Primary Source Analysis for Prohibition TopicThe purpose of this paper is to identify and describe three primary sources that pertain to the topic of Prohibition. The Library of Congress website was used to locate these resources. Selected were a cartoon, a poster, and a picture taken from the Prohibition era. Each was reflective of the thought and actions that were emerging at that time.
Primary Source #1The first primary source was a cartoon drawn by Clifford Berryman. The title is “Some medicine ball.” The visuals seen within the cartoon are a medicine ball, the top of the Capitol building, a grass lawn, and four men. The only object within the cartoon that is labeled is the medicine ball; inscribed across the ball is “Prohibition Enforcement” (Berryman 1930).
This medicine ball is an important symbol. It represents at least two things. First, medicine balls are not easily thrown, and this is depicted by the perspiration on one of the gentlemens forehead. Secondly, the throwing of a medicine ball represented a game that was a favorite of President Hoover. Each morning, the President, and several important members of the White House staff or Presidents cabinet, would play a strenuous game of throwing a 6-pound medicine ball over an 8 foot net. The game was nicknamed by some as “Hoover-Ball.” The game was played on a grassy area. ((The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum). In addition, the Capital dome, which represents freedom and democracy, as well as the legislative branch of the country, is seen in the background.
As mentioned previously, one of the men was sweating profusely; this individual is currently in possession of the ball but his motions suggest that he is about to toss the ball forward to another man. This man appears very anxious. The other men in the background of the cartoon also appear to be nervous and their position in the background suggests they are more of support individuals behind the action. The words “Prohibition Enforcement” on the medicine ball are most significant as they represent the difficulties of accomplishing this undertaking.
The message of this cartoon displays just how demanding and exhausting it was to enforce the laws of Prohibition (Foner 2012, 625). The lack of manpower and the low wages earned by these agents were elements of disaster; the government enforcers could be simply bribed to look the other way (UMUC 2012). It was a laborious duty that was mandated by the passing of the 18th Amendment and upheld by the administration. The man currently holding the ball represents Andrew Mellon who was the Secretary of the Treasury and originally responsible for upholding the law. The individual about to receive the ball represents Attorney General William D. Mitchell. The cartoon was drawn in June 1930, and the transfer of power from one agency to the other was effective
The Bureau of Land Management (BML) was a governmental agency that was responsible for maintaining federal land holdings. The Bureau of Land Management was a large public agency with about 5,000 officers and thousands of employees, operating in 36 states, as well as more than 18,000 reservations across the country for all land owned by the landowner. BML was also the largest office in the country in 1930 when it issued official rule-making decisions about the management of federal land. In 1938 it was reorganised as the Federal Land Commission and created by the First Presidency and later joined the Bureau of Land Management under its new name, the Bureau of Development (BDA). In 1940 BDA became the Department of Agriculture and Department of Mining and Mineral Resources, with some of its most senior staff positions. The role of the Bureau of Mines in managing federal land took the form of two major roles—the National Mining Advisory Committee and the Federal Office-in-Chief. The Bureau became a unit of the Federal Office-In-Chief and as a result each of these roles was subject to the approval of the President of the United States. BDA played a major role in the regulation of the U.S. gold and steel markets. In 1938 this decision was made to form the Advisory Board on the regulation of the Federal Gold Standards, which established the Bureau of Mining of the United States. Although the BDA would later be called the Bureau of Mines, it was not until 1941 that BDO became a Department responsible for supervising the development and expansion of the United States gold and steel market.
In March of 1941, the Bureau of Industry and Commerce (BIC) was established to supervise the regulation of the United States gold and steel markets. The Bureau was designed to provide economic and environmental services by helping to regulate and implement the current gold and steel industry in the United States. While BIC was created to oversee the management of the management of the U.S. gold and steel markets, it played a significant role in the U.S. monetary system as well, providing financial information for all government departments, boards and agencies across the Union (U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Trust Services Corporation, and the Treasury Department).
In the 1950s the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began to monitor and protect U.S. gold and steel futures by providing technical assistance to U.S. Federal Reserve agencies. This was the purpose of the FBI, which in 1949 directed the Secret Service to carry out a wide range of investigations into federal and domestic gold and steel markets and to conduct periodic, national monitoring of gold and silver trading. After the assassination of James Madison in April of 1865, the FBI established the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assist banks in doing their banking business under the auspices of an FBI unit of the Department of National Intelligence who were in charge of gold and silver trading throughout the United States. Federal agencies such as the Treasury, Drug Enforcement Administration, and State and