United States Senate Special Committee To Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce - Genesis of The Committee

Genesis of The Committee

Organized crime was the subject of a large number of widely-read articles in several major newspapers and magazines in 1949. Several local "crime commissions" in major cities and states had also uncovered extensive corruption of the political process by organized crime. Many cities and states called for federal help in dealing with organized crime, yet federal law provided few tools for the U.S. government to do so. In particular, many cities and states were concerned with the way organized crime had infiltrated interstate commerce, and how it threatened to hold the American economy hostage through labor racketeering.

On January 5, 1950, Senator Estes Kefauver introduced a resolution that would allow the Senate Committee on the Judiciary to investigate organized crime's role in interstate commerce. However, the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce already claimed jurisdiction over the issue. A compromise resolution was substituted which established a special committee of five Senators, whose membership would be drawn from both the Judiciary and Commerce committess. Debate over the substitute resolution was bitter and partisan, and the voting on the resolution extremely close. On May 3, 1950, Vice President Alben W. Barkley, sitting in his role as President of the United States Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote and the Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce was established.