In 1957, Paul Hall became president of SIU-North America, succeeding the late Harry Lundeberg, a post he held until his death. In the same year, he became president of the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department. When Hall took over the Maritime Trades Department, it was a struggling organization made up of only six small unions. He built it into the most active and effective political force in the family of the trade union movement. At his death, it comprised 43 national and international unions representing nearly 8 million American workers.