He has an Ivy League degree and a resumé that would stand out even in a high-powered city like Washington, D.C.But for Ivan Scott, nothing tops the education or experience he received as an active SIU member in the 1940s and ’50s.
Scott, 76, is the Pentagon and national security correspondent for a group of radio and television stations including major ones in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis and Washington. The job routinely allows him to interact with top-level U.S. military and government officials.
Previously, among other notable posts, he served as a presidential appointee (first as an assistant chief of information for the Navy, then as communications director for the Federal Transit Administration) and a combat correspondent and anchor for ABC, CBS and Mutual.
One might think that Scott’s four years at sea would be long forgotten, but that’s not the case. During a recent interview at SIU headquarters in Camp Springs, Md. (located just outside Washington), Scott’s genuine affection for the union immediately surfaced. Despite the passage of nearly a half-century, his maritime background remains a big part of his identity.
Reflecting on his time with the SIU, Scott emphatically declares that if given a choice between his four years at sea and his days at Princeton, “It’s no contest—I’d choose the sea. You become a man and you get an education. The training was absolutely beyond compare.”
His ties with the SIU weren’t limited to sailing. Scott helped organize the Cities Service fleet in 1948—one of the most important victories in the union’s early history—and he still has a lump on his head from walking the picket lines during the equally key Isthmian campaign from that same era.
After he left the industry for good in the late 1950s and entered broadcasting, Scott developed a strong friendship with SIU President Paul Hall as well as with Seafarers LOG Editor Herb Brand, a trusted assistant to the union president. In 1983, Scott received an honorary SIU book—Book No. 4, he proudly notes.
Scott’s recollections of his sailing days are rich in detail. He remembers several close calls at sea, including striking a mine that didn’t explode. He rattles off the names of vessels and shipmates as if the experiences happened yesterday.
“What I liked about shipboard life was the sense of adventure and the caliber of person I sailed with and for,” he notes. “I never had a boring day at sea.”
Like others from that period, Scott entered the industry at a very young age—16 in his case, during the last week of 1946.
He first sailed as on OS aboard the tanker Wahoo Swamp, a non-union ship. “I was so green I didn’t know which was fore and which was aft,” he acknowledges.
Thirty minutes after climbing that initial gangway, with others not realizing Scott was a first-tripper, he found himself steering. A series of “90-degree swings” in New York Harbor quickly ended that particular assignment.
Following several more voyages, Scott ended up on a Cities Service vessel while the SIU was trying to organize the fleet. He helped with the campaign (earning a full book) and found a home with the union, even though he would move in and out of the industry for the next decade.
“I was turned loose on the world after World War II when you could get anything you wanted for a pack of cigarettes,” Scott says with a wink.
He joined the U.S. Air Force and served from 1948-52, eventually working as an air traffic controller. But he still found time for the SIU, discretely making a coastwise run while otherwise on base in Lake Charles, La.
He returned to sea for a year after finishing his time with the Air Force and being honorably discharged. He completed high school and then enrolled at Princeton, a prestigious university.
Still, he wasn’t done with the sea. Scott sailed on Isthmian’s Steel Advocate following his freshman year.
After graduating from Princeton in 1959, his military experience helped him secure work as a broadcaster covering the Pentagon, while his labor history proved invaluable when reporting on the trade union movement.
As an up-and-coming reporter with an SIU background, he was befriended by Paul Hall, a towering figure not just within maritime labor but in the entire union arena. “He was almost a father image to me,” Scott says. “He was one of the most dynamic leaders I’ve ever met, and he had a total vision for the future. I was a great admirer of Paul’s.”
Scott kept an eye on the SIU and the U.S. Merchant Marine in general even as he moved on to other segments of his career. Today, he says the country absolutely must maintain a strong U.S.-flag fleet, pointing to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom as the latest among an overwhelming number of examples supporting that stance.
“It’s vital for a world power,” Scott notes. “The Achilles heel of the U.S. military is a lack of adequate sealift, although we’re closing the gap somewhat.”
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