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==Pendergast machine==

==Pendergast machine==

Discouraged by his lack of business success and without funds, Truman sought the help of friends. His farm background, his war record, his Masonic connections, his Baptist Church affiliations, and his genial personality recommended him to [[Thomas J. Pendergast]], the Democratic political boss of Kansas City and much of western Missouri. Pendergast, an Irish Catholic, had a strong base among the Irish Catholics and used Truman to reach out to Protestants, farmers and veterans. He made Truman the overseer of highways for Jackson County. Truman biographer [[David McCullough]] recounts:

Discouraged by his lack of business success and without funds, Truman sought the help of friends. His farm background, his war record, his Masonic connections, his Baptist Church affiliations, and his genial personality recommended him to Thomas J. Pendergast, the Democratic political boss of Kansas City and much of western Missouri. Pendergast, an Irish Catholic, had a strong base among the Irish Catholics and used Truman to reach out to Protestants, farmers and veterans. He made Truman the overseer of highways for Jackson County. Truman biographer [[David McCullough]] recounts:

{{cquote|That gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, the sale of narcotics and racketeering were a roaring buisiness in Kansas City was all too obvious. Nor did anyone for a moment doubt that the ruling spirit behind it all remained Tom Pendergast. It was the Pendergast heyday.<ref>David McCullough, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8fp1A2s6aQwC Truman]'' (Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743260295), p. 237</ref>}}

{{cquote|That gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, the sale of narcotics and racketeering were a roaring buisiness in Kansas City was all too obvious. Nor did anyone for a moment doubt that the ruling spirit behind it all remained Tom Pendergast. It was the Pendergast heyday.<ref>David McCullough, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8fp1A2s6aQwC Truman]'' (Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743260295), p. 237</ref>}}

In 1922 Truman was elected a county judge; needing some legal knowledge he studied nights for two years at Kansas City Law School; it was his only education beyond high school, although he read history. In the 1924 GOP landslide he was defeated for reelection, but in 1926 he was returned to office as presiding judge of the court, the duties of which also involved administrative supervision of many county expenditures, including $60 million for public works; Truman put only Democrats from the Pendergast machine on the county payroll.<ref>Margaret Truman, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qRUgzPQRRQcC Harry S. Truman]'' (Morrow, 1972) ISBN 0688000053, p. 67</ref> In 1924, Truman paid $10 (equivalent to more than $120 today) as a membership fee to join the [[Ku Klux Klan]], but withdrew when he learned that Pendergast, a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]], would not support anyone who belonged to an anti-Catholic organization;<ref>David McCullough, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8fp1A2s6aQwC Truman]'' (Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743260295), p. 166</ref> the Klan then campaigned against Truman.

In 1922 Truman was elected a county judge; needing some legal knowledge he studied nights for two years at Kansas City Law School; it was his only education beyond high school, although he read history. In the 1924 GOP landslide he was defeated for reelection, but in 1926 he was returned to office as presiding judge of the court, the duties of which also involved administrative supervision of many county expenditures, including $60 million for public works; Truman put only Democrats from the Pendergast machine on the county payroll.<ref>Margaret Truman, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qRUgzPQRRQcC Harry S. Truman]'' (Morrow, 1972) ISBN 0688000053, p. 67</ref> In 1924, Truman paid $10 (equivalent to more than $120 today) as a membership fee to join the [[Ku Klux Klan]], but withdrew when he learned that Pendergast, a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]], would not support anyone who belonged to an anti-Catholic organization;<ref>David McCullough, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8fp1A2s6aQwC Truman]'' (Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743260295), p. 166</ref> the Klan then campaigned against Truman.