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Last Call: Prohibition and the Alcoholic Republic

Kevin P. Dincher www.kevindincher.com. Last Call: Prohibition and the Alcoholic Republic. Enshrine social policy in US Constitution Alcohol = major source of social ills Poverty, divorce, violence, gambling, prostitution, other crime “Others” – “Undesirables”

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Last Call: Prohibition and the Alcoholic Republic

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  1. Kevin P. Dincher www.kevindincher.com Last Call: Prohibition and the Alcoholic Republic

  2. Enshrine social policy in US Constitution • Alcohol = major source of social ills • Poverty, divorce, violence, gambling, prostitution, other crime • “Others” – “Undesirables” • Immigrants (Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Catholics) • Blacks • Purpose • Fix what was wrong with America by fixing the American people • Change American’s attitude • Control American’s behavior Prohibition

  3. Alcohol consumption decreased in the 20th Century • 19th Century Americans consumed 3x as much alcohol per capita as today • But really caused by Prohibition? • Consequences • Culture • Crime and corruption • Women Prohibition

  4. Prohibition and Culture

  5. Jazz Nightclubs Big Bands

  6. Prohibition and Crime and Corruption

  7. Crime And Corruption Family of Carl and Christina Behle, 1913

  8. Crime And Corruption

  9. Crime And Corruption George Remus (1874 – 1952) • 1874: Born in Germany • 1879: Immigrated to Chicago • 1888: Worked at a pharmacy • 1893: Bought the pharmacy • Bought 2nd pharmacy • 1898: Illinois College of Law • 1899: married Lillian Klauff • 1900: Romola Remus King of the Bootleggers

  10. Crime And Corruption • If there ever has been a bigger bootlegger than Remus, the fact remains a secret. Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil…” St. Louis Post Dispatch

  11. Crime And Corruption Romola Remus (1900 – 1987) Wizard of Oz, 1908

  12. Crime And Corruption • 1904: Admitted to Illinois Bar • Famous criminal defense attorney • 1920: $50,000/year • $245,000/year in 2013 dollars • 1918: Divorced Lillian • Married Imogene Holms Imogene Holms

  13. Crime And Corruption George Remus • Prohibition • Defending accused bootleggers • Arbitrariness of judge • Impressed by corruption • 1920: Relocated to Cincinnati • Cincinnati: 40,000 people • Newport: 30,000 people • 30,000 speakeasies

  14. Cincinnati • 80% of America’s “bonded liquor” stored in distillery warehouses within 300 mile radius • Government withdrawal permits to sell to drug companies for medicinal purposes • Remus: • Bought up distilleries • Created own drug company in Covington • Created own trucking company • Own men hijacked delivery trucks • Distribution center: 50 acre farm • “Death Valley” Crime And Corruption

  15. Increased Crime • Cincinnati • 80 % of America’s bonded liquor stored in distillery warehouses within 300 mile radius • Government withdrawal permits to sell to drug companies for medicinal purposes • Bought up distilleries; established own drug company in Covington; created own trucking company • Own men hijacked delivery trucks • Distribution center: 50 acre farm • “Death Valley” • 3000 employees – 3 shifts/day • $80,000/day Glenn Fleshler as Remus in Boardwalk Empire

  16. Crime and Corruption Death Valley Farm Distribution center 50 acre farm

  17. Increased Crime • Government Bribes • 1921: began meeting with Jesse Smith • Member of Warren G. Harding's “Ohio Gang” • Teapot Dome Scandal • Unofficial assistant to US Attorney General Harry Daugherty • $250,000 in bribes from Remus • Withdrawal permits • Protection from prosecution Ed Jewett as Smith in Boardwak Empire

  18. Increased Crime • Government Bribes • 1921: began meeting with Jesse Smith • Member of Warren G. Harding's “Ohio Gang” • Teapot Dome Scandal • Unofficial assistant to US Attorney General Harry Daugherty • $250,000 in bribes from Remus • Withdrawal permits • Protection from prosecution Christopher McDonald as Daugherty in Boardwalk Empire

  19. Increased Crime George Remus • Income: $6million a year • New supply depot in Ohio • 9 distilleries in Cincinnati • Network from Buffalo, NY to Glendale, CA • 1922: New Year’s Party • 100 couples • All the men with diamond watches • Each guest's wife a brand new car • June 1923: Similar party • 100 couples • Gave each female guest a new Pontiac

