Thomas Lewis was tough, and he was a fighter. One writer claimed that "if a feller asked Tom to walk down the street and get a good dinner, and another feller invited him down an alley to have a fight, Tom would go down the alley." This attitude apparently carried over into his operation of the union. Says one writer, "Any convention presided over by T. L. Lewis promptly turned into a free-for-all." The rank and file soon became "weary of the din of internal warfare," and in 1911 they voted Lewis out of office. He went on to become a well-paid official of a West Virginia mine owners' association.
John P. White was elected to succeed Thomas Lewis. In contrast, White was described as dignified and handsome. He had been head of the Iowa district of the UMWA, and at the 1907 convention was elected vice-president of the national union. In the fall of 1917, during World War I, Woodrow Wilson appointed White to be a permanent member of the Wartime Federal Fuel Board and labor adviser to fuel administrator Harry A. Garfield. White resigned as UMWA president. Later, he became a business executive.
Frank J. Hayes, an Illinois miner and vice-president of the union followed White as president. Described as having an "engaging personality," Hayes wrote poetry in the early 1900s. However, his addiction to alcohol interfered with his ability to govern the union, and John L. Lewis gradually took over Hayes's duties. By the summer of 1919, Hayes was physically unable to continue in office. Although he formally resigned on January 1, 1920, he remained on the United Mine Workers payroll. Despite his problems, Hayes was popular with the rank and file members of the union.
