The Women of Prohibition

Dance the Charleston...
At a speakeasy...
Drinking the best New England beers!

So, by now, I'm assuming that you've had a chance to watch Prohibition, the latest documentary from Ken Burns and Lynn Novak, which was playing almost continuously on PBS last week.

If you didn't, you missed a fast-paced and incredibly interesting study of how prohibition developed, how it ultimately failed, and how it forever changed the political landscape of the United States. 

I was particularly fascinated by the women who rose to fame and notoriety in those years. In school, it always seems we skipped past prohibition to discuss World War II, and barely finished the war before finals arrived. And we hardly ever discussed women in history class beyond Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks and Jackie Kennedy.

Prohibition featured three women whom I found particularly interesting: Carry Nation, Lois Long, and Mabel Walker Willebrandt.

Disappointed with the lackadaisical attitude of elected officials, Carrie Nation resorted to lawlessness to enforce the Kansas' dry laws. She carried her hatchet from dry town to dry town, defacing the property of many a saloon proprietor. I'm a little disappointed that she wasn't included in "And Then There's Maude":

Lady Godiva was a freedom rider,
she didn't care of the whole world looked.
Joan of Arc, with the lord to guide her,
she was a sister who really cooked.
Isadora was a first bra burner
Ain't ya glad she showed up?
And when the country was falling apart
Betsy Ross got it all sewed up.... 

Lois Long reminds me of Katherine Brush. (I've posted about her before.) Long, who was from a prominent and very conservative family, achieved prominence by writing about about the youth, glamor, and parties, parties, parties. While Brush is well-known for her short stories and novels, Long found fame as Lipstick, the pseudonym she signed underneath her witty columns describing New York nightlife and fashion in The New Yorker. Like Brush, she smoked, she danced, she drank, and she wore her skirts too short. And the public couldn't get enough of her escapades.

Mabel Walker Willebrandt is my favorite of these three ladies. Intelligent and determined, she accepted the position of Assistant Attorney General and the responsibility to enforce the Volstead Act throughout the nation. Armed with a small force and an even smaller budget, she continued to uphold and enforce the law amidst rampant government corruption and the increasing support of the wet agenda in many major cities.

The documentary reminded me of the recent uproar amongst small breweries in Massachusetts. In August, the State Alcohol Commission announced that all breweries must grow or locally source half of the hops used in beer production. The licensing rule was created to encourage agricultural development in the Bay State, but it would have negatively affected over 24 local breweries, who would have found meeting the new standard impossible or too expensive. Fortunately, the Commission re-evaluated the rule and decided to abandoned it. 

I'll drink to that, Boston!