George E. Foulkes: postal service shakedown

Photo credit: findagrave.com

George Ernest Foulkes would earn a seat in the House of Representatives based on a solid background of government service and agricultural work. He would be ousted soon after amid accusations that he was using his new position for personal gain.

Foulkes was born in Chicago on Christmas Day of 1878. After attending the public schools, he studied law at Lake Forest University and graduated the same year. He was admitted to the bar the same year and began working as a special agent for the United States Treasury Department. The work brought him to bureaus in New York City, the Twin Cities in Minnesota, and El Paso, Texas. Foulkes remained in this service until 1919.

It was not until he settled down to another line of work that Foulkes began to show interest in politics. He moved to Hartford, Michigan, in 1920 to begin pursuing agriculture. Four years later, he appeared as a delegate to the Democratic state convention. He returned to this summit in 1926 and 1928. Finally, in 1932, Foulkes won a seat in the House of Representatives.

Foulkes gave special attention to agricultural issues while in Congress. In March of 1934, he asked that United States beet and cane sugar producers be given special preference over Cuban growers. There were signs that Foulkes was not content to remain in the House, however. He announced that he would put his name up for consideration in the year's Senate race if former Detroit mayor Frank Murphy, the governor-general of the Philippines, decided against running. Foulkes argued that since the sitting senator was from Detroit, it would make more sense to have the other seat occupied by a person from the western part of Michigan. The Farmer-Labor Party named him as their candidate for Michigan's gubernatorial election, but Foulkes declined the nomination.

The ugly allegations that surfaced shortly before the 1934 election ensured that Foulkes would be unlikely to win any elected office he sought to pursue. In August of 1934, Foulkes was accused of trying to solicit campaign donations from Michigan postmasters in order to guarantee their continued appointments. Postal authorities began investigating the matter after Edmund N. Cook, who acted as postmaster at Allegran between November 1933 and spring of 1934, agreed to pay Foulkes $20 on an assessment of $250 and promptly brought this piece of evidence to the attention of his superiors. At the general election, Foulkes lost to Republican candidate Clare Hoffman.

The investigation unveiled enough evidence to indict Foulkes and two others. Foulkes was charged with conspiracy. Elmer Smith, a former postmaster, was accused of solicitation of funds. Daniel Gerow, a former Shiawassee County sheriff and Democratic state central committee leader who had been considered the likely person to be U.S. marshal for Michigan's western district, was accused of both crimes.

Several postmasters had sworn affidavits alleging similar behavior to that charged by Cook. Gerow was accused of approaching 27 postmasters with a letter written by Foulkes, which suggested that the postmasters' permanent appointments would not be approved unless they contributed 10 percent of their assessments to the congressman's campaign fund. One postmaster, Ed Hackman, said he first received the demand by a letter delivered by Gerow and later in a conference where Foulkes made the threat directly to him.

Gerow quickly changed his plea from not guilty to no contest, and Smith followed suit. Foulkes was convicted at a trial in November of 1935 and ordered to serve 18 months in prison and pay a $1,000 fine. Gerow was ordered to pay $2,800 in fines--$200 on each of his 14 indictments--or go to prison. Smith was fined $500 and also told that he would go to jail if he could not raise the money.

Foulkes was paroled in June of 1936 and returned to farming. He continued in this line of work, writing on agricultural issues and becoming active in farm organization work. In 1958, an article in the Toledo Blade reported a perplexing offer Foulkes had made to bequeath his estate to a poor British farm boy. The article said that Foulkes had seven farms in North Dakota totaling about 6,000 acres and that the British Embassy was working to find a recipient.

The report correctly identified Foulkes as a Hartford resident, though his age was slightly off and it put his birthplace as Shropshire, England. This suggests that Foulkes chose to make the offer to another George Foulkes across the pond, a Shropshire native who shared his name and was serving as a member of Parliament.

The offer came not long before Foulkes' death. He passed away in Hartford on December 13, 1960.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Vigorous Fight is Being Carried on to Save the Sugar Industry" in the Owosso Argus-Press on Mar. 2 1934, "Foulkes May Enter in Senate Contest" in the Owosso Argus-Press on Mar. 7 1934, "Postal Inspectors Look Into Charges" in the Owosso Argus-Press on Aug. 18 1934, "Warrants Are Issued Today" in the Owosso Argus-Press on May 3 1935, "Evidence Links Gerow, Foulkes in Conspiracy" in the Owosso Argus-Press on Nov. 19 1935, "Geo. Foulkes Starts Term in U.S. Prison" in the News-Palladium on Nov. 25 1935, "Parole is Granted Former Congressman" in the Southeast Missourian on Jun. 15 1936, "Michigan Resident to Give Farm to Poor British Boy" in the Toledo Blade on May 10 1958

Joseph Barker: the street preacher mayor

Photo credit: brooklineconnection.com

To Joseph Barker's supporters in Pittsburgh's 1850 mayoral election, their candidate was a shining example of a straight-talking man who had been punished for exercising his First Amendment rights. To his foes, Barker was little more than a foul-mouthed hooligan who gave free reign to bigots.

Little is known about Barker's early life. He was born around 1806 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. According to the Lawrenceville Historical Society, there are indications that Barker held some minor elected positions in the 1840s. However, he was best known as a corner preacher, dressed in black with a cape and stovepipe hat, giving sermons twice a week on what he saw as the ills of society.

Barker typically took a nativist route, shouting denunciations of Catholics, Freemasons, and any Protestants who were opposed to his ideals. The harangues also criticized slavery and intemperance, and occasionally veered toward local politics when he lambasted politicians and the state of the Pittsburgh police. Barker had his supporters, including one particularly vehement follower named Hugh Kirkland who sometimes assisted him in his spectacles, but he frequently irritated those trying to keep the peace. On one occasion, he was ordered to serve 30 days in the workhouse for an anti-Catholic speech.

In November of 1849, a riot broke out after one of Barker's particularly pugnacious speeches against the Catholic clergy. He was quickly charged with blocking the streets and using "indecent, lewd, and immoral language calculated to deprave the morals of the community." A jury found him guilty, and Barker didn't help his case by threatening and swearing at the jury and judge, Benjamin Patton, at his sentencing. He was sentenced to one year in prison and a $250 fine.

Barker's supporters upheld him as a symbol of free speech and took an unusual strategy in trying to win his freedom. A mayoral election was scheduled for January of 1850, and they began a write-in campaign to name Barker to the office. Pittsburgh had about 36,000 people at the time, and sources differ about whether the turnout was high for a municipal election or low because people generally ignored these elections due to rampant corruption. When the results were tallied, Barker had eked out a win over two other candidates, earning 1,787 votes to the 1,584 for Democratic candidate John B. Guthrie and 1,034 for Whig candidate Robert McCutcheon.

