Category: Crime
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What You Can Do For Your Country: Kefauver on Responsible Citizenship
At the height of his fame from the organized crime hearings, Kefauver gave a speech laying out a rigorous vision of active citizenship. Was America up to the challenge? Are we still?
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All’s (Not) Fair in Politics and War: Kefauver Proposes a Congressional Code of Conduct
Kefauver used congressional investigations as a route to fame. But he also understood how they could be abused. And he tried to do something about it. But as usual, Congress couldn’t be bothered to act.
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A Friendly Bet, A Big Game, Lasting Effects: Kefauver and the 1952 Sugar Bowl
When two Senators made a friendly wager on the outcome of this game, they felt they had a lot at stake. As it turns out, the real stakes of the game were about the future of college football.
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Kefauver at the Movies: “Turning Point”
For once, a take on the Kefauver crime hearings from a major studio with a star-studded cast. But did they make the hero a bit too heroic?
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Just the Facts: A Brochure from Kefauver’s Last Campaign
During Kefauver’s final re-election campaign in 1960, he bet that voters would opt for reason and honest facts instead of race-baiting and segregation. See how he made the case in an important campaign brochure.
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Kefauver At the Movies: “Hoodlum Empire”
In 1952, a reporter who covered Kefauver’s organized crime hearings penned a movie script. People who watched the hearings might have found it a bit… familiar.
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FBI: No Time For Organized Crime
Kefauver’s hearings on organized crime exposed just how little the FBI was doing to combat the problem. So they learned their lesson from that, right? Yeah… not so much.
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Estes Kefauver: Not an Organization Man
Kefauver was a principled politician, which cause stumbling blocks for his ambitions. In particular, his refusal to build a political organization made his campaigns harder than they had to be… and may have been hazardous to his health.
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Kefauver at the Movies: “The Racket”
“The Racket” was a remake of a ’20s movie about Al Capone. With the Kefauver crime hearings captivating America, the producers tried to tweak it in order to ride that popular wave… to the point of offering a role to Kefauver himself.
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Kefauver at the Movies: “The Enforcer”
A Humphrey Bogart movie about the mob came out while the Kefauver organized crime hearings were sweeping the nation. So why not…. get Kefauver to put in an appearance?
Estes Kefauver for President 