Kefauver and Korshak

Today is the 61st anniversary of the death of Sen. Estes Kefauver. "So what?" you say?

Well, Kefauver was a mover and shaker in DC back in the day. He headed a famous, nationally televised committee looking into organized crime in America - "The Kefauver Committee": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Special_Committee_to_Investigate_Crime_in_Interstate_Commerce

But Kefauver had a dirty little secret: he was an alcoholic and philanderer. The mobsters he was investigating knew this - and they had powerful, well connected friends. One of these was a very dangerous man named Sidney Korshak: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Korshak

The FBI called him "the most powerful lawyer in the world."

Although few now remember him, in his day Korshak was one of the most connected people in America.

He was a very interesting man. Highly intelligent, he seemed more like a professor than a mob fixer. And people liked him. When not in lawyer mode he was quite affable and had many friends. He was married to the same woman for 56 years, yet he had numerous affairs with actresses and others. Still, he saw himself as a family man. But he was ruthless when dealing with his client's adversaries. And he had dirt on everybody: politicians, judges, DA's mayors, police chiefs, studio executives... everybody. As Senator Kefauver soon found out.

It's said that Korshak arranged a private meeting with Kefauver. When they sat down, Korshak pushed a manila envelope over the table to Kefauver, who opened it... and learned his dirty little secrets weren't secrets after all.

Korshak gave him a minute to look the documents over, then asked: "Senator, how far do you want to take this?" Then he stood up, said goodbye, and left.

Kefauver took the hint and the "Kefauver Committee" quickly fizzled out.

Korshak understood power, and its application.

He is worthy of much more attention than that brief Wikipedia article gives him. For many years he was one of the most powerful people in the country, but he exercised it discreetly... offstage. And though today his name is largely unremembered, people whose names we DO remember definitely knew who Korshak was, and they were scared of him.

His successors have built upon his successes. Bribery, blackmail, actresses, actors, perversions, two way mirrors, photographs, videos, bugs, dossiers.... This is the firmament upon which the modern political world is built. Government by blackmail.

And Korshak was one of its chief architects.

Fitz