With the mayor-elect still behind bars, Barker's swearing in became a farcical episode. Governor William F. Johnston agreed to pardon him so he could serve his term in office, but the document did not arrive in time for the scheduled day. When a mob threatened to break Barker out of jail, the sheriff relented and released him temporarily. Patton was chosen to give the oath of office to the man whom he had jailed just months before, but the judge took the occasion well. "Permit me, sir, to say that I hope you will more then realize the expectations of your friends," he said. With the pardon still nowhere to be found, Barker was returned to the jail to spend his first day in office behind bars before his freedom was finally approved.

To the surprise of his critics, Barker cooled his fiery demeanor and set about pursuing a number of reforms in the city. He introduced a program to test scales of merchants to ensure they weren't cheating customers, a move that reportedly enraged one vendor so much that she threw a slab of butter in the mayor's face. Barker also ordered crackdowns on vice dens, gambling, and drunkenness; sought enforcement of the 10-hour workday; and instituted a ban on prize fights.

Despite the tangible reforms, Barker's nativist streak was clearly visible in other decisions. On one occasion, a German steamboat band sought to bar the use of the calliope by a band on a nearby vessel since the instrument was drowning out their own music. Barker refused, commenting, "The calliope is an American institution, and the brass band is a damned imported Dutch institution. I am for America all the time." He also had the Catholic bishop and Mother Superior of Mercy Hospital arrested and fined $20 because the hospital's sewer line was allegedly creating a nuisance; he refused an appeal since a judge wasn't readily available. There were some indications that Barker's administration was encouraging more incidents of harassment against Catholics and vandalism of their institutions. Parishioners took shifts to guard churches and Mercy Hospital amid rumors that they would be set ablaze.

Barker's term was also distinguished by bitter feuding with the police department. He fired several night officers for alleged misconduct and replaced them with his own friends. When the police commissioners reinstated the night officers, Barker had them arrested. In a dispute over a prisoner, he also ordered the arrest of a jailer and the sheriff. The actions created two separate police forces, of the regular officers and Barker's appointees, and they sometimes came to blows. A tentative peace was struck when the police resumed the major duties of keeping the peace while Barker's men were relegated to minor duties such as lighting streetlamps. A court finally forced Barker to disband his own force.

Barker was arrested on several occasions during his tenure. There are conflicting reports about how many times he was taken into custody, including one where the police arrested him during the staffing squabble, but several accounts mention a string of arrests in October of 1850. He was twice charged with assault and battery, and in one of these incidents he was accused of trying to kill a man named John Barton. Barker was also charged with the abduction for interfering in a child custody matter. He was acquitted of all of these charges, though he was convicted of the more nebulous charge of "misdemeanor in office."

Running for re-election in January of 1851, Barker was only able to garner a quarter of the vote; Guthrie returned as a candidate and was successful. Barker returned to street preaching and was soon convicted of sparking another riot. He made two more unsuccessful bids for mayor, in 1852 and 1854. He remained a colorful personality, getting thrown out of the state senate chamber for going on a rant there, picking up more charges of obscenity and drunkenness, and earning several sentences sending him to a work farm. As the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania put it, he "rapidly sank into obscurity, a victim of intensified drink, fanaticism, and epilepsy."

Barker's demise was characteristically dramatic. He was walking along the railroad tracks in Manchester, returning from an August 1862 rally supporting the Northern cause in the Civil War, when an oncoming train struck and beheaded him.

Sources: The Political Graveyard, the Lawrenceville Historical Society, "Today in History" in the Pittsburgh Press on Jan. 7 1943, "Like Fiery Mayor-Father, Barker Dies in Obscurity" in the Pittsburgh Press  on Mar. 13 1948, "Joseph Barker Had Knack for Getting Into Trouble" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan. 11 1950, "Political Opportunist Was Colorful Character in Pittsburgh History" in the Tribune-Review on Jan. 27 2002, "Jailed Street Preacher Elected Mayor" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr. 2 2002, "Winner of the First Joe Barker Memorial Award is..." in the Pittsburgh Catholic on Nov. 12 2007, "Let's Learn About: Mayor Joseph Barker" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Oct. 29 2009, "Mayoral Madness" in the Pittsburgh Magazine in May 2013, History of Pittsburgh and Environs, Volume II, Pittsburgh: The Story of a City, 1750-1865 by Leland DeWitt Baldwin and Ward Hunter

Orville E. Hodge: high flying lifestyle

Hodge is fingerprinted by Paul Terrill, chief investigator for the Sangamon County Sheriff's Department, following his arrest in July of 1956. Photo credit: chicagoist.com

Like Paul Powell's illicit shoebox fortune and Otto Kerner's tax evasion, the case of Orville E. Hodge is often cited as a major one in the seemingly perpetual financial scandals carried out by Illinois public officials.

Born in Anderson, Illinois, in October of 1904, Hodge moved with his family to Granite City when he was four years old. In his adulthood, he would inherit his father's company, the Hodge Agency, and specialize in realty, insurance, and construction. After serving in the Illinois house of representatives, he was elected as the state's auditor of public accounts. Known as a jovial figure who made friends easily, Hodge was considered a rising star of the Republican Party who had the governor's office in his future.

Starting the auditor role in 1953, Hodge initially met with success. He negotiated a budget for his office that brought an additional $2.5 million to the auditor's office over the previous biennium. In 1955, however, Hodge came before the Illinois legislature with hat in hand. He had spent enough of the budget that it would run out before the end of the term. The legislators approved a $525,000 emergency appropriation to bail him out, trusting that Hodge was a capable official.

The next year, an unraveled financial scheme proved just how wrong this assumption was. Investigative reporter George Thiem, writing for the Chicago Daily News, pursued a tip that Hodge was mismanaging his accounts. Thiem uncovered 15 instances where Hodge had written state warrants, or checks, totaling $108,000 to people or firms. None of those named on the checks ever received a dime. The revelation would earn Thiem a Pulitzer Prize and Hodge a stay in prison. State and federal authorities began investigating his accounts in July of 1956.

The investigation uncovered a chronic pattern of embezzlement that had started in May of 1955. In addition to writing false warrants and state contracts, Hodge had falsified expense reports and set up dummy employees to receive kickbacks from their salaries. Although investigators initially found irregularities amounting to $536,226, the figure began to steadily climb as more and more misconduct was brought to light. Governor William G. Stratton, who at first ordered Hodge to double his $50,000 bond, now urged the auditor to resign. Hodge did so, with Stratton inviting retired University of Illinois comptroller Lloyd Morey to take over the position for the six months remaining in Hodge's term.

