Word: teamsters
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...room, David Daniel Beck had his three-diamond ring turned into the palm of his left hand ("I always wear it that way because the light flashes in my eyes"). In his lightweight, grey, tailor-made suit,* his double teardrop (one white, one red) cravat and his toothiest smile, Teamster Boss Beck was the picture of resplendent confidence. "Are you nervous?" asked a reporter. "Nervous?" barked Beck...
Minutes later, bellied up to a witness table for two days of testimony before the special Senate committee investigating labor racketeering in general-and Dave Beck in particular-tough Teamster Beck began tapping his black shoes in nervous rhythm, and clasping his soft hands tightly in front of him to conceal their trembling. In an opening statement Committee Chairman John McClellan had said enough to set the toughest nerves to twitching: the committee had information indicating that "the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, the largest and most powerful union in our country...
...Dave Beck, the Teamster wagon has been a perfect vehicle for a ride to power. At its first convention in 1903, with Niagara Falls roaring in the background, the 50,000-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters selected as its first president a 295-lb. cutthroat named Cornelius Shea, who eventually was packed off to Sing Sing for stabbing his mistress 27 times (Shea bungled the job -the girl lived). Next, in 1907, came Irish-born Dan Tobin, who was to hold office for 45 astonishing years. Fond of boasting that he ran the union with only two staffers, Tobin came...
Attar of Skunk Juice. A significant share of the credit for the Teamsters' growth went to Dave Beck, the red-haired son of a hard-working carpet cleaner and a laundress, who entered the union's ranks by way of a job as a laundry driver, and became West Coast organizer. The jurisdictional labor wars of the 1930s were groin-kicking, skullcracking, stink-bombing affairs, and Dave Beck's West Coast goon squad was the toughest of the lot. (One of its oldtime mugs last week recalled paying a Northwest trapper $100 a quart for attar...
Under Beck, the Teamsters have increased their membership to 1,400,000 and their bankroll to more than $35 million. The union's 850 locals include brewery and dairy workers, cannery employees, nutmeat and potato-chip salesmen. "Dave," says another labor leader, "will take anybody he can get his hands on. A Teamster' to him is anybody who sleeps on a bed with movable casters...