Introduction

The 1920s was a period defined by cultural excess and societal shifts in America. While many associate the decade with the glamour of jazz culture and flappers, a darker aspect of American life dominated the twenties. Fueled by the failures of Prohibition and an influx of organized crime, one of the most infamous events of the twenties was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The massacre served as a violent representation of the nation’s influx of organized crime, corruption, and lawlessness.

February 14, 1929 remains a defining moment in the history of organized crime in America. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre exposed many of the complexities of the Prohibition era. The mass killing not only changed how law enforcement viewed organized crime but also served as a reminder of the failure of the government. Specifically, the event demonstrated weakness in the government to enforce laws, particularly the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

On the morning of February 14, 1929, seven men were shot and killed in a garage at 2122 North Clark Street, Chicago. The victims were members of the North Side Irish gang, which was headed by George “Bugs” Moran, a notorious figure in Chicago’s organized crime scene. The victims were lined up against a wall and shot with Tommy guns, a common weapon used by gangsters during this period.¹

The shooters disguised themselves as uniformed policemen. They arrived at the garage in a stolen car and deceived Moran’s men into believing they were law enforcement officers. This disguise allowed them to get close to the gang members without raising suspicion. Once inside the garage, the men opened fire and killed all seven men.² The brutality of the massacre frightened Americans. The massacre represented a significant increase in the violent gang wars present in major American cities throughout the twentieth century.

Five of the victims were direct members of Moran’s North Side Gang: Moran’s second in command, Albert Kachellek, bookkeeper and business manager Adam Heyer, cleaning operator Albert Weinshank, gang enforcer Frank Gusenberg, and his brother Peter Gusenberg. Two affiliates of the gang were also murdered: Reinhardt H. Schwimmer and John Hay. All men were found dead at the scene except for Frank Gusenberg.³ Law enforcement transported Gusenberg to nearby St. Joseph’s Hospital where they questioned him about the attack. Gusenberg refused to provide any details on the shooters. This was a common practice of organized crime affiliates. Frank Gusenberg later died at St. Joseph’s Hospital from his wounds.  

The victims of the massacre were part of Moran’s North Side gang. The gang obtained immense power and wealth from the illegal bootlegging trade during the Prohibition era. They were also involved in a rivalry with the South Side Italian gang led by Al Capone. People widely suspected that Capone orchestrated the hit. Within days of the shooting, the court summoned Al Capone to testify before a grand jury on charges of Prohibition violations seemingly unrelated to the massacre. Capone’s gang was also heavily involved in bootlegging alcohol during this time period. The city would investigate numerous men affiliated with Capone’s South Side Gane, however, the lack of evidence left law enforcement clueless. Despite the growing suspicions, Capone and the South Side Gang were never officially charged or convicted of the hit. The rival gangs were in a constant struggle for control of Chicago’s illegal liquor trade. Thus, many people viewed the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre as an act of violence in relation to the gang war.

While the connections to Capone’s organization seemed obvious, no members of the South Side gang were ever convicted of the murders. Law enforcement questioned several suspects which included Capone and his men, but ultimately the case never closed. Despite never officially convicting anyone of the crime, law enforcement did identify connections to the massacre. On December 14, 1929 almost a year after the massacre, Michigan native Fredrick Dane, shot and killed an officer after a drunken car accident. The murder prompted the search of Dane’s Michigan home where law enforcements found a collection of Tommy guns which they believed to be the guns used in the massacre. Fredrick Dane had loose connections to Al Capone and his affiliates. Through the murder investigation, law enforcement linked Fredrick Dane to the massacre, however, they did not have enough evidence to convict him. Instead they sentenced Dane to life in prison for the murder of Officer Skelly. He served approximately 10 years before he died in 1940. Even with strong connections and links, law enforcement was unable to convict anyone of the crime. This lack of resolution after the massacre only added to the mass hysteria in Chicago and danger surrounding organized crime in the 1920s.

Prohibition’s Impact on Organized Crime

To understand the significance of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, it is important to understand the effects of the Prohibition laws. Ratified in 1919, the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League believed alcohol consumption was responsible for the social problems such as domestic violence, crime and poverty which caused them to contribute to the implementation of prohibition laws.⁴ Through a legal ban of the manufacture or sale of alcohol, many believed “prohibition would re-create a socially ordered community through the establishment of Protestant middle/class values.”⁵ Prohibition directly impacted the immigrant communities such as the Irish, Italians, and Germans as drinking was deeply ingrained in their culture and traditions. Law enforcement often targeted immigrants as speakeasies and bootlegging operations were frequently associated with their neighborhoods. Prohibition’s restrictive laws fueled resentment and widened cultural divides, reinforcing nativist prejudices. Figures such as Al Capone and George Moran rose to prominence through these large smuggling and distribution operations which further established organized crime within immigrant communities.

