Joseph Bernard Shannon (March 17, 1867 – March 28, 1943) was a Democratic

political boss In politics, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous off ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, who was a rival to the more dominant

James Pendergast James Francis Pendergast (January 27, 1856 – November 10, 1911) was a Democratic politician and the first Big City Boss of Kansas City, Missouri. He was the elder brother of Thomas J. Pendergast and Michael J. Pendergast. Early life Pender ...

political machine in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.

Early life

Joseph Bernard Shannon was born on March 17, 1867, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, and moved in his youth to

Girard, Kansas Girard is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,496. History Girard was founded in the spring of 1868, in opposition to Crawfordsville, and named af ...

. His father died in Girard from an accident. He moved to

, in 1879 where he was a constable and a city-market master, and he attended night school at Central High School and Spalding Business College.''Kansas City Journal''
(Kansas City, Mo.), 04 July 1897. ''Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers''. Library of Congress. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1905.

Career

Shannon began to practice law in Kansas City. His faction was called the "rabbits" because its power base derived from those who lived along the Missouri River and the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

. His rival was the "goats" and derived its power from those living in the hills of Kansas City and was headed by

and then his brother

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

. Shannon was chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1910; delegate to the

Democratic National Conventions The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

in 1908, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, and 1940; and member of the Missouri Constitutional Conventions in 1922 and 1923. He was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, serving from March 4, 1931 to January 3, 1943. Shannon was known as a scholar of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

and would speak about his life and his teachings.

Personal life

Shannon married Celia J. Hutawa on November 22, 1892. They had two children, Frank and Mrs. John F. Deveney. Shannon died on March 28, 1943, in Kansas City following a heart ailment and pneumonia. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Kansas City.

References

External links

* 1867 births 1943 deaths Politicians from St. Louis Pendergast era Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri People from Girard, Kansas {{Missouri-politician-stub