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So when the stock market crashed in October 1929, it hit many IBEW members already looking for work. Membership levels went into a tailspin. From a high of 121,792 members in 1919, membership plummeted to 60,421 at the end of 1930, dropping 11,000 more in the next three years. By June of 1930 the IBEW’s Journal, not normally the place to find much negative news, was filled with local union letters describing desolate work situations. Brother Harrie S. Goodwin, press secretary of Local 103, Boston, wrote, “Unemployment is still with us in Greater Boston... It is said that some trades have more than half of their membership out of work. Local 103 has not witnessed such a depression for a great number of years.” Frank J. Selke, press secretary of Local 353, Toronto, put it more bluntly: “Work is dead, absolutely the worst we have had for many years, and it doesn’t look any too promising for the coming summer.”

In the midst of the IBEW’s worsening situation, the Brotherhood faced the death of two members whose passing both saddened and united the membership. In December 1929 International President Noonan’s death was mourned. The International Executive Council drafted a resolution honoring the late president at a special meeting on December 7. They wrote, “He carried his union’s standard high in the American Federation of Labor... He has played important roles in the construction, power, railroad and telephone industries of the nation... He has written his name large among the labor statesmen of the new world.” At the same meeting the IEC chose then-International Vice President H.H. Broach as Brother Noonan’s successor.

Four months later, March 27, 1930, the membership learned of the death of one of the original founders of the Brotherhood, James T. Kelly. An article in the June Journal read, “J.T. Kelly, the first secretary of this organization, and the first editor of this Journal, . . . was a vital force in the early clays of the union... Honor to him who was a moving spirit in the Electrical Workers’ Organization even before it was a union, and who kept the faith until the last.”

Despite the gloomy economy, the late ‘20s was also a time of great promise. Science seemed on the verge of revolutionary breakthroughs. Although not available to the general public, television’s possibilities piqued the curiosities of even the most cynical. Talking movies; solo, nonstop flights across the Atlantic; and theories of general relativity led people to believe science held the answers to most any problem-and allowed people to keep hope during a seemingly hopeless time.

Through it all the IBEW was able to buy its own building in Washington-1200-15th Street, N.W., its headquarters until 1973; overcome losses; and maintain itself. Issues like automation, especially within the jurisdiction of the Telephone Operators’ Department, and working to improve often abysmal safety standards kept the Brotherhood fighting. Not just fighting to put a chicken in every pot, as President Herbert Hoover promised, but the IBEW was fighting for the future.

Things got worse-membership continued to fall, wages declined and work became scarcer. But the IBEW held on. And today, the Brotherhood is continuing the fight into the future.

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1925-1930 IBEW Between the Wars