Crusading Iowa Journalist Verne Marshall: Exposing Graft and the 1936 Pulitzer Prize

On December 12, 1934, police raided a canning factory in Cedar Rapids, uncovering an illegal liquor and gambling set-up. Verne Marshall, tempestuous editor of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, sensed a bigger story and a wider network of corruption. His aggressive investigative reporting led to multiple resignations, nearly fifty indictments and the dramatic trial of the state’s attorney general. These explosive exposes earned Verne Marshall and the paper the 1936 Pulitzer Prize. Author Jerry Harrington traces the legacy of Marshall’s incendiary crusade across Iowa’s political landscape.