In 1949, after years of ruinous, Communist-inspired waterfront strikes, Canadian labor and shipping-company leaders turned to Harold Chamberlain Banks for help. A bluff, barrel-chested San Francisco union troubleshooter who once served a San Quentin term for passing bad checks (he was later pardoned), Banks moved to Montreal and in short order managed to run the Red-infiltrated Canadian Seamen's Union right out of business.
But Iowa-born Hal Banks proved as tough a customer as the Communists he was imported to rout. As boss of the Seafarers' International Union of Canada, he rigged union elections and bullied shippers; opponents of the S.I.U....