Prohibition

Not if you don't believe in God.

 

Well, again, I'm not looking to share my own opinion, or debate religion.

The idea was that rights were inherent. Is that better. They weren't Man's to grant.

If anything, it was their duty to protect the rights of Man, and as such, the Bill of Rights limits the Governments rights.

 

YF, you are really growing on me.

 

Sarcasm, or should I be honored?

 

Eh. Same basic understanding of facts. Same goals. The arguments are about how to achieve them.

 

Burns did a far more extensive job on George Remus than the BBC did . . . of course, there's no doubt
Burns has viewed the BBC version, and knew he had to clear that bar.

On the other hand . . . has there been a Joe Kennedy sighting, this week (had to visit the little boy's room, occasionally . . . )? If not, shame on Burns.

 

The special fascinates me because I went through 16 years of schooling and so little got mentioned about the era. We'd gloss over the 1920s as a go-go era of economic boom and flow straight into the Great Depression. Prohibition was rarely even introduced into the narrative, and if it was it was mentioned as a mere footnote of the early part of the century overshadowed by Woodrow Wilson and flappers.

Ah, the crappy education I received as a public school and university student....

 

I agree with that. I was thinking about something similar as I've been doing a good amount of research on eugenics of late. Try to find a high school classroom in the U.S. that actually discusses in-depth our despicable eugenics policies, especially in the 20s and 30s. Hitler invited U.S. scientists to Germany to get information on our programs and wrote a note to the scientists thanking them for all the books they gave him about the subject.

 

FWIW -- I caught a bit of it and saw David Okrent being interviewed, so obviously his book is source material, and as I mentioned earlier in the thread he's pretty much convinced that "Joe Kennedy was a bootlegger" is based on very little actual evidence.

 

Why?

Kennedy was rich before and during prohibition -- because of other interests. He may have MAY made some money bootlegging - but he made a lot more after prohibition. He might merit a mention, but he's not worth a chapter in the story of Prohibtion.


Per Wiki

Fish beat me to it. ...

 

Okrent was quite adamant in his book that there was no evidence supporting the claim that Joe Kennedy Sr. was a bootlegger.

Kennedy then used his connections with FDR to become the first head of the Securities and Exchange Commission followed by an utterly awful stint as ambassador to the UK.

 

I grew up with the family story that my father's father was a small-time gangster in the '20s and '30s who hung out with the likes of Alvin Karpis. Never knew if it was true or not, but it was pretty clear that at the very least he operated on the fringes of the law in that era. Someday I'm going to see if he had criminal records here and in the U.S.