Despite its intended goals, Prohibition created a massive black market for alcohol and marked the rise of powerful organized crime groups who profited off the illegal liquor trade. Organized crime figures dominated the lucrative illegal trade which escalated the violent tensions in urban America; “there were fortunes to be made from the illicit trade, and prohibition agents were not up against individual lawbreakers, but faced well-organized and well-mannered gangs.”  Figures such as Al Capone and Bugs Moran profited immensely from this bootlegging.⁶ In addition to these figures, Prohibition led to the rise in underground clubs. Speakeasies became extremely popular across the country. However, this new industry caused even more competition and tension for control of this lucrative market which led to increased violence, corruption, and organized crime schemes.⁷

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was a direct consequence of this struggle for power. Moran’s North Side gang and Capone’s South Side gang fought for dominance in Chicago’s bootlegging operations for years prior to the hit. The gangs were constantly involved in violent situations. A prime example of this tension occurred on the Detroit River. The Detroit River was a major port for smuggling alcohol during Prohibition. One night while Capone and his men attempted to smuggle alcohol, the North Side Gang hijacked the boat and intercepted the alcohol.⁸ This event allegedly served as a catalyst for the massacre. This story further provides motive and supports the narrative that the massacre was an attempt by Capone’s men to eliminate their rivals and gain full control over the city’s illegal alcohol trade. If orchestrated by Capone, the massacre was not a random act of violence but instead a strategic move to gain power and profit further off the illegal trade market.

Law enforcement’s inability to convict anyone of the violent crime only further highlighted the lack of power the government presented to enforce Prohibition laws. Illegal trade, speakeasies, and violence thrived under Prohibition. The federal government established the Volstead Act to enforce the 18th Amendment. Law enforcement agencies were overwhelmed by the power, size, and violence of the illegal market. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre continued to serve as a reminder that Prohibition did not lead to a decrease in crime but had instead fueled a violent and lawless culture in the 1920s.

Organized Crime and Government Corruption

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre also further revealed the extent to which organized crime infiltrated American society and government. During the 1920s, corruption was rampant among police officers, politicians, judges, and other public officials because many received benefits from the respective gangs. Whether out of fear or financial pressures, many of these public officials were on the books of these criminal organizations and coerced to overlook some of the violent offenses.⁹ This caused substantial corruption as it was extremely difficult to distinguish between law enforcement and the criminals they were supposed to be policing. These factors created the environment of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and allowed organized crime to thrive.

Al Capone was infamous for his ability to bribe local officials and law enforcement officers to turn a blind eye to his criminal activities. As mentioned, Capone was one of the largest and wealthiest gangsters in America. Capone gained most of his wealth from the bootlegging trade and other illicit trades during Prohibition. The wealth he gained from Prohibition allowed him to gain significant influence over the political and legal systems in Chicago. He was protected not only by his men, but also a large network of corrupt individuals who turned a blind eye to his criminal activities and allowed him to continue to gain massive amounts of wealth and political power.¹⁰ Ultimately, through his connections, Al Capone remained one of the most powerful individuals in Chicago even beyond the 1920s.

The inability of the authorities to solve the crime and bring justice further undermined public confidence in the government’s ability to control organized crime. It also undermined the dangerous relationship between organized crime rings and corrupt officials. These connections continued to highlight the relationship between wealth and corruption. The more wealth a person amassed the more power they had to control the system, a common theme throughout the 1920s.

Broader Significance

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre represented a turning point in the culture of the 1920s. It was not only a violent representation of the tensions between rival gangs, but also an intense representation of the growing corruption and lawlessness in the twenties. While many often remember the 1920s for its culture, jazz, and the rise of consumerism, the massacre demonstrates how it was also a period of intense social and political violence and unrest. The massacre sparked a deep sense of public distrust and disillusionment with the government and its ability to control society. As more Americans understood the negative impacts of Prohibition, particularly the violence it had provoked, there were mass movements that called for the repeal of the 18th Amendment.¹¹ These movements led to the eventual repeal of Prohibition with the ratification of the 21st Amendment in 1933, shortly after the 1920s.¹²

