Perhaps the most significant development during Becker's term as mayor was the adoption of a civil service amendment to the City Charter.
Prior to that time, a political patronage system prevailed in which all city employees could be replaced with a change of partisan administration.
Becker also retained Raymond Tucker, who had been appointed Smoke Commissioner by Mayor Dickmann, and supported his efforts to reduce air pollution within the city.
On the Sunday afternoon of August 1, 1943, St. Louis aircraft manufacturer William B. Robertson was hosting the first public demonstration of a new Waco CG-4 glider, built under sub-contract by his company.
Immediately after the release of the towing cable, the right wing of the glider broke off, and it plummeted from an altitude of 1,500 feet, killing all ten persons on board.