The Kid from Hoboken

Bill Bailey was born in Jersey City and grew up in Hoboken and New York's Hell's Kitchen. He went to sea in 1929 and maintained a career in the Merchant Marine until he was "screened out" during the McCarthy era. He fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War and organized workers in New York, Virginia, California, and Hawaii. In 1953 he began work as a longshoreman, retiring in 1975 to write, lecture, and appear in documentary and feature films.