On Nov. 15, The Mob Museum will commemorate the anniversary of the Kefauver Committee hearings, which took place in its building in 1950, with a day featuring special programming as well as free admission during regular operating hours for Nevada residents. The events are being held to raise awareness of the significance of the U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce—as the Kefauver Committee hearings were officially called—on the nation’s fight against organized crime and development of Las Vegas as the nation’s gaming capital.
In addition to free admission for Nevada residents, Kefauver Day programming will include: an all-day screening of Jon Rubin’s new hour-long documentary about the Kefauver Committee hearings, “Crimebuster: Senator Estes Kefauver, Politics, Television and Organized Crime,” beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the Museum’s multipurpose room; a proclamation by city of Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman declaring Nov. 15 Kefauver Day, which will be presented to Diane Kefauver, daughter of U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver (D – Tenn.) and a courtroom presentation to area school students about the Kefauver Committee hearings, followed by a Museum-wide educational scavenger hunt.
Although she was only 3-years-old during the hearings, Diane Kefauver still remembers how the first televised political event affected her family, “My family watched the hearings. I remember touching my father’s face on the TV screen because we weren’t seeing him much at home during this time. Although the hearings were taking over the country, and I recall hearing talk about various threats against our family and having security around our house, my mother was ferociously protective of us. She tried to give us as normal of a life as possible during this time and beyond. It was after my father’s death when I was 15 that I began to read about him, became interested in the impact of his career and eventually decided I wanted to help people through public service myself. I ended up having a political career of my own and have served as special assistant to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi for nearly 30 years.”