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37 The Law, Dewey, and Gene WHEN I CAMPAIGNED for Lafayette County prosecuting attorney in 1956, I was the youngest person ever to try for the office. I was fortunate to be “Ike’s boy”; my father was very popular, and I was welcome in every home in town. Even the African-Americans in town, who were pretty solidly Republican in gratitude for what President Lincoln had done, went for me in the election. A great Missourian made a big impact on my political future by befriending me at a fancy reception in Washington, D.C., for President Truman’s January 1949 inauguration. Thomas Hennings Jr. was a lawyer from St. Louis, and he told me he was going to be a U.S. senator. And indeed, Missourians elected him their senator, and he remained my friend. One day as I was campaigning door-to-door in Lexington and hiking up a big hill in town, up rolled a big black car, and when the window came down, I was greeted by none other than Senator Hennings. The senator invited me into his car and asked how things were going. I told him, “They’re using my age against me.” In fact, I was fresh out of law school and had just passed the Missouri Bar examination . The wise senator just laughed and gave me some wonderful, inspiring advice. “How old are you?” he asked. I replied that I was twenty-four. He turned to look at me and said, “Ike, just remember William Pitt was elected prime minister of England at twenty-four. Now go out and win.” That was such a psychological boost for me; it let me turn my youth into an asset. I never forgot Senator Hennings’s encouragement. In November 1956, I defeated the Republican nominee for prosecutor, Forrest Roberts, a lawyer who also ran a drugstore. I was of course pleased to win my first political race, and I was doubly pleased to have improved on a record set by my father. Dad was twenty-six years old when he took his oath as Lafayette County prosecuting attorney, the youngest person ever to hold the job. That is, until I took my oath in January 1957, at age twenty-five, for that same office, in that same Lafayette County Courthouse, which to this day is still the oldest continuously operating courthouse west of the Mississippi. We kidded one another about that, but my father was proud of me, and he continued to share advice from his own vast legal experience. T h e L aw, D e w e y, a n D G e n e 38 I needed all of the advice I could get. Fortunately, I had another outstanding adviser in the practicalities of law, and he never went to law school. Dewey Parrott’s professional background was running a barbershop in the small town of Odessa, but he was hired as a Lafayette County sheriff’s deputy in 1932. Back then, Missouri sheriffs were limited to serving one four-year term, so in 1936 Dewey ran for and won the sheriff’s job. He was considered a good lawman and a fair person, and he was popular. He was able to speak softly and gently coax the information he needed to build a case. I never knew Dewey to have to fire his pistol in the line of duty. But while he was serving as deputy, it accidentally misfired and struck Dewey in the leg, causing a serious wound. Part of his leg had to be amputated. From then on, Dewey had a wooden leg. After the 1940 election, with Missouri’s mandatory term limits for sheriffs, Dewey became a farmer. He remained popular and respected, and when I ran for prosecutor, Dewey was on the Democratic ticket with me, running for sheriff once again. Dewey was fifty-eight during the 1956 election. Since he and his wife, Mildred, had only a daughter, he considered me like his son during the four years we served together as courthouse officials. We both won by a margin of about fifteen hundred votes in the general election, although our strengths were in different parts of the county. I often teased Dewey about my getting three more votes overall than he received. My fond nickname for Mildred was Polly—yes, Polly Parrott. I was a bachelor and was welcomed to share her great cooking in their living quarters at the county jail. She also...

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