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| Thomas J. "Boss Tom" Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County politics. During the Depression he gave workers jobs and helped elect politicans. He ruled from a simple, two-story yellow brick building at 1908 Main Street. Pendergast was a big supporter of Harry S. Truman from Truman's days as judge of the County Court of the eastern district of Jackson County (an administrative, not a judicial, position) to his 1934 election as a United States Senator. A wealthy concrete contractor, Pendergast was convicted of income tax evasion, served 15 months in prison, and died at his Kansas City home in 1945. |
