Tom Pendergast
By Seth Loveland
Biography of Tom Pendergast
Thomas Joseph Pendergast was born July 22, 1872, in St. Joseph, Missouri. His parents were immigrants from Ireland, he was the ninth and last child of Mary Pendergast. In 1894 He moved to Kansas City for good, because of his popularity from working as a bar keeper it made it very easy to become a politician. Since he was a politician over a ward, he made money off of the vice industries.
Impact on the 1920's
He set up the machine for the state of Missouri, he ran it for a long time, and he also got a lot of our people involved in it, no matter if it was the state representative or just the common person voting at the pools. But after his downfall it really ended the machine time for Kansas City.
Ways of getting support
During the great depresion a lot of people did not have jobs, so he gave a lot of those people jobs, and they had to repay him back by voting for him, he also ran a lot of hotels, pubs and provided people with liquor and music, it made his fame bigger.
Ways of making money
He controlled all of the vice businesses, which include bootlegging, pubs, dance halls, speakeasies, prostitution, and he also provided pubs with music which drew people in.
Whole sale of liquor
Tom was in control of the liquor sales, and made big money off of it
Legislature control
He controlled what ever they put into their legislature
Control over all things
He put fear into everyone and had control over everything that was in Kansas City
The Kansas City Mafia and the Pendergast Machine
Questions
Why did the police not care about crime anymore?