Tom Pendergast

Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939.

Pendergast only briefly held elected office, as an alderman, but his capacity as chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Party allowed him to use his large network of Irish family and friends to help the election of politicians, in some cases by voter fraud, and to hand out government contracts and patronage jobs. He became wealthy in the process, but his addiction to gambling, especially horse racing, later led to a large accumulation of personal debts.

In 1939, he was convicted of income tax evasion and served 15 months in a federal prison. The Pendergast organization helped to launch the political career of future president Harry S. Truman, which caused Truman's early enemies to dub him "the senator from Pendergast".

Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as "TJ", was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. Raised as a Catholic, he had nine brothers and sisters. The family's name is misspelled as Pendergest in the 1880 census and is listed accordingly.

In the 1890s, the young Tom Pendergast worked in his older brother James Pendergast's West Bottoms tavern. The West Bottoms were then an immigrant section of town located at the "bottom" of the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River above which spread the more prosperous sections of Kansas City. James Pendergast, an alderman in Kansas City's city council, tutored him in the diversities of the city's political ways and systems and in the strategic advantages of controlling blocs of voters. James retired in 1910 and died the next year after he had named Tom as his successor. After his brother's death, Tom Pendergast served in the city council until he stepped down in 1916 to focus on consolidating the factions of the Jackson County Democratic Party.

In 1925 a new city charter was passed that placed the city under the auspices of a city manager picked by a smaller council. Though the charter had been intended to free Kansas City of political bossism, Pendergast's candidates were able to win five of the nine seats on the council, allowing Pendergast to gain control of the city government.

Pendergast married Caroline Snyder in February 1911 and raised three children (two girls and a boy) at their home on 5650 Ward Parkway. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, which used his connection to reach Truman during the 1930s persecution of Catholics and others in Mexico.

Pendergast ruled from a simple two-story yellow brick building at 1908 Main Street. Messages marked with his red scrawl were used to secure all manner of favors. He was unquestionably corrupt, and there were regularly shootouts and beatings on election days during his watch. However, the permissive go-go days also gave rise to the golden era of Kansas City jazz (now commemorated at the American Jazz Museum at 18th and Vine) as well as a golden era of building in Kansas City. Pendergast tried to portray a "common touch" and made attention-grabbing displays of helping pay medical bills, providing "jobs", and hosting famous Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the poor. Fraud and intimidation often caused Kansas City voter turnout to be close to 100 percent in the Pendergast days.