David Daniel Beck (June 16, 1894 – December 26, 1993) was an American labor leader, and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1952 to 1957.

He helped found the "Conference" system of organization in the Teamsters union, and shot to national prominence in 1957 by repeatedly invoking his right against self-incrimination before a United States Senate committee investigating labor racketeering.

Following a short-lived strike in 1917, Beck helped to organize and establish Local 566 of the Teamsters Union.

[3][4] He was drafted in World War I and served as a machinist’s mate and gunner in England with the United States Navy.

[3] In 1937, Beck formed the Western Conference of Teamsters as a means of counteracting the conservative leadership of Joint Councils in San Francisco.

Harry Bridges, leader of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), had led a successful four-day strike in 1934.

Bridges was now leading "the march inland"—an attempt to organize warehouse workers away from shipping ports.

Beck engaged in fierce organizing battles and membership raids against the ILA, effectively stifling the "march inland."

On April 22, 1948, the Machinists (which was not a member of the American Federation of Labor, or AFL) struck Boeing in Seattle.

But as the mid-October Teamster convention neared, Tobin and his supporters formed a draft movement designed to subvert Beck's control of the delegates.

Beck retaliated by publicly supporting the draft movement, but privately threatening to strip Tobin of his pension and benefits should he lose an election.

Beck pushed through a number of changes intended to make it harder for a challenger to build the necessary majority to unseat a president or reject his policies.

[3] In 1957, Beck was called to testify before the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management.

Harshly interrogated by committee counsel Robert F. Kennedy about $322,000 missing from the union treasury, Beck invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 117 times.