Nagler, Isadore

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NAGLER, ISADORE

NAGLER, ISADORE (1895–1959), U.S. labor leader. Born in Austria, Nagler went to the United States in 1909 and worked as a cutter, joining Local 10 of the Cutters' Union. In 1920 he was made an official of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ilgwu) and was a prominent anti-communist. He became vice president of the ilgwu in 1929 and worked closely with the union president, Benjamin *Schlesinger and his successor David *Dubinsky. Nagler was general manager of the Joint Board of the Cloakmakers Union from 1928 to 1939 and was one of the founders of the American Labor Party (alp). In 1944 he left the Labor Party with Dubinsky in protest against its pro-communist line and helped found the Liberal Party in which he was a prominent figure. He was prominent in the New York Jewish Education Committee, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, and *ort.

bibliography:

H. Haskel, A Leader of the Garment Workers (1950), incl. bibl.

[Melvyn Dubofsky]