Federal investigators soon ordered the arrests of Hodge as well as Edward A. Epping, his former office manager, and Edward A. Hintz, the resigned president of Chicago's Southmoor Bank and Trust. Epping was accused of taking six state checks to the bank, where Hintz cashed them. Hodge was charged with using the assets to purchase a number of luxury items including two private airplanes, four luxury cars, a resort hotel suite in Florida, a home on Lake Springfield, and other real estate and stocks. The total amount of stolen money was uncertain, and indeed varied among reports; most put the figure in the area of $1.5 million while others said it was considerable higher, citing the specific sum of $2,500,008. "Where do they get that $2.5 million?" Hodge himself would later ask in a prison interview. "I was sent here for $650,000 and they're getting that back." One calculation suggested that Hodge had embezzled more than $1 million by depositing phony state warrants in federally insured banks, misappropriated $500,000 by liquidating the funds of closed banks, and acquired another $1 million through illegal expense accounts, expenditures, and fraudulent contracts.

Hodge was charged with both state and federal crimes, since the activity had involved the misappropriation of bank loans insured by the United States. Hodge wrote a 176-page "clean breast" statement, admitting to the wrongdoing and saying he had misappropriated funds both to maintain a high standard of living and to further his aspirations to be governor. He admitted that Epping and Hintz had been involved in the scheme, but denied that they had benefited personally. Hodge also returned $528,000 to the state shortly after the wrongdoing was discovered and vowed to give up his assets to aid the restitution.

In August, just one month after the illegal activity came to light, Hodge pleaded guilty to federal charges of embezzlement, forgery, running a confidence game, and conspiracy to defraud the state. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with the stipulation that the term would be cut in half if he made good on a $816,427 restitution. Later in the same month, Hodge was sentenced on state charges that he had embezzled $637,000. The prosecutor, a fellow Republican named George Coutrakon, wanted to make an example out of Hodge by sentencing him to 42 to 45 years in prison. However, Hodge was ultimately ordered to serve 12 to 15 years in prison, concurrent to the federal sentence.

Soon after, Hintz was sentenced to three years in federal prison. In September of 1956, Epping was ordered to serve four to five years behind bars. A policeman, William Lydon, was found guilty of conspiring with Hodge to get false bids on remodeling contracts to the tune of $88,787; a jury convicted him of conspiracy in November of 1957 and fined him $2,000. The final conviction related to Hodge came in January of 1958, when Epping was further convicted on federal charges of forgery, running a confidence game, and embezzlement. He was sentenced the next month to another one to 10 years behind bars.

The court confirmed that Hodge had paid his restitution in 1957, meeting the requirement to reduce the federal sentence. Morey would use his brief time in office to develop a reform program, while his successor Elbert S. Smith continued this reorganization and efforts to get back the money Hodge had stolen. The state would ultimately recover more than $2 million. Hodge served six-and-a-half years of the remaining sentence before Governor Otto Kerner reduced his sentence to 10 years so he would be eligible for parole. He was released at the end of January in 1963.

Nearly broke, Hodge returned to his hometown of Granite City to start working in his sister's hardware store. He later began working as a used car salesman and real estate agent. Hodge died in December of 1986.

Sources: History of the State of Illinois Comptroller Office, "State Auditor to Be Ousted in Shortages" in The Dispatch on Jul. 12 1956, "Governor Tells Illinois Auditor to Get Off Ballot" in the Palm Beach Post on Jul. 12 1956, "Funds Loss Set At $800,000" in the Portsmouth Times on Jul. 19 1956, "Illinois Orders Arrest of Hodge, Two Others" in the Milwaukee Journal on Jul. 21 1956, "Hodge Pleads Innocent in Illinois Fund Scandal" in the Milwaukee Journal on Jul. 26 1956,  "Ex-Official to Give Up All Assets" in the Miami News on Aug. 9 1956, "Hodge Admits Guilt in State Fraud Case" in the St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 14 1956, "Hodge Guilty; Gets 20 Years" in the Milwaukee Journal on Aug. 15 1956, "Illinois Gets Million Plus From Hodge" in the Miami News on Aug. 17 1956, "Auditor Gets 12 Years For Tapping Ill. Till" in the Meriden Record on Aug. 21 1956, "Bankers is Sentenced to 3 Years" in the New York Times on Aug. 25 1956, "Hodge's Office Manager Gets 4 to 5 Years" in the Leiston Evening Journal on Sep. 8 1956, "Hodge's Sentence Cut" in the New York Times on Mar. 5 1957, "Orville Hodge Whimpers Year Enough Time in Jail" in the Lakeland Ledger on Aug. 16 1957, "Policeman in Hodge Case Fined" in the Daytona Beach Morning Herald on Nov. 25 1957, "Jury Convicts Auditor's Aide" in the Spokesman-Review on Jan. 13 1958, "Orville Hodge is Back Home" in the Palm Beach Post on Feb. 1 1963, "Orville Hodge, Auditor Who Robbed State" in the Chicago Tribune on Jan. 1 1987, "Orville Hodge Married Again" in the Milwaukee Journal on Sep. 9 1965, "Lots of Other Illinois Pols Have Found Trouble" in the Carmi Times on Jun. 27 2011, The Gentleman From Illinois: Stories From Forty Years of Elective Public Service by Alan J. Dixon, The Man Who Emptied Death Row: Governor George Ryan and the Politics of Crime by James L. Merriner

Thomas Heflin: even bad men love their mommas

Photo credit: bioguide.congress.gov

"Cotton Tom" Heflin had a curious pair of choices in what he considered to be his accomplishments while a member of Congress. He was especially proud of his role in the establishment of Mother's Day. He also looked back fondly on the time he shot a black man during a confrontation on a Washington, D.C. streetcar.

James Thomas Heflin was born in Louina, Alabama, in April of 1869. After attending Southern University in Greensboro and Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College, later named for its host city of Auburn, Heflin began studying law. He was admitted to the bar in 1893 and began practicing in Lafayette. His first entry into politics came in 1893, when he served for a year as the community's mayor.

Heflin continued a steady progression from local politics into state level positions. He served as register in chancery from 1894 to 1896, when he resigned to become a member of the state house of representatives; he held a seat there until 1900. One of his first overtly white supremacist acts came in 1901 when he was a member of the state constitutional convention. Heflin helped draft legislation in the document aimed at barring African-Americans from voting.

In 1902, Heflin began serving as Alabama's secretary of state. He resigned in 1904, halfway through his term, to run in a special election called to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Representative Charles W. Thompson. Heflin won both this election and the year's general election and served in the House of Representatives for the next seven Congresses. He earned his nickname through a persistent advocacy for more favorable cotton prices, while also recommending an expansion of rural mail routes and railroad regulation.

The shooting incident had its roots in Heflin's proposal in February of 1908 to bring Jim Crow laws to D.C. streetcars, arguing that segregation of public transportation had proved successful in Alabama. The proposal was voted down by the House, and earned Heflin plenty of criticism. One person, writing a letter to him, suggested that Heflin's morals should encourage him to stand to give up his seat to a black woman on the streetcar. Many other writers threatened him with death. In response, Heflin applied for permission to carry a pistol in public.

