FOLLOW THE LEADER

 

"A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party, he is a leader."
Harry Truman

Ohio born from Irish immigrant parents,  eldest son James Pendergast (above) was a steel worker and laborer in Kansas City, Missouri, who struggled to support his large family until he won big - betting on a race horse named Climax.  Or so goes the legend. 

James invested the winnings in a collection of bars (above), a restaurant and hotel in Kansas City, Missouri's West Bottom neighborhood, on the Kansas River flood plain.

The town was then divided between the uptown establishment Republicans who lived on the high ground, and the working class Democrats who were literally on the flood plain (above).  James' business success allowed him to became one of the town’s most powerful councilmen. 

His competition for Democratic votes was Joe Shannon (above) who controlled the Democratic votes in the Kansas City suburbs. But James Pendergast's  first instinct was always to negotiate. and "Big Jim" cut cut a power sharing deal with Shannon, which ultimately worked to Big Jim's advantage.

“You use a saw to shape wood, not a hammer.”
James Pendergast. 1892

Jn the early 1890's James Pendergast hired his youngest brother, Tom (above), as cashier and bookkeeper. Big Jim also schooled Tom in local politics, lecturing him that, “The important thing is to get the votes.” 

In 1900 James (above) secured Tom the position of Superintendent of Streets. Tom immediately hired two hundred new employees, all loyal goats, as Pendergast supporters and voters were called.  Then, in November of 1911, at just 55 years old, big brother James died of kidney failure. 

Tom Pendergast stepped in to fill his brother’s seat on the council, but resigned after just five years. The position was no longer powerful enough for him. Tom’s first instinct was always to go for the power, not the office. 

“Today, politics may be our friend, and tomorrow we may be its victims.”

Owen D. Young. Chairman of General Electric. 1922-1939

In 1916 Tom Pendergast had himself appointed to the leadership of the Jackson County Democratic Party, headquartered in a two story yellow brick building (above, left)  at 1908 Main Street. With the votes from the Irish and Italian neighborhoods in his pocket, Tom became the invisible hand in writing of the new city charter, adopted in 1925. 

“Boss” Tom, as the Republican newspapers called him, could now manipulate both the city and county governments, both the Democratic and Republican parties, from behind the scenes, following a simple rule; The important thing is to get the votes-no matter what.”

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”

Plato 400 B.C.E.

Boss Tom’s name never had to appear on another ballot. As one Republican St. Louis writer noted, “Pendergast never did hunt ducks with a brass band. It has always been hard to tell what he is doing, but easy to tell what he has done the day after the election.” 

Tom helpfully described the methods he had learned from his older brother. “Every one of my workers has a fund to buy food, coal, shoes and clothing. When a poor man comes to old Tom's boys for help….we fill his belly and warm his back and vote him our way.”

“Politics have no relation to morals.
Niccolo Machiavelli. 1532

James "Blackie" Audett claimed he knew the methods Boss Tom used to gain power. “My first job in Kansas City was to look up vacant lots…we would give addresses to them vacant lots. Then we would take the address and assign them to people we could depend on – prostitutes, thieves, floaters, anybody we could get on the voting registration books. On election days we just hauled these people to the right places and they went in and voted…”  

It's a standard Republican charge, but a moment's thought will reveal that all vacant lots already have numbers. That is what defines them as vacant. But such Republican smears are still accepted about Kansas City, and all Democratic voting cities, as fact almost a century later. 

“The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority, acting against a divided majority.”
Will Durant.

With the arrival of the Great Depression, Boss Tom did not wait for Hoover to sympathize with Kansas Cities’ 38% unemployment. In November of 1930 the town voted a $40 million bond issue, for a “Ten-Year-Plan”. 

What Kansas got for its investment in the future was the “Power and Light Building”, still a landmark in KC., as well as a new City Hall, the Jackson County Court House, a new Police Headquarters, a new Municipal Auditorium, and several schools. 

When the KC “Star” described all these new buildings as “Pendergast’s concrete pyramids”, Tom merely smiled. And the hundreds of unemployed who found work building Kansas City's future, smiled too. The truth was Pendergast Ready-Mix Cement was a legal business and although fraud was heavily charged it was never proved. But what brought Tom Pendergast down was yet another perfectly legal business; political consultant.

“There are no true friends in politics. We are all sharks circling, and waiting for traces of blood to appear in the water’
Alan Clark. 1974

Since 1922 regulators for the State of Missouri and 137 fire insurance companies had been sparing over rate increases.  As a compromise, for 15 years the companies were allowed to charge higher rates, but the difference between the old and the new rates was impounded, Eventually, the impounded fees reached $10 million. Then, suddenly, the state agreed to a settlement, giving the insurance companies $8 million in higher rates, all their impounded rates, and the right to future increases. 

In May of 1938 Republican Governor Loyd Stark (above, right), a Tom Pendergast pick, ordered an investigation. This investigation uncovered that the insurance companies had delivered a half million dollars in cash to Tom Pendergast as a “political consulting” fee, just before the settlement. Now, since Pendergast had no direct authority over the insurance commissioner, this fee was legal. However it would have been politically embarrassing. And in order to avoid the embarrassment, Boss Tom had not declared the income on his Federal income tax. And that was illegal.

“The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.”

Adlai Stevenson.

The end came quickly. On 7 April, 1939 Boss Tom (above) was arraigned on two counts of tax fraud. On 22 May, 1939 he pled guilty. 

"Boss" Tom Pendergast paid a fine and served 15 months in prison, and was never involved in Missouri politics again.  His photos reveal a man not nearly as fat as the Republican newspapers wanted him to be.

“An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.”
George Eliot.

The reformers patted themselves on the back, and the Republicans reveled in their triumph over Democratic sin. Governor Stark (above) hoped to use the toppling of Boss Tom to propel himself into the U.S. Senate. 

But in 1940, Stark lost a nasty election contest to Harry Truman (above), who had been a long time Pendergast man.  After that Stark was through in Missouri politics. 

When Boss Tom died in January of 1945, his funeral was well attended (by President Harry Truman, among others), and the only thing that changed about Missouri politics was the names on the ballots. The working men and women of Kansas City, Missouri, knew he had been their friend, and had thought about them when the Republican bankers and power brokers did not. They erected a statue of him, gazing paternally down upon the bottoms he had risen from.

“If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”

Harry S. Truman.

- 30 –