If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. ~ fll I ;:~AY ::! B82 ACQUiSiTiONS This is an authorized facsimile printed by microfilm/xerography on acid-free paper in 1982 by UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS INTERNATIONAL Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. London, England 8128132 URIS, JOSEPH S.~.MUEL TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY: AN ANALYSIS OF AN URBAN VICE PROBE Portland State University PH.D. 1981 University Microfilms International 300 N. Z,~b Road. Ann Ar~or. MI 48106 Copyright 1981 by Uris, Joseph Samuel All Rights Reserved INFORMATION TO USERS "[his was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. 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Xll 48106 TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY: AN~gALYSIS OF ~URBANVICE PROBE by JOSEPH SAMUEL b~RIS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in URBAN STUDIES Portland State University Q1981 Joseph Samuel Uris TO THE OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES ANq) RESEARCH: The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Joseph Samuel Uris presented August 7, 1981. ! "~~-~ 4"~,I:~-~ Hugo ,M.~ayna rd, C~a i rman ~Gerald F.-Blake ' David A.~Horowitz " Michael F. Reardon APPROVED : / ~--Noh~zl--ES-Toulan~, Dean, ~i of Urban Affairs Stanley E~. Rau~h," Dean of~raduate Studies and Research AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Joseph Samuel Uris for the Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies presented August 7, 1981. Title: Trouble in River Cityi An Analysis of an Urban Vice Probe. APPROVED BY HEHBERS OF TEE DISSERTATION COMHITTEE: ltugO M~nard, C~a ~an Z" Gerald F. Blake I P "P David A. Hordwlkz )~ Michael F. Reardon ABSTRACT This dissertation is an historical case study of a highly publicized investigation of vice and official corruption which took place in Portland, Oregon from 1954 to 1958. Three major relevant areas of social science literature are reviewed. These are: historical material on American reform and corruption, criminology ~nd political science. This literature suggests both the ubiquity and usefulness of vice and corruption in the urban situation. A set of propositions regarding vice, corruption and reform was developed from these works. These propositions were then examined in terms of the vice probe and political situation in Portland, Oregon. The triangulation method of this study involves three separate data sources: popular accounts in the print media; government documents, including material from the Oregon State Archives, the City of Portland and the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field; interviews conducted by the author (1979-19"81) with persons who had intimate knowledge of the vice situation, political arrangements or corruption in Portland. This case study has utility and general application beyond the single case illustrated. It demonstrates the functions and limits of corruption and reform. ~ile historical in nature, this study offers insight into processes seen in many cities today. ACKNOWI~GEI~ENTS This project could not have been accomplished without the help of people from many walks of life. First and foremost, I thank the men and women, famous and anonymous, who shared their unique knowledge of these events. Without their interviews this dissertation would be like a two- legged stool. Thanks go to the two principal typists: Melinda Butch, who typed the working drafts and interview transcriptions; and Karen Davidson who typed and edited the final product. Thanks also to Joyce Boles, Pat Gold and Catherine Paglin. I gratefully acknowledge the many hours of aid and advice given by J.D. Porter, the Oregon State Archivist. Luella Pollock, librarian at Reed College was most generous with materials in Reed's excellent collec- tion of U.S. Government documents. The Oresonian generously made its Oregon Journal and Oresonian files available. The Multnomah County Library proved a wonderful resource. [ am indebted to my dissertation committee members, Gerald Blake, David Horowitz, Michael Reardon and my Chairman, Hugo Maynard. A Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, National Criminal Justice Education Development Project Fellowship made the initial research for this dissertation possible. For this I would like to thank Don Gibbons, the Project Director. Finally, 1 dedicate this work to Charlotte Asendorf, whose patience, support, criticism and inspiration made it happen. TABLE OF CO,~ENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................ iii LIST OF TABLES ......................... vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ..................... The Historical Incident ............. 4 The Case History ................. 5 II THEORETICAL FIL~XEWORK ................. 7 The Traditional Functionalist View ........ 8 Marxism and Crime - Left-Handed Functionalism . i0 The Machines and the Reformers .......... 16 Organized Crime and Corruption: Four Modern Cases .................... 23 The Media and Modern Reform ........... 34 Outsiders and Reform ............... 36 III METHOD ........................ 38 Triangulation of Sources ............. 38 The Data Sources ................. 39 Interview Technique ............... 44 Method Summary .................. 50 IV HISTORY OF THE VICE PROBE ............... 52 Overview of the Portland Vice Probe of 1956-1958. 53 V PAGE The Second World War and After, 1940-1948 .... 55 The 1948 Reform Movement ............. 59 Vice Survives ......... ......... 66 The Exposition-Recreation Center Deal - 1954-1956 .................. 71 James Elkins - The Man Who Talked ........ 75 Two Papers, Two Views .............. 76 The Teamsters Move In .............. 79 A View From a Distance - The State Capitol .... 86 The View From the Grand Jury ........... 94 The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field Takes on Portland ........... 95 The Journal's View ................ 171 The Schrunk Position and the Portland Network . .201 V ~NALYSIS OF THE PORTLAND VICE PROBE .......... 209 What Really Happened? .............. 209 The Propositions and the Case History ...... 216 VI CONCLUSION ...................... 234 BIBLOGRAPHY ........................... 239 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I Interview Respondents by Category .......... 46 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Perhaps no more common image of urban American crime exists than that of the gangster or racketeer who, with cunning and ruthlessness, moves against law and order to establish a violent empire. There are few who have escaped the vision of The Godfather or Public Enemy Number One. In the popular press as well as on the screen, the crime lord is depicted as an aberrant type; a rare, bad breed who, together with the corrupt cop, preys upon the innocence of the law-abiding citizen. Yet the phenomenon of the vice lord, the bribed policeman and the corrupt politician survive to reappear in countless cities, many times throughout history. American urban corruption, vice and crime, with their networks of cooperating crooks and political bagmen, is well documented by scholars as well as yellow journalists. The ubiquitous phenomena of vice and its inevitable sister, corrup- tion, have not escaped the attention of modern social science. Indeed, disciplines far apart in perspective have found surprising common ground on the issue. Functional sociologists Robert K. Herton (1949) and Kingsley Davis (1971) focus largely upon how the urban system maintains and perpetuates itself. Harxist sociologists Stephen Spitzer (1975) and Paul O. Hirst (1972) argue that systemic contradictions between classes will bring about inevitable and fundamental social change. Yet both schools of analysis support the overriding notion that