Initially a strong supporter of Prohibition, he changed his attitude after the police had received an anonymous tip and raided his house in search of liquor.

Strongly opposed to President Franklin Roosevelt's foreign and domestic policies, Bender articulated his criticism in the polemical The Challenge of 1940 (1940).

The only aspects of Roosevelt's agenda that escaped Bender's censure were some humanitarian New Deal programs, notably the Works Progress Administration, which he accepted only as a temporary measure.

He did not question the necessity of helping European countries devastated by the war, but he disagreed with the idea that the US government should take a direct role in channeling the relief aid.

His reputation for strong party loyalty brought Bender the job of organizer for Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft's candidacy for the presidential nomination at the 1948 and 1952 Republican National Conventions.

Bender was in a famous 1952 newsreel addressing a gathering of over 15,000 people in the Cleveland Public Auditorium immediately after Richard Nixon had given his wildly successful Checkers speech on television.

After Taft's death in 1953, Bender narrowly won the election for the vacant Senate seat and served the remaining two years of its term.

His earlier isolationist views softened considerably, and he now approved of more direct US involvement abroad, including aid to countries of the former British Empire.

The letter asked the local officials to supply information on "any racketeering or gangster alliances" of which they might be aware within their respective Teamster subunits.

In December 1958, with his research into the locals completed, Bender reported preliminarily to Hoffa that he had found the International Brotherhood of Teamsters "free of corruption."

The United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management looked into the accusations in autumn 1958 but recommended no actions.