A Friend of the President

Long before Jim Finnegan moved into the headlines as a friend of Bill Boyle's, St. Louis knew him for a lawyer-politico with a bright-hued future. In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt appointed him U.S. Collector of Internal Revenue in St. Louis. In the Truman era, Finnegan--an old and close friend of Harry Truman's--took more round trips to Washington than any other Democrat in town. He was talked about as possible mayor of St. Louis, federal judge or even U.S. Senator from Missouri.

Last week a St. Louis federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment against Jim Finnegan. He was charged with twice accepting bribes from a company that had a tax case pending in his office. And he faced three other counts of taking fees for representing private clients (including the notorious American Lithofold Corp.--TIME, Oct. 1) before Government agencies while he was getting a full-time Government salary.

The matter was particularly embarrassing to Old Friend Truman because Finnegan had just told a House subcommittee that he had tried three times to resign as collector, and his resignation had been turned down. The last time, the President asked him to stay on, said Finnegan. Harry Truman, at his press conference, said his recollection was rather hazy on the conversation, but the White House staff thought what Finnegan said was true. He learned about Finnegan's outside activities just a short time ago, said the President solemnly, and he does not approve of them.

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