T-Man of Steel

Born on a farm near Herman, Nebraska, Bill Burkett was popular in school, president of nearly everything, darling of all the girls and well-liked even by the boys. He wrote a "History of America" for the Mt. Rushmore Presidential monument, winning a national prize. He earned a law degree in college, then served in the Coast Guard during World War II. He reached his long-cherished goal—being a Treasury agent for the Internal Revenue Bureau, convicting criminals on charges of income tax evasion. But his dreams were shattered when he discovered much graft and corruption in the bureau. Courageously, he decided to give up his lifelong career, which he loved, and take his findings to the Kefauver Senate Investigating Committee, the press and the public. As a result, a scandal swept across the United States, and nearly 100 top Treasury Department officials lost their jobs. President Truman reorganized the department with new, honest personnel, and renamed the agency the Internal Revenue Service.