Conclusion
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was not just an isolated event, but part of a broader pattern of increasing gang violence present in the 1920s. It served as a defining moment of the 1920s that highlighted the challenges and contradictions of the decade. The massacre exposed the failures of Prohibition, the violent basis of organized crime competition, and the limits of law enforcement in an era of mass corruption. This massacre emphasized the tensions between rival gangs while fueling public outrage. It effectively demonstrated how prohibition failed as the movement promoted lawlessness and corruption rather than temperance. The massacre also marked a turning point in the way people viewed and trusted the government’s ability to control crime and the growing influence of organized crime. It remains a reminder of the unintended consequences of Prohibition such as escalated violence which led to the rise of organized crime in America. Ultimately, the massacre showcased the weaknesses of American political and legal systems which allowed for the eventual collapse of Prohibition, the only Amendment to ever be repealed.

Footnotes

1. “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall.” The Mob Museum, February 10, 2023. https://themobmuseum.org/exhibits/massacre-wall/.  ︎
2. The Mob Museum ︎
3. The Mob Museum in Downtown Las Vegas. https://themobmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/trio.jpg.  ︎
4. Lynn Dumenil. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s, ed. Eric Foner (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1995) 229. ︎
5. Lynn Dumenil. The Modern Temper. 228. ︎
6. Daniel McDonough. “Chicago Press Treatment of the Gangster, 1924-1931.” Illinois Historical Journal 82, no. 1 (1989): 17–32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40192250. ︎
7. Jeffrey A. Miron, and Jeffrey Zwiebel. “Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition.” The American Economic Review 81, no. 2 (1991): 242–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2006862. ︎
8. Rumrunning and the Roaring Twenties: Prohibition on the Michigan-Ontario Waterway. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. August 1, 1995. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-8143-2583-4. ︎
9. Lynn Dumenil. The Modern Temper. 233. ︎
10. The Mob Museum. ︎
11. The Mob Museum. ︎
12. Lynn Dumenil. The Modern Temper. 234. ︎

Bibliography

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s, ed. Eric Foner (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1995).

Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Dane Linked in Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 7.” December 17, 1929, 1.

McDonough, Daniel. “Chicago Press Treatment of the Gangster, 1924-1931.” Illinois Historical Journal 82, no. 1 (1989): 17–32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40192250.

Miron, Jeffrey A., and Jeffrey Zwiebel. “Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition.” The American Economic Review 81, no. 2 (1991): 242–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2006862.

Rumrunning and the Roaring Twenties: Prohibition on the Michigan-Ontario Waterway. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. August 1, 1995. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-8143-2583-4.

“St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall.” The Mob Museum, February 10, 2023. https://themobmuseum.org/exhibits/massacre-wall/. 

The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas. https://themobmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/trio.jpg.

Erin Pryor

Erin Pryor is a History and Philosophy double major in the Honors Program, graduating with the Class of 2025. She is a writing consultant on campus at the Center for Reading and Writing. She is the president of Phi Alpha Theta history honors society and a member of Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity.

Harry B. Burt (1875-1926) was a confectioner who originally produced candy, but later added ice cream, soda, and even a bakery to further expand his business. However, he is most known for creating the “Good Humor” ice cream bar in 1921 and having the innovation of refrigerated ice cream trucks, revolutionizing the ice cream industry entirely. 

Between the years 1893 and 1922, Harry B. Burt lived and worked in Youngstown, Ohio. He came to Youngstown in 1893 when he was eighteen years old. He started out by opening a penny store on South Hazel Street. It was a very small wood frame building that was only a few blocks away from the main streets of the city, Market Street and Federal Street. The Youngstown Vindicator, a local newspaper, stated in a eulogy for Burt that that building was old, with faded wallpaper and a very few amount of furniture. However, it “was so clean—an exception for a confectionery in those days—and everything he sold was so delicious.”

In 1895, he moved closer to the center or the town and business, where he received his best customers, the kids who attended the elementary school one block away from his shop. Between 1898 and 1902, he moved locations another two times, while also having it be the first place in Youngstown to have added a soda fountain to the store, and being remodeled in 1906. 

The Ice Cream Bar is Created

In 1921, his most notorious and recognized achievement was complete. Burt experimented with and soon developed a chocolate coating that would be compatible with ice cream. When his children tested the chocolate-covered ice cream, his daughter Ruth stated that the ice cream bar was still too “messy.” Taking a suggestion from his son, Harry, he added a wooden stick to the ice cream bar, similar to a lollipop. The process they developed to do this was to soften the bricks of ice cream to insert the wooden stick, refreeze the ice cream, and then dip the cut bricks into the new chocolate coating. It worked and the process of making, selling, and the entire industry of ice cream changed for years to come, especially for his own business. 

