Crime Without Punishment

John L. McClellan

Jul 2019 · Muriwai Books

About this ebook

The Rackets Committee of the United States Senate, of which Senator John L. McClellan was chairman, was engaged for more than five years in a bitter battle against criminals at all levels of our society, whether in labor unions or in great corporations, whether sleek, polished leaders of national crime syndicates or furtive, fly-by-night tinhorns who help their bosses extort upwards of fifty billion dollars annually from united States citizens. In this report of the committee's activities, Senator McClellan tells how some of the greatest labor unions in the nation were corrupted by conscienceless men, how racketeers prey upon honest businessmen, how criminal influences have become so widespread that they threaten the very future of our nation.
In Crime Without Punishment, Senator McClellan takes his readers behind the scenes of the nationally televised hearings and shows how they were developed by a dedicated staff of top-notch investigators, formerly headed by the committee's chief counsel, Robert F. Kennedy, who became Attorney General of the United States. The reader sees the full picture of James Hoffa and Dave Beck, of the mammoth Teamsters Union, of the invasion of racketeers into many other unions, of the operations of the nation's top-level gangsters in the fields of labor and management.
This report of the committee's activities and findings does more, however, than tell a fascinating story: it sounds a warning to every citizen of the nation. It reveals in stark terms the national apathy which permits criminals to travel their evil pathways without stop or hindrance. It raises a question that must be answered: are the punishments, the penalties, to be exacted from the men who committed the crime—or must they be visited upon the entire nation?
Crime Without Punishment is important, vital reading.
"Pulls no punches—names names...from top to bottom of the crime hierarchy."—Miami Herald

About the author

John Little McClellan (1896-1977) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1935-1939) and a U.S. Senator (1943-1977) from Arkansas. At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is the longest-serving senator in Arkansas history.
He was born on February 25, 1896 on a farm near Sheridan, Arkansas to Isaac Scott and Belle (née Suddeth) McClellan. His parents, who were strong Democrats, named him after John Sebastian Little, who served as a U.S. Representative (1894-1907) and Governor of Arkansas (1907). At age 12, after graduating from Sheridan High School, he began studying law in his father's office. He was admitted to the state bar in 1913, when he was only 17. As the youngest attorney in the United States, he practiced law with his father in Sheridan.
During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant in the aviation section of the Signal Corps from 1917-1919. Following his military service, he moved to Malvern, where he opened a law office and served as city attorney (1920-1926). He was prosecuting attorney of the seventh judicial district of Arkansas from 1927-1930. In 1934, McClellan was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 6th congressional district.
He served as senator from Arkansas from 1943-1977, when he died in office on November 28, 1977. During his tenure, he served as chairman of the Appropriations Committee and served 22 years as chairman of the Committee on Government Operations. He also served for 18 years as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (1955-1973) and continued the hearings into subversive activities at U.S. Army Signal Corps, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where Soviet spies Julius Rosenberg, Al Sarant and Joel Barr all worked in the 1940s.