He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, rising to the rank of staff sergeant and seeing combat action in the Pacific theater.
He was elected to the general executive board of the 1st District of the Carpenters in 1969, and resigned his position as local president the same year.
In 1983, Campbell initiated a boycott of the Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, accusing the company of failing to pay fair wages to 1,500 lumber workers represented by the union.
The company broke from an industry-wide bargaining group, which had agreed to an 8.5 percent wage hike over three years.
Developers began to experience trouble repaying the loans in 1987, but Empire Contract Consulting did not make the union aware of the problems until 1989.
[3] Campbell resigned as president of the Carpenters in mid-term in February 1988 due to ill health.