Around the time that Burt invented the “Good Humor” ice cream bar, he wanted to expand his business and move locations once more. This was largely due to the demand for his goods, therefore he needed a bigger site for manufacturing his products including ice cream, candy, and baked goods. In October 1921, he acquired a building in the city’s commercial area on Federal Street. He had contracted with a construction company to renovate the entire building. 

On January 30, 1922, Harry Burt applied for a patent for the machinery and process of making the “Good Humor” bar. On October 9, 1923, he received a patent for the process, but not for the product itself. It was not until he traveled to Washinton D.C. with samples of the bar that the patent was granted.

Through his patents, he not only claimed ownership over his own ice cream bar creation, but any frozen treat on a stick. He soon filed lawsuits against two of his competitors: the Citrus Products Company and the Popsicle Corporation. In an issue of The Ice Cream Review in June 1925, Burt stated “[It] is just as much an act of infringement to use a patented process as to make a patented product. The Burt patent is many months ahead of any other patent relating to frozen suckers. Our royalties are small, indeed far less than litigation would cost to be an infringer.” Many negotiations were had over time, but in the end, the lawsuits were dropped. 

The Introduction of the Ice Cream Truck

Between 1922 and 1926, the popularity of the Good Humor ice cream bar grew substantially with the two floavors of vanilla and chocolate. The availability of of his products also helped the growth of the business due to the new factory space and the fleet of ice cream trucks. He became the first ice cream vendor to use motorized trucks instead of pushcarts to roam and sell ice cream products. The signature truck not only gave the business more growth and freedom due to availability to people in neighborhoods, but also was more sanitary to previous methods of selling ice cream on the street. Many of the other methods at the time were often the source of food poisioning and had cheap ingredients and quality. The freezer trucks had a refrigeration unit making it much safer and reliable when it came to health concerns. Also, to show customers that there was no cause for concern regarding health and quality, every driver wore a white uniform, similar to those worn in hospitals to show cleanliness. 

Conclusion

Harry Burt died in 1926, and his wife Cora took over the company and made it public. She eventually sold the business and the patents to Good Humor Corporation of America in 1928. The new owner she had sold it to, planned to advertise and  market the “Good Humor Sucker” on a national scale. The Good Humor Bar and the “Good Humor Man” who drives the ice cream truck would become an iconic staple in marketing, being featured in books, comics, toys, and cartoons. Harry Burt not only had a legacy with his marketing and his innovations of the refrigerated trucks, but on the ice cream industry entirely. 

In the Context of the 1920s

In 1919, the Volstead Act was passed, limiting the sale and distribution of alcohol throughout the 1920s. The movement had its origins with Evangelical Christians who felt that the move towards a more sober America was a move towards a more Christian America. The temperance and evangelical movements attempted, among other goals, to strengthen the family (The Modern Temper 226). While this time of prohibition greatly hurt the alcohol industry, it gave way to a rise in popularity in the ice cream industry. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, between 1919 and 1929, the federal tax revenues from alcohol decreased from about $365 million to less than $13 million. The cost of drinking had dramatically increased with the start of prohibition, which in turn went a long way in curbing its use. For example, since 1916 the cost of beer was up 600 percent, gin 520 percent, and whiskey 310 percent”, which is not a price many people were willing to pay when going out (The Modern Temper 233).

While the Volstead Act did work in lowering alcohol consumption by about 30 percent, many people did not have another option for going out drinking, but still had a need for a treat in place of alcohol. There was about a 40 percent growth in ice cream consumption between 1920 and 1929. Prior to prohibition, drinking establishments were social gathering places where people could meet. “As men sought alternatives to having a drink at the local saloon, many ate ice cream more often” (Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla: A History of American Ice Cream, Anne Cooper Funderburg).

Many bars and saloons were converted to soda shops and ice cream parlors. Refrigerators were typically already present in the establishments and converting a tap beer system to a soda stream was not difficult or expensive. Locations began selling ice cream and more of these stores began to show up all over the country. Many of these locations became the new gathering spots for people to socialize and enjoy a sweet treat. 