A month later, Heflin was riding on a streetcar with Rep. Edwin J. Ellerbe of South Carolina on his way to deliver a temperance lecture. The exact circumstances of the incident are unclear, as contemporary reports give several versions of what happened. They all agree, however, that Heflin was offended by a black passenger who was cursing and drinking from a bottle of whiskey while a woman sat nearby. When Heflin asked the passenger, Louis Lundy, to stop, Lundy shouted insults back at him. A scuffle erupted on the streetcar as it pulled up to a station in front of the St. James Hotel, and Heflin threw Lundy onto the platform.

The reports on what happened next varied widely. One version suggested that Heflin had struck Lundy in the head with his pistol, accounting for the wound there, and then fired warning shots at his feet. Another said Heflin shot Lundy in the neck or a grazing wound above the ear. In any case, Heflin thought Lundy was reaching for a razor and opened fire at the streetcar platform as several bystanders milled about. One round ricocheted and hit Thomas McCreary, a horse trainer, in the leg. It was described as a minor wound, but the New York Times later claimed that complications stemming from the injury put McCreary in the hospital for six weeks and nearly took his life.

Arrested on a charge of assault to kill, Heflin was kept in a police captain's office rather than a cell before making a $5,000 bail. Upon his return to Congress, he was thronged by like-minded representatives who congratulated him; several telegrams also poured in, praising him for his action. Yet some Southern newspapers criticized him for turning what they saw as a relatively minor annoyance into a violent episode, saying it was a foolish kneejerk reaction based on little more than racist sentiment. Heflin defended his action. "Under the circumstances there was nothing more for me to do," he said. "I am glad to say I have not yet reached the point where I will see a Negro, or a white man either, take a drink in the presence of a lady without saying something to him. I did only what any other gentleman placed in similar circumstances would have done."

Heflin even threatened to press a case against Lundy for carrying a weapon on a streetcar. Indeed, Lundy was a repeat offender with 12 arrests on record between 1905 and 1907, with charges ranging from disorderly conduct to grand larceny. Yet Heflin's threat was somewhat hypocritical. Despite his claim that he had been cleared to carry a pistol, the D.C. police wouldn't confirm the permission to the New York Times and the newspaper's search of police records found no such authorization.

Prosecutors ultimately decided to indict Heflin on three counts of assault. However, the indictment was quashed when Lundy failed to show up in the court appearance. Soon after, Lundy sued Heflin and demanded $20,000 in damages. While this suit apparently never amounted to anything, Heflin did agree to pay for McCreary's medical expenses.

Heflin was not quite done with public scuffles. In August of 1909, he and another congressman were nearly hit by a speeding car. Heflin chased down the vehicle and took the plate number. When the driver asked what he was doing, the two exchanged insults and then blows. Unlike the shooting, no charges were filed in this fight.

Heflin was especially proud of his role in establishing the legislation which would lead to the declaration of the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. The idea had been championed by Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, and in 1914 Heflin introduced the House resolution on the holiday; it would later be approved by President Woodrow Wilson. Yet Heflin was also a noted opponent of women's suffrage, with women's groups in Alabama vowing to fight his re-election after he said he thought a woman's place was in the home.

Aside from his role in Mother's Day, Heflin's congressional career was marked largely by bombast. His loud speeches and dress, which typically including a frock coat and 10-gallon hat, made him a favorite to spectators in the Capitol. In September of 1914, he claimed that the votes and proposals of 13 to 14 members of the House indicated that they were being influenced by a German slush fund. In October of 1917, an investigating committee determined that the accusation was false.

It was far from the last unfounded accusation Heflin would make. He constantly blustered about conspiracies or made spirited accusations, denouncing everything from another candidate's supposedly soft stance on Communism to the presidential handshake policy. He later developed a central theme of supporting Prohibition and opposing Catholicism. Critics said Heflin's remarks were making an embarrassment of Alabama and Congress; the New York Times noted in 1927 that his anti-Catholic remarks had "become almost a habit" and that a fellow member had denounced his remarks as those of an "ill-mannered fellow."

Yet the electorate continued to like Heflin enough to return him to office again and again. In November of 1920, he was elected to the Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of John H. Bankhead. He was re-elected in the regular election of 1924.

Heflin's fall from grace came in 1928. The Democrats chose Governor Al Smith of New York, a Catholic, as their presidential candidate. Accusing Smith and Catholics in general as conspiring to overthrow the United States, Heflin broke ranks and publicly supported Republican presidential candidate Herbert Hoover. "Alabama isn't going for Al Smith. Neither is any other southern state, except possibly Louisiana," Heflin declared in January of the election year. "He is a Tammanyite, wringing wet and a Roman Catholic. I would vote against him for all three reasons."

The remarks against Smith earned Heflin plenty of denunciation. The state's newspapers and Democratic leaders accused him of being little more than a mouthpiece for the Ku Klux Klan. When he made a speech against Smith at an Alabama high school the day before the election, protesters threw eggs at him. In one appearance before a Massachusetts KKK group in 1929, Heflin was pelted with stones and a quart bottle.

The "Yellow Dog Democrats" organized a campaign against Heflin. Although there are other stories related to the origin of the name, it generally referred to Southerners who would support the Democratic Party in any case. The phrase "I'd vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket" surfaced in response to Heflin's support of Hoover.

Alabama Democrats had their revenge shortly after Smith's unsuccessful run for the White House. Party leaders made an amendment to the qualifications for 1930 candidates, requiring them to swear an oath that they had not openly opposed any Democratic candidates in 1928. Heflin organized the Jeffersonian Democratic Party in an attempt to retain his seat, but his biases continued to undermine him. Prior to the election, he made a number of baseless accusations in a prolonged rant. They included charges that a slush fund overseen by Tammany Hall and the Catholics had been at work in forcing him out, that Catholics dominated the press, that some of the members changing the party rules had been drunk while doing so, that prior presidents had vetoed immigration bills so more Catholics could flood into the country, and that national Democratic Party chairman John J. Raskob was in bed with the Catholics. "He is the chamberlain to the Pope," Heflin proclaimed. "No doubt he is now in the royal chamber discussing plans."

Voters dealt Heflin a resounding defeat at the polls, where he fell by 50,000 votes to Democratic candidate John Bankhead II. Nevertheless, Heflin kept up his charges of fraud and corruption and challenged the result. The Alabama house of representatives, by now weary of Heflin's antics, passed a resolution in January of 1931 criticizing him for "very poor sportsmanship" and skewering his record in general, saying it "made Alabama the laughing stock of the Union by his bigotry, lack of religious tolerance, and the lack of many of the courtesies generally expected between one gentleman and another."

But the Senate still took up the challenge, and in March of 1932 the Senate Election Committee voted along party lines to vacate Bankhead's seat and open it up to appointment. The committee felt there had been a widespread violation of election laws, including an illegal primary. In April, Heflin appeared before the Senate to ask for Bankhead's ouster and said there had been expenditures of over $1 million in the 1930 election. The same month, however, the full Senate voted 64-18 to reject Heflin's appeal.

