Tom Pendergast, once a cashier in the saloon of brother Jim Pendergast's Main Street saloon, assumed control of Alderman Jim's political empire. He was street superintendent, county marshal and eventually a member of the city council. In the 1930s, his machine was rolling. Politics in Kansas City in the 1930s blended into self-survival, loyalty to a benefactor and obliga tion. Tom Pendergast, assured he will control jobs and h is concrete business would prosper, rolls out the vote.
Hoodlums shoot four persons to death in or near polls at the county election.
Justin Bowersock is chased by them back to Star building. World War II sees women enter the newsroom, not only in the society or women's sections but in straight news beats. It also brings paper rationing. The Kansas City Journal, the lone remaining daily competitor of The Star, folds. Worried by paper shortages that began during the war and continued afterward, the Star's board of directors buys a Wisconsin paper mill.