Along with needing alternatives, many groups and organizations that encouraged prohibition supported the industry for dairy products such as ice cream. The Anti-Saloon League, which was formed in 1893 in Ohio, was one of the most well known and influential groups to fight against alcohol and support prohibition. They were a powerful orangazation when it came to lobbying for prohibition. They used flyers, propaganda, and even yearbooks to demonstrate their purpose in limiting alcohol use and have an impact on the change of laws on local, state, and eventually national levels. Due to their influence in the passing of the Volstead Act, they actively supported the dairy industry and therefore the growth of the ice cream industry. In one of the organization’s yearbooks from 1921 it even states that “it is believed that this large increase in ice cream consumption was due in a large degree to the fact that men with a craving for stimulants turned readily to this refreshing and palatable food. The more ice cream that is used, the better it is for the consumers and the producers of milk.”

So while the intentions of this group, along with others were rooted in a change in ideas about the way people lived and acted, with some motivations that were religious or political, it stemmed further into other aspects of people’s lives that supported their goals. 

Improvements in technology regarding refrigeration and innovations in ice cream production increased production and brought ice cream treats to a national market. Throughout the 1920s, people were creating their own ways to help make frozen ice cream treats that were less messy and more portable, and overall more accessible to the public with the decrease in alcohol consumption and the increase in ice cream consumption. Countertop freezers allowed to store large amounts of ice cream. However, the process of making it was often labor intensive, creating an incentive to come up with new methods of development. Clarence Vogt, an inventor from Louisville, Kentucky, made it possible to mass produce ice cream on an industrial scale when he created the first continuous process freezer to be used commercially. This opened up the opportunities not only for easier methods of creating ice cream, but also for the mass production of it. 

This topic was chosen as not only is it interesting and fun to know the history of such a popular treat such as ice cream, but it is also very relevant in the context of the 1920s. While Prohibtion is a very well known event that is commonly studied, some of the effects of it are less discussed, such as the popularity it gave the ice cream business. The event of Harry Burt inventing the Good Humor bar and revoluntionizing the industry with his fleet of ice cream trucks had an impact not only in the 1920s, but for years to come through the 1960s. Advertisements for Ford trucks even referred to the Good Humor company in the 1950s as they were the trucks that Good Humor reliably used at the time. 

Knocking the trend and growth of certain societal aspects and the role it had on other events is extremely important. While most people associate prohibition with activities such as bootlegging and a rise in organized crime, it also led into more positive effects such as this one. Since there is no doubt that the Good Humor bar and Burt’s business as a confectioner would have gained the popularity it did at the time without prohibition, people looking for an alternative to alcohol may change what many people know and that not every effect of the Volstead Act was negative and lead to violence or crime.

Bibliography

• Anne Cooper Funderburg. Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla : A History of American Ice Cream. Bowling Green, Oh, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1995.
• ‌“Image 1 of the Book of Ice-Cream,.” The Library of Congress, 2015, www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.bookoficecream00fisk/?st=pdf&pdfPage=292&r=-0.322%2C-0.082%2C1.644%2C1.644%2C0. Accessed 7 May 2025.
• ‌Kelly, Kerry. “The Volstead Act.” National Archives, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 24 Feb. 2017, www.archives.gov/education/lessons/volstead-act.
• ‌“The Frozen Sucker War: Good Humor v. Popsicle.” National Archives, 15 Aug. 2016, www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/popsicle.
• ‌“The Good Humor Story.” Mahoning Valley Historical Society, 3 Aug. 2012, mahoninghistory.org/tyler-history-center/the-good-humor-story/.
• ‌Archives.gov, 2025, catalog.archives.gov/id/5916723. Accessed 7 May 2025.
• ‌Society, Mahoning Valley Historical. “Time Capsule |Harry Burt’s Innovations – Mahoning Valley Historical Society.” Mahoninghistory.org, 29 June 2022, mahoninghistory.org/2022/06/29/time-capsule-july-1-2022harry-burts-innovations/.

jbaham

Jordyn Baham is a senior at Ramapo College studying Photography with a minor in Museum and Exhibition Studies. She takes the Discovering Digital History class in Spring 2025.