By this time, Heflin had also earned rebuke for a letter he had submitted to the Congressional Record criticizing New York's legalization of interracial marriage. Critics said the letter would harm Alabama businesses at a particularly inopportune time, since the Great Depression had been burdening the country for several years. Grover Cleveland Hall, writing an editorial for the Montgomery Advertiser, blasted Heflin as "a bully by nature, a mountebank by instinct, a Senator by choice...Thus this preposterous blob excites our pity if not our respect, and we leave him to his conscience in order that he may be entirely alone and meditate over the life of a charlatan whose personal interest and personal vanity are always of paramount concern to him."

The unsuccessful challenge to the 1930 election results ultimately led Heflin to seek reconciliation with the Democrats. In October of 1932, he offered to campaign on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Three years later, he was appointed a special representative of the Federal Housing Administration. He left in 1936 to serve a year as a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in Alabama, a position he held in 1937. Heflin again became a special representative of the Federal Housing Administration between 1939 and 1942.

Following his retirement, Heflin died in Lafayette in April of 1951.

Sources: The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Encyclopedia of Alabama, "'Jim Crow' Cars Denied by Congress" in the New York Times on Feb. 23 1908, "Congressman Shot Negro in Street Car" in the New York Times on Mar. 28 1908, "2 Negros Shot By Congressman" in the Newburgh Daily Journal on Mar. 28 1908, "Praise Congressman Who Shot a Negro" in the New York Times on Mar. 29 1908, "Heflin Sued by Negro" in the New York Times on Apr. 5 1908, "Topics of the Times" in the New York Times on Apr. 5 1908, "Heflin, M.C., Fights a Reckless Motorist" in the New York Times on Aug. 5 1909, "Heflin Pays for Shooting" in the New York Times on Apr. 30 1908, "Women to Oppose Heflin" in the New York Times on Feb. 13 1913, "Charges Fail" in the Gettysburg Times on Oct. 6 1917, "Rebuke Senator For Abusing Other Solon" in the Evening News on Feb. 3 1923, "Heflin is Silenced in Church Attack" in the New York Times on Feb. 19 1927, "Heflin Renews His Attack on Church and Gov. Smith" in the Evening Independent on Jan. 24 1928, "Heflin Centre of Egg Shower in Alabama" in the Providence News on Nov. 7 1928, "Heflin is 'Missed'" in the Pittsburgh Press on Mar. 19 1929, "Heflin Assails Press, Church" in the Pittsburgh Press on Apr. 22 1930, "Legislature Flays Heflin" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan. 30 1931, "Heflin Wins Ouster Point" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar. 5 1932, "Heflin Tells Senate 'Leads' Indicate More Than a Million Spent" in the Evening Independent on Apr. 27 1932, "Senate Refuses To Oust Bankhead, 64 to 18" in the New York Times on Apr. 29 1932, "Heflin Proffers Service to Party" in the Lewiston Morning Tribune on Oct. 16 1932, "J. Thomas Heflin, Former Senator From Alabama, Dies" in the News and Courier on Apr. 23 1951, "The Bum Who Fathered Mother's Day" in the New York Times on May 8 1994, Fighting the Devil in Dixie: How Civil Rights Activists Took On the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama by Wayne Greenhaw, Encyclopedia of the United States Congress by Robert E. Dewhirst and John David Rausch

William J. Janklow: need for speed

Image from npr.org

In 1979, as a way of showing solidarity with citizens coping with gas shortages, South Dakota Governor William John Janklow began riding a motorcycle. It soon got him in trouble, as police cited him for driving without a motorcycle license and speeding. It was one of the earlier cases of Janklow getting in trouble for speeding, but it would not be the last. At one point, he even put red lights on his car so he could go faster. He complained that lower speed limits were impractical in the larger states in the country. It all made for a bountiful record against him in the incident that would end his political career.

Born in Chicago in September of 1939, Janklow dropped out of high school due to a juvenile delinquency charge when he accepted a judge's offer to join the Marine Corps instead; he served there from 1956 to 1959. Despite the lack of a high school degree, he managed to talk his way into the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, earning a bachelor of science degree in 1964. Two years later, he received a law degree from the same institution.

Janklow became the chief legal officer of the South Dakota Legal Services division, a program offering free legal services to American Indians under a program of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, and practiced on the Rosebud Reservation from 1966 to 1973. He briefly started a private practice before he was elected as the state's attorney general, holding the post from 1974 to 1979.

He was in this office during a turbulent period of American Indian activism. In May of 1975, he directed the highway patrol and Bureau of Indian Affairs police to launch tear gas into the Yankton Sioux Industries Pork Plant to end a 16-hour standoff with seven armed activists. Janklow expressed annoyance at the lack of federal response in such incidents, commenting, "It's always the state that has to do the federal government's work." Just days later, American Indian Movement co-founder Russell Means and fellow AIM member John Thomas were shot, albeit not fatally. Janklow was also attorney general when FBI agents Jack L. Coler and Ronald A. Williams were gunned down on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in June of 1975, the incident that would lead to the controversial conviction of Leonard Peltier. "It looked like an execution," Janklow said. "They were riddled with bullets."

AIM leaders frequently clashed with Janklow during this period in his life. During his first campaign for attorney general, Janklow explained an accusation that he had left high school after being accused of raping a 17-year-old by saying the juvenile delinquency charge had been dismissed and that it was not a case of rape. A more serious charge came from AIM leader Dennis Banks, who brought up an accusation against Janklow by Jacinta Eagle Deer. She said that in 1967, when she was 15 and Janklow was still practicing on the Rosebud Reservation, that Janklow raped her at gunpoint after she accepted his offer of a ride home. Janklow was never criminally charged, but Banks started a petition to disbar him in the tribal courts and was successful in doing so in 1974.

Banks in particular became an enemy to Janklow as he took refuge from 1973 riot and firearms charges in California. In April of 1976, Banks' attorney said Janklow despised Banks and wanted to see him dead. "The man's life has been threatened by the highest judicial officer of South Dakota, William Janklow," the attorney said. "Mr. Janklow, the attorney general of South Dakota, has made the statement that the only way to deal with the AIM leaders is to shoot them in the head." Other sources quote Janklow as saying that the only way to resolve Indian issues in South Dakota would be to "put a gun to the AIM leaders' heads and pull the trigger." California agreed with Banks' contention that his life would be in danger if returned to South Dakota. During Janklow's first successful gubernatorial campaign in 1978, Banks accused Janklow of making the feud a campaign issue and said Janklow's "whole career is based on the conviction of Dennis Banks."

California's decision about Banks rankled Janklow so much that he still held a grudge against the state late in his first term as governor. In 1982, he told a reporter that he had started giving the "California option" to criminals, letting them choose between serving a prison term in South Dakota or promising to live out the rest of their life in California. "You people decided you liked our felons. It's like the Statue of Liberty," Janklow sniped. "We  kind of feel there is a beacon in California saying, 'Give us your felons, your pickpockets, your crooked masses yearning to be free.'"

