Nixon Eats Lettuce

I thought this would be a fun one to start with, since it initially made me laugh but I ended up learning something new.  The Salinas Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in California, and in 1970, was producing most of America’s lettuce.  There’s a little back story involving grapes and teamsters, but since nobody is accusing Nixon of eating grapes, let’s focus on the lettuce.

In July/August 1970, the United Farm Workers (led by Cesar Chavez) were pretty pissed off that some of the lettuce growers had signed contracts with the teamsters.  They tried holding secret negotiations to avoid a strike, but eventually it collapsed and on August 23rd, the UFW called for the lettuce pickers, many of whom were underpaid, unskilled migrant workers, to strike.  About 10,000 of them did, in what became the largest farm worker strike in US history.  Almost overnight, the production of lettuce dropped by 70%, the price doubled, and shipments almost ceased nationwide.  The UFW also asked consumers to join the boycott by refusing to buy non-union lettuce.

Nixon, however, was having none of it.  He publicly opposed the boycott, openly criticized its leaders, and tried to find ways to undermine the movement.  He was definitely still eating lettuce, but he couldn’t choke down enough salads to beat the UFW.  The boycott officially lasted until 1978, but the big win came in 1975 with the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act.