Women and temperance were closely linked. The temperance movement relied heavily on their enthusiastic support. And they were essential to the establishment of National Prohibition (1920-1933). I. Martha Washingtonians One of the earliest temperance groups was the Martha Washingtonians. Officially, it was the Ladies’ Temperance Benevolent Society. Temperance activists formed it in 1841. Women who …
John Morris Sheppard and prohibition were very closely linked. Sheppard became an ardent advocate of banning alcohol beverage sales. And he did so fairly early in his political career. He was in Congress from 1901 until his death in 1941. Sheppard served first as a representative and then as a senator. He was a progressive …
Purley Baker was a leading temperance and Prohibition leader. He was born in Ohio in 1858 and died during National Prohibition (1920-1933) in 1924. Prohibition was part of the Progressive Movement. Anti-Saloon League Rev. Baker was an ordained Methodist minister who became well-known for strongly opposing alcohol and saloons. Perhaps because of that fact, Howard …
Lillian Sedwick was state head of the Indiana Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She was also state leader of the Indiana Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK). Sedwick became state head of the Indiana WKKK when she replaced Daisy Douglass Barr. Reverend Barr was another WKKK and WCTU leader As a KKK-supported candidate, Ms. Sedwick …
Longtime leader of the Prohibition Party, Earl Dodge, Jr., was born in Malden, Massachusetts on December 24, 1932. He joined the Party at age 19. Later, he became chair of the Prohibition Party in 1979. It was while the party was operating under the name of the National Statesmen Party. It re-instated the Prohibition Party …
Joseph H. Choate, Jr. chaired the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (VCL), a group of highly influential attorneys established in 1927 that promoted the repeal of National Prohibition (1920-1933). With its urging, the American Bar Association called for Repeal in 1928. Choate and the VCL worked closely with other repeal organizations such as the Women’s Organization …
Richmond Pearson Hobson was the most highly paid of the over 2,000 public speakers for the Anti-Saloon League. His gift of oratory was highly valued by the League and his membership in Congress gave him political clout. Father of American Prohibition Hobson introduced proposed constitutional amendments to establish national prohibition over 20 times. Understandably, some …
Edward Donegan was an odd-job laborer in 1919. However, in 1920, he became a millionaire within about four months through his bootlegging scheme. See Also Temperance Movement Groups and Leaders in the U.S. Prohibition: the Noble Experiment Puritans to Prohibition National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S. A Social History of Alcohol During National Prohibition …
Dr. Dio Lewis, officially Diocletian Lewis (1823-1886), was a temperance leader. However, he was also a preacher, feminist, social reformer, and food/health faddist. And many considered Lewis to be an eccentric. Background His father had been a “notorious drunkard.” Perhaps that led to his strong belief that alcohol was a great evil. Lewis illegally used …
Daisy Douglas Barr was the fiery Imperial Empress (leader) of the Women’s Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in Indiana and seven other states. Thus, she led about 250,000 WKKK members. That was in the early 1920s. Barr worked closely with the Indiana KKK‘s “Grand Wizard,” D.C. Stevenson. Together, they worked hard on the governor’s race. Many …
