Corruption In The 1920's Essay

Illegal Activity in the 1920’s
The 1920’s was an era of prosperity for ones living inside of the United States of America. Although money was easy to come by and most everybody was employed, the ammount of corruption throughout the States was great and many criminal were running rampid thorughout the country. Prohibition caused an outspread of illegal bootlegging rings and greatly increased the ammount of criminal activity going about in the U.S.. The corruption was not confined to the average citizens; but rather, corruption was present on all levels of society. Whether the corruption was in government, crime reinforcement, or the daily lives of the American citizens, it surely left a stain in American history leaving the 1920’s as one

of the most corrupt decades up to date.
January 16, 1919, the 18th ammendment was passed. The 18th ammendment made the production and sale of alcohol illegal, unless it was used for religious or medical purposes. At this point in history many people drank, and they had no intention of ceizing their alcoholism because a law said to do so. Many people began to smuggle illegal alcohol into the States from other countries such as Canada, Mexico, Cuba, or mostly any other countries or territories near enough to still make a profit. This type of smuggling was beginning to become more risky and almost to expensive to even make profit. Something had to change.

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Bootleggers were able to obtain their alcohol by other means.

Millions of bottles of “medicinal” whisky were sold at drug stores across the country. Whether the perscription was real or not did not matter, the people were getting their alcohol. In addition many American industeries were still able to produce lawful alcohol, but the alcohol had been mixed with obnoxious chemicals to render it unfit for drinking. The chemicals did not stop many. Millions of gallons of the “tainted” alcohol were illegally diverted and stripped of its obnoxious chemicals. The clean alcohol would then be mixed with tap water and perhaps a dash of real alcohol for flavor. Finally, bootleggers had, had enough. The bootleggers began to bottle and create their own concoctions of home made liquor. Many of the faulty batches of liquor were called rotgut. Rotgut could be dangerous and potentially cause blindness, paralysis, and even

death.
Bootlegging helped establish a long line of organized crime in America. Distribution of alcohol was not an easy task, and gangs began to rise and take control of entire local chains of bootlegging operations. Many concealed distilleries and breweries were formed, and they served as channels of transport to speakeasies, restaurants, nightclubs, and other retailed outlets. Eventually all of the larger gangs across large cities began to cooperate with eachother. Their methods of crime extended far beyond bootlegging and evolved into the trafficing of narcotics, gambling rings, prostitution, labor racketeering, loan-sharking, and extortion. Organized crime was molded by prohibition, turning it into an elite form of crime. (“Bootlegging” 1).
Many of the more powerful bootleggers were able to stay safe from the law due to the corruption of police officers. Charles Fitzmorris, chief of police and mayor of Chicago said,
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“Sixty percent of my police are in the bootlegging business.” Officers were easy to “pay off” and that was exactly what the bootleggers did. Throughout the 1920’s many different police were on the pay roll of large bootlegging operations, and prohibition was hardly standing defense against the corrupt law officers. Without law officers working to rid their towns of the organized crime epidemic, the crime is able to grow and mold itself into an almost unstoppable force. ("Police Corruption” 1).
The corruption was not at all limited to the common criminal. The government was riddled with corruption during the Harding administration. Although Harding promised the country a “return to normalcy”, most all Harding brought to the White House was trouble. Harding’s cabinet was primarily composed of his friends and political supporters and was known as the “Ohio Gang”. The Ohio Gang turned out to be the death of Harding.
President Harding once said, “I have no trouble with my enemies… but my damned friends, they’re the ones keeping me up at night!” Many members of Harding’s cabinet were caught accepting bribes, including: Jesse Smith, Charles Cramer, Charles Forbes, and Colonel Thomas W. Miller. It turns out that Harding had “picked the wrong team” as a large percentage of his cabinet had to be removed due to their illegal actions. The corruption in that the Ohio Gang had angered the public. There was one scandal in particular that really got the citizens of the United States all worked up.
The Teapot dome scandal was led by President Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert B. Fall. Fall convinced the Secretary of the Navy, Edwin Denby, to turn the control of the oil fields over to him. After he was in control of the oil fields he began leasing the oil to private oil
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companies such as Harry Sinclair’s Mammoth Oil Company and the Elk Hills reserve to Edward Dohey’s Pan American Petroleum Company.

The companies then “gifted” about four hundred thousand dollars to Fall. Fall attempted to keep the scandal a secret, but his new, lavish lifestyle raised speculation. Fall was eventually found guilty of his wrong doing after being accused of corruption by Thomas J. Walsh, a democrat from Montana. ("Should we expect our politicians to be more honest than we are?" 1).
The 1920’s was surely a corrupt time in the United States, but at least Americans were able to escape all of the corruption when they all turned to their all American passtime, right? Sadly, there was even corruption in the aspect of life that captured the heart of almost all Americans. In 1919, the World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds was fixed. This scandelous event was named the Black Sox scandal.
There was no one single mastermind behind the fixing of the World Series. Two, however, stood out avove the rest: Wiliam Thomas Burns and Billy Maharg. Burns was an ex-major baseball pitcher who could very easily get in contact with the players, and Maharg was a gambler with all the underground connections. With high hopes those two men approached two of the White Sox players, Pitcher Ed Cicotte and First Baseman Arnold Gandil. The four men realized it would take more than two players to fix the world series, and began to ask for

assisstance,
After speaking to a few of their teammates, Cicotte and Gandil were able to recruit six more to their rank: Pitcher Lefty Williams, Centerfielder Happy Felsh, Shortstop Swede Risberg, Thirdbaseman Buck Weaver, Utilityman Fred McMullin, and one of the most legendary stars
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ever, Leftfielder “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. They contacted Arnold Rothstein for a much needed loan. In the end the gamblers bet nearly half a million on the Reds, while agreeing to pay the players a hundred thousand dollars to split.
Money talks; they listened, bringing home a years’ worth of pay. They were able to successfully fix the World Series, but was it illegal? No one would ever find out. No legal punishment was placed on the players. The first commissioner of baseball, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspended each of the players indefinately, promising to let them return if they were found innocent, but none of the players ever returned. (Everstine 1-2).
The 1920’s may have been one of America’s highest points, but the 1920’s could also very well be called the most corrupt decade up to date. Prohibition was to blame for much of the police corruption and spread of organized crime. It is important to note that it was not only the citizens of the United States but also the government. Harding’s administration was filled with corruption as members of his cabinet accepted bribes and Albert B. Fall was able to steal four hundred thousand dollars from the U.S. . Even America’s favorite passtime, baseball was not safe from scandelous behavior. Americans could turn nowhere without running into corruption, and now the 1920’s is seen by present day Americans as one of the most corrupt decades that America has ever seen.