On June 19, 1971, Hoffa resigned as Teamsters president and Fitzsimmons was elected international president on his own right on July 9, 1971. By year's end, Fitzsimmons had purged the union's top offices of several Hoffa supporters. In 1973, he resigned his position as vice president of Local 299 and his son, Richard, was appointed his successor. On July 10, 1975, a Lincoln Continental used by Richard Fitzsimmons was destroyed by a bomb outside a bar where he was having a drink.