipbuilders on the East Coast and in the Great Lakes area.</p>"}