Janklow served his first two terms as governor of South Dakota from 1979 to 1987. He said he endeavored to be a servant of the people. He was a sometimes brusque speaker and frequently made controversial remarks, to the point where some considered him more of a bully than a straight talker; it earned him the nickname "Wild Bill." Yet he also frequently partnered with people from across party lines to accomplish projects for the state or advocate for what he thought was right. He praised Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1979 for cutting oil imports from Iran, declaring, "It's about time. I couldn't support you more. For the first time in a year, I'm proud to be an American again." Six years later, in response to Republican President Ronald Reagan's proposal to cut federal aid to farms, Janklow led 103 state legislators to Washington, D.C., to advocate for South Dakota's farmers; he commented that "the farmers' greatest enemy is the Congress of the United States because they don't have the guts and the courage and they won't make the hard decisions to straighten out America's fiscal mess."  

One of Janklow's most notable accomplishments in his first term as governor was a successful effort to lure Citibank to the state. Realizing that usury rates in New York were making it difficult for them to keep credit card interest rates ahead of inflation, he convinced the legislature to repeal similar laws in South Dakota. The legislature also consented to Janklow's idea of having the state purchase a crucial railroad line to undermine a threat that the private company holding the property would abandon it. He also negotiated a deal to sell Missouri River water to a pipeline and coal slurry system, a deal which would be scrapped three years later.

South Dakota law prohibited a governor from seeking a third consecutive term, so Janklow instead made a bid for the Senate in 1986. Janklow said he did not believe the incumbent, James Abdnor, would be able to defeat Democratic candidate Tom Daschle in the general election. The prediction would prove correct, but Janklow was unable to win the Republican nomination. Returning again to private practice, he reappeared on the political scene in 1994. This time, he had to seek the party's nomination against incumbent Governor Walter D. Miller, who had served as lieutenant governor until the death of Governor George Mickelson in a plane crash the year before. Janklow was able to win both the primary and the general election, and another win in 1998 made him the first South Dakota governor to be elected four times.

Janklow advocated the legislative approval of a 30 percent reduction in property taxes for agricultural land and owner-occupied homes. The state ultimately compromised with a 20 percent reduction, making up revenue by axing 755 state jobs, increasing the state share of video lottery proceeds, and restructuring areas such  as state aid to students. Other work included an expanded immunization program for children, an expansion of adoptions for traditionally long-term foster children, and improvements in education technology including having schools wired for multiple technologies such as statewide Intranet and video conferencing equipment.

Janklow also implemented a number of policies on the state's prison system. He advocated turning the University of South Dakota at Springfield into a prison and had prisoners put to work on public projects such as the construction of affordable housing for the elderly, fighting forest fires, and flood response. He won the state the authority to place juvenile offenders, with a corresponding development of juveniles facilities and programs. This program later came under scrutiny when a 14-year-old girl died during a forced run in 1999. Two years later, with the number of juvenile inmates declining, Janklow closed down the system and put the remaining 57 juveniles into private and out-of-state programs.

In 2002, with term limits again preventing him from running for a fifth term as governor, Janklow ran for the House of Representatives. He was successful in this race and would work with Daschle on a number of goals, but this career would be cut short after scarcely a year in office.

In August of 2003, Janklow was driving his 1995 Cadillac through the South Dakota community of Trent when he ran a stop sign and collided with a motorcyclist, 55-year-old Randolph E. Scott of Minnesota. The accident killed Scott and left Janklow with head and hand injuries. The intersection was surrounded by fields of corn, which made it impossible for drivers to see other motorists coming up on the site, and neither man had been drinking. However, the police investigation determined that Janklow was not only in the wrong but criminally liable in the accident. Scott had the right of way and was traveling at the legal speed; Janklow was going 70 to 75 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone.

He was charged with second-degree manslaughter, a felony and the most serious possible charge in the state in a fatal accident where alcohol was not involved, and misdemeanor charges of speeding, reckless driving, and running a stop sign. Republican leaders urged Janklow to resign, but he continued to serve in Congress while awaiting trial.

The trial began in November, with the prosecution critiquing Janklow's spotty driving record. In the decade prior to Scott's death, Janklow had incurred about a dozen speeding tickets and was involved in eight accidents. Janklow had even referenced his driving record in advocating harsher prison sentences for drug dealers during his time as governor; he admitted then that he liked to speed on the road, but would be less likely to do so if he was risking a long prison sentence. He had nearly had an accident at the same intersection eight months before. Witnesses testified that a car nearly crashed into the side of their truck, and that the vehicle was later traced to Janklow.

The defense essentially conceded the misdemeanor charges in trying to get the felony dismissed. Janklow took the stand in his own defense, but said he could not remember several things related to the accident and admitted that he had a habit of speeding on country roads and had probably gone through stop signs by accident before. Janklow's attorney said Janklow was having a diabetic reaction at the time of the accident, since he had taken his insulin shot but had not eaten anything during a day of meetings and driving long meetings. Daschle was among the witnesses called by the defense to confirm that he hadn't seen Janklow eat anything during the day of the accident. The prosecution ridiculed this as a "goofy hypoglycemia defense," saying Janklow told emergency responders that his blood sugar was fine; diabetes groups also criticized Janklow for the excuse.

The jury found Janklow guilty of all charges; he announced an hour later that he would resign his seat. He was sentenced to 100 days in prison. In a special election held early in 2004, Democratic candidate Stephanie Herseth won Janklow's seat; she would serve the remainder of his term and go on to win another three terms.

Janklow soon sought to appeal his conviction, but the first effort was unsuccessful in part because the state supreme court in its entirety had to recuse itself. Janklow had appointed all five judges during his long career, four to the supreme court and one to the circuit court. However, in 2005 he challenged the revocation of his law license as part of the conviction and was successful in getting it restored in 2006. He again argued that speed was necessary in the large state, saying he had to go fast as governor to get to disaster scenes. “I was a hero for getting there in a hurry," he said. "When I got blown off the road in a tornado going to Spencer, people complimented me.” Janklow would resume his old driving habits after his driving privileges were restored in 2007, picking up four citations for speeding.

