Published on: October 24, 2025, 07:21h.
Updated on: October 22, 2025, 12:24h.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Join us for a fresh edition of “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday, along with a special Flashback Friday edition. Today’s edition first appeared on April 21, 2023.
Key Pittman, Nevada’s US Senator, passed away shortly before the November 1940 election, where he was expected to win by a significant margin. According to legend, his corpse was preserved in a bathtub filled with ice to ensure his seat remained in Democratic hands. This is the widely circulated story.
This marks the second myth debunked in this series, initially propagated by authors Ed Reid and Ovid Demaris in their book “The Green Felt Jungle.” Their 1963 New York Times bestseller revealed the hidden criminal ownership of many Las Vegas Strip casinos, albeit with numerous inaccuracies.
Legend has it that Pittman’s aides, along with Democratic party officials, preserved his body in the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah during the 1940 election to prevent a coroner from determining the time of death prior to the election. This tactic allowed Nevada’s governor, Edward Carville, to appoint a fellow Democrat as Pittman’s replacement.
In their 1995 book, “A Short History of Reno,” authors Barbara and Myrick Land traced this myth to a flippant comment made by one of Pittman’s aides, who allegedly informed a reporter that the senator’s limited appearances were due to his staff “keeping him on ice.”
Senator Steve-O
Pittman, a tall and lean gentlemen with the marked drawl of his Mississippi roots, ascended to the position of president pro tempore of the US Senate and chaired its prestigious foreign relations committee during Franklin Roosevelt’s first two terms. Several noteworthy pieces of legislation carry his name, including the Pittman Act of 1918 and the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937.
However, Pittman’s life and career were overshadowed by his struggle with alcoholism.
While representing the US at the London Economic Conference in 1933 alongside President Roosevelt, Pittman displayed behavior more akin to a reality star than a statesman. One night, hotel staff found him naked in a kitchen sink, pretending to be a fountain. On another occasion, he wandered Upper Brook Street shooting out street lamps for fun.
Pittman’s attendance at the conference was aimed at advocating for silver, vital to Nevada’s mining-based economy prior to the advent of tourism. However, he took this role too far, culminating in an incident where he pulled a gun on a fellow delegate after a disagreement about silver remonetization, chasing him through the halls of Claridge’s.
The Cold Reality
As Pittman became more reliant on alcohol, his aides erroneously informed reporters on Election Day 1940 that the senator was absent due to exhaustion. The truth was far grimmer—Pittman was hospitalized after suffering a severe heart attack on November 4 at the Riverside Hotel in Reno.
“He returned to Nevada to conduct his campaign while drinking heavily,” noted Michael Green, a UNLV history professor, in a statement to Casino.org. “Before the election, he felt unwell after a bout of heavy drinking, which led to his heart attack.”
Although his wife, Mimosa Pittman, visited him at Washoe Hospital on Election Day, reporting that he appeared “happy,” she had received grim news from doctors about his condition – they informed her that he likely wouldn’t survive the journey back to Washington, DC. Tragically, on November 10, Pittman lapsed into a coma and died early the following morning. He technically won re-election posthumously, enabling the governor to appoint a successor.
Despite the numerous credible denials of the “Senator on ice” story from various history blogs, conspiracy theorists maintain their belief in this myth regarding Nevada’s re-elected senator.
“Though Nevadans did not elect a deceased individual to the Senate, they did elect a dying man whose dire health conditions were concealed,” Green clarified. “The genuine facts surrounding the situation are compelling enough without the need for embellishment.”
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