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W is for Wickersham Commission (AtoZ Challenge – Roaring Twenties)

W

The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, on February 14, 1929, shocked the United States. People and newspapers had been talking about a “crime wave” all through the Twenties. True, gang wars and glamourized gangsters were popular topics, but as the decade wore out, the public started to worry. When Al Capone’s commando killed seven of Bugs Moran’s gangsters in a storehouse in Chicago, and nobody could do anything about it, not even pin down a culprit, a line was crossed.

In May 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed George W. Wickersham – a prominent New York lawyer and a former US attorney general under President Taft – to head an eleven-member commission to evaluate the state of law and order in the nation. It was the first National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement.
The document they produced was the first federal review of the law enforcement and turned out to be an indictment to the police misconduct throughout the country. The commission was the first entity to denounced the wide-spread use of “third grade” as the willful use of pain and violence to crime suspect, as well as other forms of police brutality.

Although the commission addressed many issues, the most looked for report at the time was the chapter regarding Prohibition.

The conflicted commission issued its findings, known as the Wickersham Report, in early 1931. The majority of the members opposed repeal of the prohibition amendment, but reported that enforcement was unworkable. Violations of the law were simply too tempting; profits from the sale of alcohol were high, especially in the nation’s large cities. Further, it was found that many citizens were openly contemptuous of the law and often took pride in flouting it. The commission also noted that additional problems were created by uneven enforcement by the various states and recommended that that role be assigned exclusively to the federal government.

United States History
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George Wickersham

The effort at enforcing the Volstead Act was clearly failing. Abuses of authority by those responsible of enforcement were common. The use of alcohol had risen since 1920 and Prohibition had corrupted the legal and political system in dangerous ways. The “crime wave” also largely depended on Prohibition.
These arguments the commission put forth were the same as the wets’ who, together with many other parties and associations, had started asking for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. Still, the commission seemed to come to the same conclusions as the drys. Despite everything, it was recommended that the Eighteenth Amendment not be repealed and that all levels of government spent more money and effort on enforcing the Prohibition laws.

But this was not going to happen. As the commission itself has pointed out in a confusing way that would become infamous, Prohibition was simply unenforceable.


RESOURCES

Rustycans – The Wickersham Commission
Law JRak – Wickersham Commission


ROARING TWENTIES AtoZ - Wickersham Commission - In 1929 the US government created a commission to asset the efficiency of Prohibition. The commition didn't find a healthy situation

15 Comments

  • Alex Hurst
    Posted April 27, 2015 at 02:34

    I’d forgotten about that massacre. It’s also interesting to think how this law could be considered near parallel to the use of marijuana these days.

    • Post Author
      jazzfeathers
      Posted April 27, 2015 at 05:29

      A lot of people interested in the matters of Prohibition call for that similarity.

  • Barbara In Caneyhead
    Posted April 27, 2015 at 02:49

    In the words of a past pastor of mine, “You can’t legislate morality.”
    Visit me at: Life & Faith in Caneyhead
    I am Ensign B of Tremps’ Troops
    with the A to Z Challenge

  • Jeri Burns
    Posted April 27, 2015 at 03:43

    As I was reading about the need to convene this commission because of police brutality, I couldn’t help but think of about today’s need for the same .Whether Prohibition or racially related, the fact of police abuse if power is an important theme then and now… informative and beautifully written as always!

    • Post Author
      jazzfeathers
      Posted April 27, 2015 at 05:34

      In such early times in the XX century, police practices must have been brutal everywhere. I was impressed that it was starting to become a sensitive matter so early as well.
      As always, I’m surprised as how modern a time the Twenties was.

  • That's Purrfect
    Posted April 27, 2015 at 06:43

    That is a fascinating period of history. It’s interesting that the drinking of alcohol rose during the Prohibition years.

    • Post Author
      jazzfeathers
      Posted April 27, 2015 at 08:55

      That’s a long story 😉

      Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂

  • Anabel Marsh
    Posted April 27, 2015 at 10:48

    I had heard of the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre but not the Wickersham Report – learning a lot here!

    • Post Author
      jazzfeathers
      Posted April 27, 2015 at 19:32

      Well, the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre was Capone’s doing, so of course it’s more famouse 😉

  • Tarkabarka
    Posted April 27, 2015 at 23:07

    It tells you a lot that it took that many year for people to realize prohibition was not working out… Politics work slow 😀

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    Multicolored Diary – Epics from A to Z
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  • Sara C. Snider
    Posted April 28, 2015 at 05:16

    How interesting. Alcohol consumption rose and parts of the government broken. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

  • Tasha
    Posted April 28, 2015 at 10:18

    How could a commission recommend something it knew was impossible to do? That makes no sense. Of course a lot of the time government makes no sense, so there you go.
    Tasha
    Tasha’s Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

  • Sue Archer
    Posted May 5, 2015 at 01:23

    I often wonder what is the point of having laws that are unenforceable. What a great commentary that continues to be applied to our times!

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