Dave Beck
President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters when he testified before the McClellan Committee in March 1957 and declined to answer questions about union money. The committee's 1958 interim report found that he "took, not borrowed, more than $370,000 in union funds."
- Role
- President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (his own testimony, 26 March 1957)
- Source
- Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, Hearings, Part 5 (1957)
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state. Each event names its record and the kind of statement it is.
On the record
- 26 March 1957 — Committee chairman's statement. Opening the hearing, Senator McClellan said evidence before the committee "clearly indicates that from the years 1949 through the first 3 months of 1953, Mr. Beck took more than $320,000 from the teamsters union treasury in Seattle" (Hearings, Part 5, p. 1510).
- 26 March 1957 — His own testimony. Sworn, he said: "I am president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America," challenged the committee's jurisdiction, and answered questions about specific sums by saying a truthful answer "might tend to incriminate me."
- 24 March 1958 — Congressional finding. The interim report (S. Rept. 85-1417, p. 85) finds that "Dave Beck took, not borrowed, more than $370,000 in union funds."
- 1959 — Commission statement. The President's Commission on Organized Crime (The Edge, 1986) states: "The first, Dave Beck, was convicted in 1959 for violating federal income tax laws." No court record of that conviction has been opened for this site.
This page rests on a Senate hearing, a Senate committee report and a presidential commission report. None is a court record. No record filed here gives his birth or death, and none connects him with a crime family. His home address is printed in the hearing and is not repeated.
Records
itemMcClellan Committee hearings, Part 5: Dave Beck testifies (26 and 27 March 1957)The select committee's hearing at which Teamsters president Dave Beck, sworn, challenged the committee's jurisdiction and declined to answer questions about union money, saying a truthful answer "might tend to incriminate me."
itemInterim Report of the McClellan Committee, S. Rept. 85-1417 (March 1958)The select committee's report on its first year, ordered printed 24 March 1958. It finds that Dave Beck "took, not borrowed, more than $370,000 in union funds" and that James R. Hoffa "repeatedly betrayed the members of his own union."
itemPresident's Commission on Organized Crime, The Edge (1986): the Teamsters and longshoremen sectionsThe Commission's 1986 report on organized crime, business and labor unions. Its Teamsters section, "The Most Controlled Union," reviews five IBT presidents from 1952 to 1985 and quotes Roy L. Williams: "Every big [Teamster] local union ... had some connection with organized crime."