The 18th Amendment established Prohibition in 1920. Groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League believed alcohol consumption was responsible for the social problems such as domestic violence, crime and poverty which caused them to contribute to the implementation of prohibition laws.² Through a legal ban of the manufacture or sale of alcohol, many believed “prohibition would re-create a socially ordered community through the establishment of Protestant middle/class values.”³ Prohibition directly impacted the immigrant communities such as the Irish, Italians, and Germans as drinking was deeply ingrained in their culture and traditions. Native born Americans expected immigrants would “conform to the dominant English Protestant culture,” and prohibition attempted to legally enforce this conformity.⁴ Instead, the immigrant communities tended to oppose the prohibition which further exposed how the movement failed to unite the population through enforcement. Law enforcement often targeted immigrants as speakeasies and bootlegging operations were frequently associated with their neighborhoods. Prohibition’s restrictive laws fueled resentment and widened cultural divides, reinforcing nativist prejudices.⁵ Figures such as Al Capone and George Moran rose to prominence through these large smuggling and distribution operations which further established organized crime within immigrant communities.

While many viewed Prohibition as a progressive step towards social order and homogeneity, instead it marked the rise of powerful organized crime groups who profited off the illegal liquor trade. These gangs acquired immense wealth and political influence through bribery and coercion; “there were fortunes to be made from the illicit trade, and prohibition agents were not up against individual law breakers, but faced well-organized and well-mannered gangs.”⁶ Law enforcement and the government were easily persuaded and often turned a blind eye to organized crime activities potentially out of fear or financial pressure. These tactics led to the increase in violence and corruption in both the political and social spheres. These factors created the environment of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and allowed organized crime to thrive. 

 The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was not just an isolated event, but part of a broader pattern of increasing gang violence present in the 1920s. The massacre exposed the violent basis of organized crime competition and the limits of law enforcement in an era of mass corruption. This Massacre emphasized the tensions between rival gangs while fueling public outrage. It effectively demonstrated how prohibition failed as the movement promoted lawlessness and corruption rather than temperance. Ultimately, the increase in organized crime and violence exposed the failures of Prohibition and contributed to its eventual repeal in 1933.

Citations

Footnotes

1. The Mob Museum in downtown Las vegas. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://themobmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/trio.jpg.  ︎
2. Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s, ed. Eric Foner (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1995), 229. ︎
3. Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 228. ︎
4. Dumenil, The Modern Temper,204. ︎
5. Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 230. ︎
6. Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 233. ︎

Bibliography

“Divisions.” Labor & Capital, America in the 1920s, Primary Sources for Teachers, America in Class, National Humanities Center. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/divisions/text6/text6.htm. 

McDonough, Daniel. “Chicago Press Treatment of the Gangster, 1924-1931.” Illinois Historical Journal 82, no. 1 (1989): 17–32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40192250.

The Mob Museum in downtown Las vegas. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://themobmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/trio.jpg. 

Erin Pryor

Erin Pryor is a History and Philosophy double major in the Honors Program, graduating with the Class of 2025. She is a writing consultant on campus at the Center for Reading and Writing. She is the president of Phi Alpha Theta history honors society and a member of Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity.

Newspaper advertisement for a freezer pack promoting national ice cream day in The Washington Times, May 26, 1920.

Ice cream, similar to alcohol, was not a necessity, it was something to splurge on that was not too expensive, like the drink after work, so it was available to the middle class. The cost of drinking had dramatically increased with the start of prohibition, which in turn went a long way in curbing its use. For example, since 1916 the cost of beer was up 600 percent, gin 520 percent, and whiskey 310 percent”, which is not a price many people were willing to pay when going out (The Modern Temper 233). By comparison, ice cream was an indulgence that could be afforded and enjoyed by most. All of this made the popularity of ice cream parlors explode over this period. The consumption of ice cream rose 40% from 1920-1929 when prohibition was in effect. Even many of the distilleries joined in the sudden popularity. Due to their existing facilities with their large refrigeration plants, they were able to adapt to this growth and started mass producing ice cream, which drastically helped the growth of the innovations in the ice cream industry. During this time, ice cream trucks and the ice cream bar were created and patented. Both of these are largely attributed to Harry Burt. Burt was the creator of Good Humor bar. He then put them in specialized, branded, refrigerated trucks in Youngstown, Ohio and this was key to the success of selling from a mobile truck. It also furthered the growth of ice cream by bringing it to the people during the summer and keeping it as part of their weekly ritual. After the repeal of prohibition, the popularity of ice cream did not wane. It was firmly ingrained in the culture of the nation.

Bibliography

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. United States: Hill and Wang, 2024. 

Humanities, National Endowment for the. “The Washington Times. [Volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, May 26, 1920, FINAL EDITION, Image 9.” Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, 26 May 1920, p. 9, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1920-05-26/ed-1/seq-9/.

jbaham

Jordyn Baham is a senior at Ramapo College studying Photography with a minor in Museum and Exhibition Studies. She takes the Discovering Digital History class in Spring 2025.