A few years later, Janklow announced that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He died of this malady in January of 2012.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, National Governor's Association, "Sioux Charges Neighborhood Discrimination" in the Sarasota Journal on May 12 1971, "Federal Handing of Takeovers Hit" in The Journal on May 3 1975, "Leader of Indian Movement is Shot" in the Toledo Blade on May 5 1975, "Shooting of Two FBI Agents is Called an 'Execution'" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Jun. 27 1975, "Indian Leader Pleads Innocent to 5 Federal Firearms Charges" in the Eugene Register-Guard on Apr. 14 1976, "Dakotan Still Seeks Fugitive" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Apr. 20 1978, "People in the News" in the Eugene Register-Guard on May 25 1979, "Carter Hailed: "I'm Proud to Be an American" in the Telegraph-Herald on Nov. 13 1979, "South Dakota Adopts New Policy on Justice for Criminals" in the Rome News-Tribune on Jun. 3 1982, "55 Speed-Limit Seems Here to Stay" in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Jul. 11 1982, "Farm-State Lawmakers Brace For New Battle" in the Spokane Chronicle on Feb. 25 1985, "Farmers' Plight Goes Unheeded, Senator Says" in the Beaver County Times on Feb. 27 1985, "Senator Survives Shootout in S.D., and Moderate Will Oppose Cranston" in the Deseret News on Jun. 4 1986, "South Dakota Reaps Federal Loot" in the Post and Courier on May 13 1999, "Congressman in Fatal Accident Ran Stop Sign, Prosecutor Says" in the New York Times on Aug. 20 2003, "Janklow Sped Past Stop Sign Before Accident, Report Says" in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Aug. 21 2003, "Rep Faces Stiff Charges in Fatal Crash with Cyclist" in The Vindicator on Aug. 30 2003, "A Timeline of Bill Janklow's Career" in Minnesota Public Radio on Sep. 5 2003, "Attorney Concedes Janklow Sped" in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 1 2003, "One Top Political Figure Testifies for Another in South Dakota" in the New York Times on Dec. 5 2003, "Janklow Recalls Not Eating" in the Topeka Capital-Journal on Dec. 7 2003, "Legislator Convicted in Crash" in the Boston Globe on Dec. 9 2003, "S. Dakota Fills Vacant House Seat" in the Boston Globe on Jun. 2 2004, "Scene of the Crime" in American Motorcycle for March 2006, "Bill Janklow, A Four-Term Governor, Dies At 72" in the New York Times on Jan. 12 2012, "Former S.D. Gov., U.S. Rep. William Janklow Dies" on NPR on Jan. 12 2012, The Judicial Branch of State Government: People, Process, and Politics by Sean O. Hogan, Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement by Dennis Banks and Richard Erdoes, Black Hills White Justice: The Sioux Nation Versus the United States 1775 to Present by Edward Lazarus

Jonathan M. Davis: pardon me boys

Image from kshs.org

With just weeks left in his term, Governor Jonathan McMillan Davis of Kansas went after an unexpected target. In December of 1922, he led the University of Kansas Board of Administration in firing the school's chancellor, Ernest H. Lindley. The decision was done without a hearing on the basis of several reputed charges, including aloofness from the student body, failing to abide by the board's orders, and partisan politics. The last one in particular brought cries of hypocrisy, given that Davis discharged his Republican appointee to the board, William P. Lambertson, and replaced him with a Democrat soon after Lambertson opposed Lindley's removal.

The uproar would blow over almost immediately after Davis left office. Lindley, who had been chancellor at the university since 1920, was reappointed by Davis' Republican successor, Ben S. Paulen, a few days into his term. Lindley would go on to hold the position until his retirement in 1938. But during the tumult, the Lawrence Journal-World criticized the rationale for the firing as trivial and suggested that Davis was engaging in "petty politics" and either taking out his anger over his failed re-election on Lindley or trying to stir up trouble for Paulen. Davis probably thought he was doing the right thing, the newspaper opined, but also suggested that the outgoing governor had an arrogant streak and was especially humiliated at the loss considering his presidential aspirations earlier in the year. The editors felt that his lame duck actions had "caused more grief and humiliation to the state of Kansas than any governor in half a century."

Despite these harsh words, the paper said they did not consider him to be dishonest or corrupt. They may well have held off their opinion on this topic if they had been aware of the scandal that would erupt scarcely a week after the editorial ran.

Born in Bronson, Kansas in April of 1871, Davis began attending the University of Kansas in 1888 and stayed there until 1891 before transferring to the University of Nebraska. He never graduated, for the death of his father brought him back to his hometown to help manage the family farm. Davis would remain heavily invested in the farm, although he also spent seven years managing a bank.

Davis first entered politics in 1900 when he was elected to the state house of representatives. After a prolonged absence, he returned there after winning the 1908 and 1910 elections and became a member of the state senate in 1912. He succeeded in winning the Democratic nomination for governor in 1920, but lost the general election to Republican candidate Henry J. Allen. Two years later, Davis returned to win the election and successfully contested Allen for the title.

Described as a "dirt farmer governor," Davis was especially concerned about lowering taxes and helping the state's agricultural workers. In July of 1923, he advised wheat farmers to implement a "selling strike" by storing up supplies to drive up prices. Davis contended that the prices were too low and that he would work with other governors in the Midwest to spread the idea, since buyers would simply go to other markets if only Kansas put the strike into effect. "The only way the farmer can fight for a fair price is to store his wheat and refuse to sell it until he gets a price that is just," he said. During his term, Davis also oversaw the distribution of $25 million in bonuses to ex-servicemen of World War I, limited banking procedures, put utilities under public control, authorized an improved road bill, and endorsed prohibition and women's suffrage.

The populist appeal of Davis was such that there were rumors that he would seek the presidency or a Senate seat. Sure enough, in April of 1924 the Democratic state convention passed a resolution vowing to support his nomination for President at the upcoming national convention. The resolution only asked the delegates to commit themselves to Davis for as long as it was expedient, but in a crowded field his nomination on the national stage was not out of the question. He traveled to the event pledging "to get something done for the farmer" while in office, with a platform including an adjustment of freight rates as well as the credit basis for farmers, reducing tariffs, making credit available to farmers in the same way it was available to businesses, and stabilizing markets.

The deadlock between former Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo and New York Governor Al Smith led the convention to choose a John Davis as a compromise candidate, but it was not the Kansas governor. John W. Davis, ambassador to the United Kingdom and a former West Virginia congressman, would go on to unsuccessfully contest Calvin Coolidge for the presidency. In his re-election bid, meanwhile, Davis turned on the organization that had supported him in 1922 and drafted a plank declaring the Democratic Party "unalterably opposed" to the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan shifted its support to the Republican side, aiding candidate Ben Sanford Paulen to victory in November.

The firing of Lindley and replacement of Lambertson were not the only lame duck actions that earned Davis criticism during his final months in office. He also came under fire for a questionable series of pardons and paroles. In one case, he pardoned Dr. W.A. Nixon after Nixon had served only a few years behind bars after conviction of the sensational murder of an attorney. In another, he pardoned F.D. Bushnell, who had been charged with swindling a black farmer.

The Kansas City Journal eventually got word that Davis was making offers in exchange for cash. They set up a sting operation with the cooperation of Fred Pollman, a former banker who had gone to prison on forgery charges and was on parole at the time. With just three days left in Davis' term, the newspaper set up a hidden listening device in Pollman's room at the Topeka Hotel and gave Pollman marked bills. Government officials and reporters from the Journal listened in from another room as Davis' son, Russell, met with Pollman. Russell left the room after Pollman gave him $1,000, then returned with a pardon from the governor. Pollman then gave Russell another $250. As he was leaving, reporters confronted Russell about the exchange. Caught off-guard, Russell nevertheless said that his father was not involved in the deal. Davis admitted that Russell had been "inveigled into accepting the money" and characterized the incident as a "frame up by my political enemies to 'get me.'" Davis also said he had already decided to grant the pardon when Russell was caught by the newspaper.

