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Peter McGuire, who founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and co-founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) with the legendary Samuel Gompers, is often credited as the “Father of Labor Day.” But new evidence suggests that the idea may have come from a different labor leader with a similar name. Matthew Maguire was an important figure in the Central Labor Union of New York and led several strikes to improve working conditions. According to the New Jersey Historical Society and the U.S. Department of Labor, shortly after President Cleveland created Labor Day with his signature, The Paterson (N.J.) Morning Call published an editorial that called Maguire “the undisputed author of Labor Day as a holiday.” Gompers and Peter McGuire were friends, however, and Gompers considered Matthew Maguire a radical. So in an 1897 interview, Gompers gave McGuire the credit for suggesting the Labor Day holiday.
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