Ross’ Early Years

Nellie Tayloe Ross was born on November 29, 1876, in St. Joseph, Missouri, on a plantation owned by her maternal grandfather in Andrew County. Her parents were James Wynns Tayloe and Elizabeth Blair Green. Nellie’s family had been devastated by the Civil War’s aftermath; in response, she had always feared poverty. Ross’ education was facilitated by her brothers who aided in helping her learn how to read when she was 5 years old. She attended the Maxwell School with her brothers. To achieve a more successful future, her family moved to Miltonvale, Kansas. She attended the United Presbyterian Church and her mother was involved in women’s suffrage. Here, she witnessed her mother in a position of leadership, a position which her father had respected. Her southern upbringing and her mother had influenced her political beliefs. She remained a Democrat for most of her life and gained the belief from her mother that women’s traditional roles were compatible with public responsibilities.² After her mothers death, her family moved back towards the Missouri river into Omaha, Nebraska. There, she became a kindergarten teacher. In 1900, she went to visit relatives in Tennessee where she met and married her husband, William Ross. They moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1902 and had four boys together. William started his own law practice and got involved in politics. He ran for governor and won with the state’s failing economy as his main concern.

The Election of Nellie Tayloe Ross

On September 25, 1924, her husband underwent an appendectomy. He died on October 2, just one month before the general election. The Democratic Party asked Nellie Tayloe Ross to be their candidate and after much convincing, she agreed. Both the Republican and Democratic parties held their conventions in Cheyenne on October 14 to choose their candidates. The Republican Party nominated Casper attorney and politician Eugene J. Sullivan. After receiving the Democratic nomination, Ross remained at home and let her friends lead the campaign. Political advertisements encouraged voters to support Ross because she promised to carry out her husband’s policies. This included policies that helped the economy and workers. They also portrayed her opponent, Sullivan, as a supporter of the founder of Sinclair Oil, Harry Sinclair, who was involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal. One advertisement in The Buffalo Voice encouraged voters to “Beat Texas to It,” encouraging Wyoming to become the first state to elect a female governor, as Miriam “Ma” Ferguson was also running for governor in Texas.⁶ While both Ross and Ferguson were the first women elected as governors in the U.S, Ross was sworn in first, earning her the title of “First Female Governor of the United States”. She defeated Sullivan by more than 8,000 votes. In addition, she even outperformed Republican Francis E. Warren, Wyoming’s senior U.S. Senator.⁷ On January 5, 1925, she was sworn in as governor of Wyoming during an inauguration ceremony in the Senate chambers in Cheyenne. She served as governor from 1925 to 1927.

Ross’ Governorship: Politics, Law, Economics, Prohibition, & Agriculture

The 1920s has the reputation of being a time of prosperity, economic growth, and the boom of the stock market. However, it differed from state to state. Before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Wyoming was facing an economic depression. Ross would be among the governors who confronted this depression. Wyoming’s economy depended on livestock, business, farming, coal production, and the Union Pacific Railroad. In post-WW1 Wyoming, the loss of government contracts, declining demand for certain commodities, deflation, and the 1919 drought contributed to this economic depression. To tackle these problems, Ross proposed a plan to address the state’s budget deficit and outlined strategies for managing it. She found that railroad property values were lower than those in neighboring states and that many mining corporations owned large amounts of property while avoiding taxes. She believed that more equitable taxation could help resolve the issue. In the 1920s, businesses and businessmen were becoming more idealized, striving to present a more polished and positive image. At the same time, the issue of business taxes became a significant concern in response to previous revisions to tax laws. People, such as Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, sought to reduce business tax, while Ross was concerned with equitable tax within her state.⁸ Following this, she discovered that falling oil prices were causing shortfalls and that light oil production was decreasing. In response, she supported producing more black oil and using it to build state’s highways. To her disappointment, her proposals to explore commercial possibilities for black oil were declined. Banks were also failing. Between 1920-1924, 68 state and national banks had failed in Wyoming. Half had closed by 1924.⁹ To address banking closures, Ross proposed laws to protect banks and depositors. This included laws that made sure that people wouldn’t lose their money if a bank failed. Lastly, Ross answered to further tax concerns by supporting a bill that would give one-third of mineral royalties to public schools. This would help with reducing local taxes. However, it was not approved by the legislature.

