Laws for thee but not for me
When the
Volstead act was signed and brought about Prohibition, members of congress weren't affected.
Wonderful historical article at
The Atlantic:
How Congress Stayed Wet in the Dry Years of Prohibition
In a yet-to-be-gentrified area of Northeast D.C., a nondescript warehouse was unusually lively last Saturday afternoon. Inside? A spirited bottling party.
The Ivy City warehouse is home to New Columbia Distillers. Started in 2012 by Michael Lowe, New Columbia is unique in that it's the first distillery in Washington since before Prohibition.
But that isn't the company's only link to the country's teetotaling days. New Columbia's signature product, Green Hat Gin, is an homage to Congress's personal bootlegger.
While members of Congress may have championed Prohibition laws on the House floor, many of them happily broke the rules in any of the 3,000 speakeasies scattered throughout downtown Washington. And when members needed to restock their personal hooch supply, they turned to one man: George Cassiday.
During his time as a booze distributor on the Hill, Cassiday estimated that four out of five members of Congress drank�and many of them availed themselves of Cassiday's services. Congress even gave Cassiday his own storeroom in the basement of the Cannon office building.
A bit more:
Before the 1930 midterm elections, Cassiday wrote a series of five front-page articles for The Washington Post about his former clientele. Though he didn't name names, he gave plenty of colorful detail. One senator Cassiday supplied would hide his liquor on top of a bookshelf, next to the Congressional Record.
"He never mentioned liquor to me, but occasionally he would say he could use some 'new reading matter,'" Cassiday wrote. "This customer always referred to me as his 'librarian.' "
And a great loss of
blackmail historical material:
After Cassiday died in 1967, his wife burned an important piece of D.C. history�Cassiday's ledger book. Today, it may have looked like a who's who in Congress from Prohibition days.
The article also references this 2011 book:
Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Weren't
Looks like it would be a fun read.
Posted by DaveH at April 12, 2014 1:40 PM