Treasury Department

The Treasury Department appears in the account as part of the federal investigation that intensified scrutiny of Thomas J. Pendergast. Prompted by information about Pendergast’s tax returns, Treasury investigators pursued an insurance-bribery story, linking financial inquiry to the broader effort to expose the Kansas City political boss’s dealings.

Entry into the Investigation

After Governor Lloyd C. Stark and federal prosecutor Maurice Milligan went to Washington, Bennett Clark alerted Franklin D. Roosevelt that Pendergast had failed to report substantial income on his tax returns. Roosevelt notified the Treasury Department, whose investigators then began looking into an insurance-bribery story previously reported by Marquis Childs in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1935. The inquiry became part of a larger federal effort: before the investigation was complete, Stark and Milligan had five federal agencies working on special assignment.

The Insurance-Bribery Inquiry

The investigation concerned payments connected to the release of nearly $10 million that insurance companies had tied up in a dispute over fire-insurance rates. In January 1935, Charles Street, an official of the Great American Insurance Companies speaking for about eight insurers, met Pendergast at a Chicago hotel. Street offered $200,000, which Pendergast declined; he accepted when the offer rose to $500,000, later increased to $750,000 to speed the settlement. A first $50,000 installment was delivered to Pendergast at his Main Street office on May 9, 1935. The release agreement was subsequently worked out at the Muehlebach Hotel, and a later payment of $330,000 was delivered to Pendergast’s Ward Parkway home in a Gladstone bag.

Role and Significance

The account identifies the Treasury Department’s specific contribution as opening an inquiry into the financial and insurance aspects of the case after Roosevelt’s referral. It does not assign the department sole responsibility for the subsequent discoveries: the investigation involved multiple federal agencies, alongside Stark and Milligan. Its role nevertheless marks an important shift in the campaign against Pendergast, from prosecuting documented election fraud to examining the money and business arrangements behind his political power.