  20. Increased Crime • 1925: arrested for violation of the Volstead Act • Jury deliberated for 2 hours • Sentenced to 2 years in jail • Franklin Dodge • 1927: Imogene divorced Remus

  21. George Remus, Romola Remus, and co-council Charles Elston

  22. The jury deliberated only 19 minutes before acquitting him by reason of insanity

  23. Prohibition and Women

  24. American Women 18th and 19th centuries • “A Woman’s place is in the home.” • Women worked and socialized primarily in the home • Economic necessity • Women’s patriotic role

  25. American Boycott of British Goods (1769) • Could only succeed with women’s support and active participation • Recognize women as political • Women could be patriots and had a key role in the patriot cause • Domestic duties and responsibilities have political ramifications • Consumption behaviors had political implications, and women make political decisions whether they intend to or not American Women

  26. American Boycott of British Goods (1769) • Reinforced • “Domestic sphere” of women • “Public sphere” of men • Changed the nature of “women’s work” • Politicized the “domestic sphere” American Women

  27. Republican Motherhood • Philosophy about the role of women in the emerging United States before and after the American Revolution • Women’s political role in the domestic sphere American Women Linda Kerber Department of History University of Iowa

  28. American Women Linda K. Kerber • Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (1997) • No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship (1999)

  29. American Women 18th and 19th centuries • “A woman’s place is in the home.”

  30. A "new breed" of young Western women in the 1920s • Flaunted their disdain for what was then considered conventional/acceptable behavior. • Flappers = scandalous Flappers Actress Louise Brooks (1927)

  31. Flappers When someone violates the status quo, we get up in arms, but we also make the scandalous act speakable. Six Women of a Dangerous Generation Judith Mackrell

  32. Flappers The women who defined this age would presage the sexual revolution by nearly half a century and would shape the role of women for generations to come.

  33. Flappers Josephine Baker • 1906-1975 • American-born French dancer, singer, actress

  34. Flappers Tallulah Bankhead • 1902-1968 • Actress and political activist .

  35. Flappers Diana Cooper • 1892-1986 • British actress and socialite .

  36. Flappers Nancy Cunard • 1896 -1965 • British write, heiress and political activist .

  37. Flappers Zelda Fitzgerald • 1900 – 1948 • American novelist, short story write, poet and dancer • Icon of the 1920’s: “The First American Flapper”

  38. Flappers Tamara de Lempicka • 1898 – 1980 • Polish Art Deco painter • First woman artist to be glamour star .

  39. Flappers • Suffragettes thought Flappers were vapid and silly • Disengaged from politics • Overturning Victorian roles • Result of social change • Promoted further social change

  40. Fashion • Clothing • Lingerie • Hair • Make-up • Jewelry Language • Slang • Swearing Flappers

  41. Flappers “Vices” • Drank • Smoked • Causal sex • Petting parties • Drove automobiles • Rode bicycles • Listened to jazz • Got jobs Actress Louise Brooks (1927)

  42. Flappers • 1631: flap = prostitute • 1890s: popular slang in England • very young prostitute • any lively mid-teenage girl • 1907: theatrical slang for acrobatic young female stage performers • 1908: The London Times • “a young lady who has not yet been promoted to long frocks and the wearing of her hair 'up'“ • 1912: a girl who has "just come out.” (debutant) Violet Romer, born in 1886 in San Francisco, California, was an American actress, dancer and flapper

  43. 1920: “Flapper” had taken on the full meaning of the flapper generation style and attitudes. • "the social butterfly type… the frivolous, scantily-clad, jazzing flapper, irresponsible and undisciplined, to whom a dance, a new hat, or a man with a car were of more importance than the fate of nations". American Women Actresses such as Joan Crawford built their careers on the flapper image

  44. Vices: scandalous dances • Charleston • The Shimmy • The Bunny Hug • The Black Bottom American Women Joan Crawford

  45. Clara Bow American Women

  46. Blondie Boopadoop: a carefree flapper girl who spent her days in dance halls

  47. 1920s Movies • Actresses • Movies about Flappers Tabloids • Sensational crime • Celebrity gossip One Summer: America, 1927 • Bill Bryson Flappers and American Women

  48. 1930s Flappers and American Women

  49. Prohibition and Drinking

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