...or personal liberty.For example the act did not concern the actual consumption of liquor in private homes therefore the Ne York Daily Nes could give its readers its readers useful advice ho to survive Prohibition. 2An other rong decision heeler made as putting the Prohibition Bureau under the authority of the Treasury Department instead of the Justice Department and excluding Prohibition agents from the Civil Service. Very early on, this decision proved disastrous as the Prohibition agents in every state ere recruited by the political authority, hich changed every no and then. Moreover the employers did not regard the personal qualifications or references of their applicants and the maximum age as only about 2,300 , hich as barely enough to live on. Therefore it is no onder many of them turned to corruption hich explains hy this job as so anted. In any one year, there ere 10,00 applicants for 2,000 jobs, and the average length of service as only a fe months - most agents being let go for corrupt practices that could not be satisfactorily proved or prosecuted.i6s2.3.The disaster of Prohibition could only happen because of its eak politicians and the unscrupulous counselors behind them. This catastrophe could even be found on highest level President Harding, ho as certainly the eakest, most indecisive president in American historyi7s as completely dependent of his friends. arren Harding gre up the small ton Marion in Ohio, here his father earned his living as a junk dealer after failing as a homeopathic doctor. His son arren preferring billiards, poker and gossip to books as perfectly happy ith his first job as an editor of a small local paper.At the age of 26 he married the seven years older rich ido Florence Kling even though she as lacking any kind of charm but her fortune meant a financial and social stepping- stone for Harding..3 Hoever, he had to bare her constant grumbling, that brought about the ish to get aay.Because of his immense personal charm and his good position it as only a small step for Harding to enter politics. A friend of his once noted His conception of political progress as to make no enemies.i8sThough Harding had little interest for state politics the Republican Party asked him to go to ashington as a senator due his good looks and statesmanlike if spurious presence 8 After realizing that the Senate as some kind of luxury club for poker- and sports- loving self- protectionists he soon started to feel very comfortable especially hen his ife - he used to call her The Duchess as not around.Usually he spend most of his time on the golf course, in the Senate bar or poker games instead of doing his job.Like most other Congressmen he only supported Prohibition to get vote hereas he as a steady drinker in his private time.Quite soon after the beginning of his political career in Ohio to men noticed Hardings political potential and their chance to have great influence on the country behind his back.The one as the layer and failed politician Harry Micajah Daugherty, ho had full insight into the corrupt machine of the Republican Party. As he as completely aare that he could only make a career as the man behind the scene therefore he had to become someones counselor and strategist.The other person behind Harding as Jess Smith being telve years younger than Daugherty and looked after Hardings financial affairs in the late 1890s. As Hardings to ambitious helpers ere alays very close to him, he could not keep any secret to himself. They kne for example about Hardings relationship ith the 20- year old shop- girl Nan Britton that started in 1917 and ent on for years. Of course, Harding as ell aare that the liaison ould spoil his political future if it became knon publicly therefore knoledge gave Daugherty and Smith the poer to put him under pressure if he did not agree ith their feelings and dealings.During Prohibition the to men accepted among others huge sums of hush money from influential criminal overlords, that anted to buy immunity from prosecution that ay.After the first orld ar Harding became the presidential candidate of the Republicans due to the backing of his to advisers and the lack of more convincing opponents.No it as Jess Smith s turn to play an important role as Hardings campaign manager.As people ere tired of heady interventionist days of oodro ilson, the trauma of the Great ar, and the unprecedentely violent ...strikesi9s of the previous year the people very positively responded to Smiths election campaign picturing Harding as the kind small- toner he as. Slogans used by Smith ere for example ith Harding back to normal. or Think of America first..Hardings election victory very clearly shos ho strongly the American ished to ithdra from the troubled scene of orld politics and explains hy Prohibition, that promised a return to small ton virtues such as a family- and church- orientated life, had a great force of attraction .Very soon after his election Harding realized that he as not able to cope ith the duties of a President even though he could fool the public.After his death during his third year in office Jess Smith and Daugherty ere questioned in series of investigations that exposed the huge depths of Hardings administration. Of course, even during Prohibition there ere some la- abiding officers as for example Eliot Ness, the head of an incorruptible nine-man team of la officers called the Untouchables, ho opposed Al Caponeas underorld netork in Chicago. 2.4.1.Behind Ne York, Chicago as the most populated city of the United States ith scarcely to millions inhabitants. Due to its location on the south- estern tip of Lake Michigan, Chicago became the main trading center for the grain and livestock of the groing Midest in the 19th century.Later heavy industry, arehouses and rail yards croded the banks of the Chicago River.The poet Car Sandburg once described Chicago as the stormy, husky, braling city of the big shoulder1i0s, hich is very correct as violence and corruption had alays been a normal part of the Chicagoans life due to its hasty groth hen the second European immigrant ave flooded America from 1880 to 1900 causing a very high population density and social tension the differences beteen the ne and the old lifestyle often undermined families.As the necomers outnumbered the old Anglo- Saxon establishment by about 75 they hardly adjusted to their value system. Furthermore many of them had great difficulties ith the language and hardly any knoledge of democratic principles therefore many politician consolidated their poer by sending out fello member, ho got special privileges if they collected many votes.Chicagos Mayor during the Prohibition era - Big Bill Thompson - as very similar to Harding. He only entered politics because of a lost poker game and oed his election to his great charm and popularity among the gangland. It is true that Thompson promised to reform the corrupt police department but after his election victory nothi...
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