The Mafia, Chicagoland, Harry Truman and SCOTUS JUSTICE TOM CLARK

There has been only one Supreme Court justice from Texas. Thomas Campbell "Tom C." Clark (September 23, 1899 – June 13, 1977) was United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1949–1967). He did some good things. For example, he wrote the majority opinion in Mapp v. Ohio where the Court held that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment should be excluded. However, there is considerable evidence that he was as crooked as they come. He was corrupted by the Chicago "Outfit," the successors to the Al Capone gang. I'm reading Gus Russo's book "The Outfit: the Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America." I recommend it to anyone interested in organized crime, law and politics. I knew a little about Joseph Kennedy being a bootlegger and the role the Mafia played in winning (or stealing) the election for JFK, but I had no idea how close the Kennedy's were to the Mafia. Even more interesting is the story of how the mob sponsored Harry Truman from being a ward boss/county judge in Missouri all the way to getting him appointed VP and winning the presidential election. Truman was a product of the Kansas City Pendergast political machine, which was a subsidiary of the Outfit. According to Russo, the Chicago mob also helped Tom C. Clark get appointed as the AG, in exchange for cash payoffs, swinging elections for Truman, and promising Clark a seat on the Supreme Court. In exchange, Clark shut down the FBI's task force investigating the mafia, and got several top hoods early parole. .................................... Speaking of Chicago, I'm halfway through the second season of Boss, starring Kelsey Grammeras the ruthless mayor of Chicago. His character Tom Caincould have stepped out of MacBeth or King Lear. Someone should do a similar series about LBJ. .................................... To my great chagrin, I voted for Obama in the last election. I, like millions of others, discounted the facts - his total lack of experience, his radicalism (terrorist Bill Ayers, socialist Saul Alinsky, racist radical preacher Jeremiah Wright, his wife "for the first time in my life I'm proud of America," growing up in a Moslem country and having a Moslem name). "Before he set out to deceive others, he went to great pains to deceive himself." To refer to another television show, I really wonder if he is a sleeper like Sgt. Brady in Homeland. I think a lot of us subconsciously believed we could atone for the supposed collective guilt of slavery and racism. Obama is a product of the Chicagoland political machine and the worst elements of the Democratic Party. He demeans our country when he bows to dictators and America haters, and does his world apology tours. The debacle in Libya is a taste of worse to come if he's reelected. I'm also concerned that he will shut down the oil and gas industry for spurious environmental reasons, which would devastate Texas. .................................................... In response to a comment a reader posted on this blog, I haven't written anything about local politics in a while because there's been nothing (that I know of) newsworthy to write about. I'm not going to write negative things about people just for the fun of it. If someone has something to say, it's easy to start a blog on Google's Blogger.com.