Jimmy Hoffa influence and control after 1967, to Hoffa's displeasure. Fitzsimmons also decentralized power somewhat within the IBT's administration structure, forgoing much of the control Hoffa took advantage of as union president. On December 23, 1971, less than five years into his 13-year sentence, Hoffa was released from prison when President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence to time served. Following his release, Hoffa was awarded a Teamsters' pension of $1.7 million, delivered in a one-time lump sum payment. This type of pension settlement had not occurred before with the Teamsters. The IBT then endorsed President Nixon, a Republican, in his presidential re-election
Jimmy Hoffa a pardon agreement with President Richard Nixon; he was released later that year, though barred from union activities until 1980. Hoffa, hoping to regain support and to return to IBT leadership, unsuccessfully attempted to overturn this order. Hoffa vanished in late July 1975 and was declared legally dead in 1982. Hoffa was born in Brazil, Indiana on February 14, 1913, to Indiana natives John and Viola (née Riddle) Hoffa. His father, who was of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, died in 1920 when Hoffa was seven years old. The family moved to Detroit in 1924, where Hoffa was raised and lived the