In Honour of Harry Truman

Every now and then, I like to dip into local news. The Minneapolis Star Tribune is a great read. This week, a story in The Kansas City Star caught my eye:

“Road conditions in the Kansas City area became treacherous Sunday with snow and ice from a major winter storm that descended on the region. Highways in the Kansas City area were snow-packed by early afternoon and conditions were expected to get worse later in the day, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. Travel became difficult across Kansas and Missouri as a large winter storm, stretching as far east as Michigan, hit Kansas City on one of the biggest travel days of the year.”

Why is this story of interest? Leaving aside Interstate 70, built in the Eisenhower era, many of the roads in Kansas City and Jackson County and mentioned in the Star article were constructed under the supervision of one Harry S. Truman, President of the United States from 1945 to 1953.  Truman will be remembered best for his Presidency and the events to which he was a party: the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, the Truman doctrine, the recognition of the State of Israel, the Berlin airlift and the colossal post-war industrial unrest in America.

But what of Truman’s days before Washington? In 1922, Truman was a newly-wed without a job or any savings. His haberdashers business had failed. Things looked very bleak for him but an army pal, Jim Pendergast, spoke to his uncle about Harry. The uncle was Tom Pendergast, the boss of Kansas City and head of one of the most corrupt political party machines America had ever seen.

Pendergast’s legitimate businesses included cement and real estate. He also owned saloons and supplied booze to most of the Kansas City drinking houses. He was involved in gambling and prostitution but not drugs. He had a finger in every pie imaginable. He was also in a position to secure beneficial contracts for himself from the Kansas City and Jackson County councils, which were controlled by the Pendergast machine.

Pendergast needed a County Judge, the person who awarded and supervised contracts for road building in Kansas City and Jackson County. Truman knew what he would be getting into with Pendergast but he needed a job and this one paid well. However, he would have to stand for election. He was a poor public speaker and a naïve campaigner. Without the force of the Pendergast machine behind him, he would have lost.

Truman was elected County Judge in 1922, 1926 and 1930. It was a big job. He had up to 700 employees and budgets in the region of $7m a year. In the 1920s, this was huge. He loved the work and the power and prestige that went with it. In a state where racism was prevalent, he worked with Catholics, Jews and blacks. He soon earned a reputation for efficiency, as well as the respect of the press. He was responsible for building thousands of miles of road, converting dust and dirt tracks into cement roads. Farmers were grateful to him. It was so much easier for them to get produce and cattle to market. Kansas City inhabitants now walked on pavement, not mud and drove on bitumen and cement, not dirt. Truman did a terrific job. Those roads have lasted. I have driven some of them. No complaints.

Try as he might, Truman could not escape the demands of the machine. He found it increasingly difficult to deal with Pendergast, especially when Johnny Lazio became Pendergast’s second in command. Lazio was a Capone man. The Mob had forced its way into Kansas City. But that’s another story.
There is neither evidence nor suggestion that Harry took bribes or kickbacks himself but he often wondered whether he was just as bad as a crook by turning a blind eye. He wrote in his diary:

            “I wonder if I did right to put a lot of no account sons of bitches on the payroll and pay other sons of bitches more money for supplies than they were worth in order to satisfy the political powers. But I saved $2.5 million?”

In 1934, Truman was time-barred from running for County Judge. He let it be known he would like to run for state Governor or US Congress. Pendergast was looking for a new US Senator in D.C. Truman was his third choice. When nephew Jim suggested Truman for the Senate, Pendergast reportedly replied, “Do you really believe Harry can be elected to the US Senate?” But, helped by the machine’s interesting election methods, Truman, then aged fifty, won. The rest really is history.

If I could ask Truman one question, it would be “what are you most proud of in your political life?” I’d like to think he might answer, “the roads I built when I was County Judge.”