The Journal also reported that Glenn A. Davis, imprisoned on a murder charge, claimed to have acted as the governor's agent in the Pollman transaction. He said Governor Davis also offered him a pardon in exchange for cash, and rejected his request for parole when he refused. Davis had been uncertain whether he would attend Paulen's inauguration on January 12, 1925, but in the end he wouldn't have a choice. With just hours left in his term, Davis and Russell were arrested on bribery charges. While Paulen took the oath of office, they made their first appearance in court. The scandal soon grew to include Carl J. Peterson, the state bank commissioner and a friend and political adviser to Davis. Investigators charged that Peterson asked convicted banker Walter Grundy for $4,000 in exchange for a pardon and settled for $2,500 after consulting with Davis. Peterson soon resigned, two and a half months before his term was to end.

Davis returned to work on the farm until May of 1925, when he faced his first bribery trial in the Grundy case. Davis testified in his own defense, and in the end the jury voted to acquit him. Peterson went to trial on the same issue in February of 1926 and was also acquitted. They were good signs for Davis' second trial, which ran in March and April of that year. Davis reiterated that he knew nothing of his son's deal with Pollman, saying the ex-banker requested one so he could go into the coal mining business and that he acquiesced. Character witnesses also testified on his behalf. Davis was once again acquitted, a verdict which also cleared Russell of charges.

The three verdicts rejuvenated Davis, who promptly sued the Journal and others involved in the sting in an unsuccessful claim for $5 million in damages. He considered that his administration had been vindicated and that there was still a political future for him. "I am strong enough to fight and when the farmers want me to run again for governor to carry out to carry out a tax reduction program, the call will be loud enough for me to enter the ring," he said. "But until then I shall stay on the farm." Despite this claim, Davis also told Paulen, "Looks like I'll have to run. And if the Democrats choose me again, and the Republicans renominate you, I hope our friendship will not be impaired."

Both men did get re-nominated by their respective parties, though Davis' won by a narrow margin. Out of about 62,000 ballots cast in the primary, he was selected by a margin of only about 1,600 votes. During the general election campaign, he again advocated tax reduction and a compulsory banking law while also speaking against the power of large corporations. With the scandal fresh in the state's memory, however, Paulen was easily able to keep his post.

Davis would return to his farm for the remainder of his life, but he would take a crack at elected office at nearly every opportunity. In 1928, he was unopposed for the Democratic nomination for state representative. He withdrew from the race later on, saying he could not campaign and manage the farm at the same time and that it would only be more difficult if he won the election. Two years later, the party chose Nellie Cline to run for Senate; when she failed to file her intent to run, Davis made a surprise bid by filing just before the deadline. Once again, the Republican incumbent cleaned up at the polls as Senator Arthur Capper won a fourth term.

In the next years, Davis was able to regain a bit of influence as some legislators and newspapers supported his call for a special legislative session aimed at lowering expenditures and taxes. However, Davis was not able to wrest the Democratic nomination for state senator from incumbent Harry Warren and instead ran an unsuccessful independent campaign. In 1934, for the first time in over a decade, Davis' name didn't appear on the election year ballot.

He returned in 1936 to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. He challenged attorney Walter Huxman for the spot, supporting the Townsend Plan for pensioning to open up more employment opportunities for younger residents. As always, Davis also returned to his favorite planks of tax relief and farm support. Huxman won the nomination and went on to win the general election.

In 1938, Davis launched an independent campaign for governor. The Democrats opposed the bid, fearing that it would siphon off votes from Huxman. At the final tally, however, Davis mustered just 15,605 votes out of 755,202 cast. Huxman still lost his office, with Republican challenger Payne Ratner decisively winning the gubernatorial election. Two years later, Davis again unsuccessfully challenged Warren for the state senate nomination.

By 1942, it seemed that Davis was seeking office out of habit as much as anything else. He briefly considered running for the House of Representatives but instead filed for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. In the four-way race, Davis narrowly won the nomination to appear in the general election for the first time in 16 years. Voters still favored the GOP, however, with Jess C. Denious winning lieutenant governor and Andrew F. Schoeppel becoming governor.

It was the last race Davis attempted. He died seven months later, in June of 1943.

Sources: National Governors Association, Kansas State Library, "The Next Governor a K.U. Man" in the October 22 University of Kansas Graduate Magazine,"Kansas Governor Asks Grain Strike" in the Milwaukee Sentinel on Jul. 15 1923, "Republicans Fear Losses in Senate Through Revolt" in the Montreal Gazettee on Jul. 31 1923, "Gov. Davis is Willing" in the New York Times on Aug. 2 1923, "Convention Backs Davis Aspirations" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Apr. 2 1924, "Davis, Kansas, to Work for Farmer at Convention" in the Reading Eagle on Jun. 21 1924, "Paulen Will Make a Klan Statement" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Aug. 27 1924, "Is It Policy or Is It Just Davis?" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Jan. 2 1925, "Davis Act Legal; Dr. Lindley is Out" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Jan. 10 1925, "Governor Davis' Son Takes Pardon Coin" in the Palm Beach Post on Jan. 11 1925, "Says Governor Desired Money to Give Pardon" in the Palm Beach Post on Jan. 11 1925, "Governor Davis is Arrested on Bribery Charge" in the Providence News on Jan. 12 1925, "Second Charge Brought Against Ex.-Governor Davis" in the Evening Independent on Jan. 13 1925, "Chancellor Talks to Student Body" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Jan. 14 1925, "Kansas Bank Chief Quits in Defiance" in the New York Times on Jan. 16 1925, "Trial of Davis Nears Its Close" in the Spokesman-Review on May 20 1925, "Former Governor Takes the Stand" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Mar. 31 1926, "Jury Acquits Gov. J.M. Davis" in the Gettysburg Times on Apr. 6 1926, "Davis Found Not Guilty By Kansas Jury" in the Southeast Missourian on Apr. 25 1926, "Former Governor Loses Libel Suit" in the Berkeley Daily Gazette on Nov. 4 1926, "Farm Issue Faces Votes in Wheat Belt Primaries" in the Evening Independent on Aug. 5 1930, "3 States Vote at Primaries" in the Pittsburgh Press on Aug. 4 1936, "Victory Claims by Both Parties" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Nov. 8 1938, "The Press and Lindley" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Dec. 7 1938, "The Post-Gubernatorial Career of Jonathan M. Davis" by John R. Finger, Encyclopedia of Kansas by Nancy Capace, Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Kansas, American Legislative Leaders in the Midwest 1911-1994 by Nancy and James Sharp