William M. Boyle

Who was William M. Boyle?

William Marshall Boyle Jr. was a Democratic political activist from Kansas. Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1949 to 1951, he was a friend of President Harry S. Truman and is credited with engineering Truman's upset victory over Governor Thomas Dewey in the 1948 Presidential election. He was forced to resign as chairman of the Democratic National Committee after being charged with financial corruption. His downfall represented yet another scandal of the sort that was bedeviling the Truman administration.

Boyle was born in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1902; he became politically active as a Young Democrat at age 16, thereby attracting the attention of Kansas City, Missouri political boss Thomas Pendergast, who made Boyle a precinct captain before his 21st birthday. Boyle's parents were friends of Harry Truman and the future president took him under his wing. Boyle took a law degree, practiced law and was active in Democratic politics in Kansas City. He played an active role in Truman's successful run for the U.S. Senate in 1934. He became police director of Kansas City in 1939.