Beck, David

▪ 1994

      ("DAVE") U.S. labour leader (b. June 16, 1894, Stockton, Calif.—d. Dec. 26, 1993, Seattle, Wash.), as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1952 to 1957, was one of the most powerful labour leaders of the time. Beck dropped out of high school at 16 to help support his family by driving a laundry truck. After service in the navy during World War I, he returned to that job and, having joined the Teamsters in 1914, began his involvement in union activities. He worked his way up from part-time organizer to become executive vice president in 1947 and then president in 1952. Under Beck's leadership the union grew to have 1.6 million members, and they were the country's best-paid unionized workers. He lost his position, however, after he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during U.S. Senate investigations of union corruption, and in 1959, when he was convicted of federal tax-evasion and state embezzlement charges, he became the first of several Teamsters presidents who ended up in prison. He was paroled after 30 months, and he always maintained his innocence. In 1975 Pres. Gerald R. Ford granted Beck a full pardon.

* * *