Gary, you said,

" Especially
after the previous 3 which happened pretty close
time wise, the UWMA could have easily won the hearts and
minds of Americans and unionized those mines. "

Not true. Don Blankenship and other dictatorial company owners had a propaganda mechanism in place as well as buying out the West Virginia state politicians and still have the weight of the privatized/corporatized Republican Party behind them.

The coal miner, not the cowboy is the real American hero, but as time moves on, his role diminishes as we find the need for alternative energy and not number nine coal.