c primary for the U. S. Senate in 1934, fearing taking a side might derail his gubernatorial ambitions for 1936.
Truman managed to overlook Stark’s failure to support him and was instrumental in promoting Stark’s gubernatorial candidacy. Both Tom Pendergast and Senator Bennett Champ Clark were somewhat dubious about Lloyd Stark. Pendergast was especially wary of Stark, but finally agreed to support him, largely due to Truman’s insistence. Stark finally achieved his ambition to become governor and nobody was more astonished by the governor’s attitude when Pendergast found himself the target of a federal investigation.
Governor Stark encouraged the investigation, less as an advocate of good government and opponent of corruption— he had eagerly sought Pendergast’s support in 1936 and was highly aware of the nature of the Pendergast machine— but largely because he knew it would cripple Harry Truman politically and advance his own fortunes.
Few senators had supported the Roosevelt administration and the New Deal as strongly as had Harry Truman and none had been as ill treated as was Senator Truman. The Roosevelt administration largely ignored Truman’s patronage recommendations, favoring his senatorial colleague, Bennett Champ Clark instead. Senator Clark was frequently a Roosevelt opponent and a fierce isolationist, yet he won nearly every patronage battle he fought with Harry Truman.
Truman grumbled about his treatment by President Roosevelt, but he continued to faithfully support just about every proposal FDR submitted to Congress. Occasionally he would explode in frustration and after hurriedly flying back to Washington, D. C. from Missouri during a dangerous snowstorm because his vote was needed in the Senate, Truman called Stephen Early, a Roosevelt aide and blessed him out. Roosevelt invited Truman to the White House for a meeting and tried to soothe the man from Missouri with a heaping helping of his famous charm.
It was especially frustrating for Harry Truman as he had been shunned by many members of the Senate after his initial election in 1934. He had carried the taint of the Pendergast machine with him to Washington, D. C. and never forgot those few colleagues who welcomed him warmly. Truman’s personality and penchant for working hard had changed much of the perception of his colleagues and his friendly nature soon made him quite popular with other senators. That same affection would figure prominently in his reelection bid.
Even more helpful to Harry Truman was Lloyd Stark himself. The governor had shamelessly promoted himself to President Roosevelt and it would have been easy to think there was no other New Dealer in Missouri save for Lloyd Stark. It was obvious Stark was highly ambitious and once when the governor visited Senator Truman’s office, Truman blurted out to a staff member, “That son-of-a-bitch is running against me!”
Yet Lloyd Stark’s ambitions were not confined to the United States Senate. When Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson died in 1939, Governor Stark, a graduate of the Naval Academy, thought he would be an excellent replacement. In 1940, Stark considered the possibility FDR might not seek a third term and he very well might be nominated for the presidency. When it became clear that Roosevelt would indeed run again, Stark was eager to become the vice presidential nominee. Lloyd Stark’s ambitions conflicted with those of the senior senator from Missouri, Bennett Champ Clark. Senator Clark not only saw himself as the leader of the Democratic Party in Missouri, but as a genuine presidential prospect in the event FDR did not run again. Bennett Clark deeply resented Governor Stark and while he and Harry Truman had their differences, the senior senator would prove to be a valuable ally during the 1940 campaign.
The wily Senator Clark set out to divide the anti machine vote and began encouraging yet another ambitious politician to run for the Senate. U. S. Attorney Maurice Milligan found himself on the receiving end of Senator Clark’s attentions. Milligan had no fondness for Harry Truman, who had