When we think of the 1920s, we also often think of Prohibition, a time when alcohol was banned across the U.S. During the late 19th century and into the 1920s, women had entered the political arena. One popular reform amongst them was Prohibition. This led to the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act that made the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol illegal. Women supported Prohibition because they believed male drinking led to reckless behavior, such as sexual excess, which harmed women and children in the home.¹¹ Ross, like these women, supported this law. She believed that the purchaser of alcohol was just as guilty as the bootlegger. She proposed a bill to enforce this, however, it was later declined by the legislature. During her term, she had to deal with two sheriffs who were involved in alcohol related acts. She received and agreed to a request from District Court Judge Metz to allow an investigation into Park County Sheriff William Loomis.¹² Loomis was accused of accepting pay from alleged bootlegger, Fay Willford, in protection money. Loomis faced charges for serving confiscated alcohol to prisoners, accepting bribes and protection money from Willford and James P. Morgan in relation to whiskey on Morgan’s property, and for appearing intoxicated in public. Ross ordered a removal of Loomis who she deemed unfit for his position. On June 17, 1925, The Park County Herald reported that “The Governor (Ross) having heard all the evidence, does find generally against the defendant, William H. Loomis”.¹³ Another Sheriff named Scott Hazen was charged with appearing intoxicated in public, taking confiscated alcohol for his own use, getting involved in a plan to transport and sell alcohol, and failing to serve warrants to known bootleggers while allowing speakeasies to operate. In response to his future hearings on this matter, he resigned from office.

In addition, Ross also dealt with several other issues, including farm and agricultural concerns, and protecting Wyoming’s claims to Colorado River water. Farm foreclosures and low prices were an issue in Wyoming. This prevented the settlement and expansion of farms on federal projects in Wyoming. Under her husband’s governorship, he had created a farm loan program which she continued by making it permanent. Later, Ross convinced Elwood Mead, the man behind water laws, and the Secretary of Interior, Herbert Work to review these projects. Mead explained that he could only point out the problems, and it was up to farmers and state officials to determine the additional funds and introduce legislation to address those issues. Ross worked with a man named George Kreutzer from the Bureau of Reclamation to address these issues. She used local newspapers to collect farmer’s concerns and seek help from the Bureau of Reclamation. She also created a reclamation committee made up of farmers to explain their challenges and issues to the Bureau of Reclamation.¹⁴

Women’s Rights, Feminism, Reform and Ross’ Views on Women

Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing into the 1920s, the “new woman” became more active in politics, with Ross serving as an example. They became political actors and lobbied for progressive reform. Suffrage was one of these reforms. Through this, women had gained the right to vote in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Wyoming, the state where Ross governed, however, already became the nation’s first suffrage state in 1869. This prompted many people and newspapers to declare Wyoming as the “Equality State”, further encouraging the election of Ross. Other reforms that “the new woman” supported included labor laws, which Ross had also aligned with. A suffragist named Grace Hebard had written to Ross in regards to a child labor bill. Ross responded by confirming her position on this issue claiming that the bill would be an important step in protecting the children of America. However, her child labor bill was later declined by the senate because of fear it would interfere with the rights of parents to give their children working roles.¹⁶ She also advocated for protective legislation to support female employees, but this proposal was also rejected. Ross continued to be dedicated to maintaining the welfare of workers. She supported and proposed mine safety legislation. These legislations were successfully approved.

While women became increasingly involved in politics, their views on women’s rights varied. Women, like Alice Paul and The Woman’s Party, advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that guaranteed equal rights for men and women. They believed that while suffrage was a major breakthrough in women’s political equality, the ERA would answer to the remaining limitations that women faced. This included the inability to execute contracts, unequal wages, and marriage property rights. In 1923, the legislation was introduced to Congress. Women like Julia Lathrop and Frances Perkins emphasized women’s distinctiveness, arguing that special labor protections tailored to their sex were necessary. This led them to reject the ERA in fear that it would undermine sex-based labor legislation that specifically protected women.¹⁷ Like these women, Ross held her own views on women’s roles, rights, and nature, which often left some feminists disappointed. Initially, many women’s rights advocates, suffragettes, and feminists viewed Ross’ election as a great victory. However, some women were left disappointed in Ross’ refusal to prioritize her influence on the women’s rights movement. Instead, she stated that her duty was to the people of Wyoming as their governor. In 1925, Hebard, the same woman who had written to Ross about a child labor bill, also suggested that Ross appoint women to positions in the Child and Animal Protection Board and the University Board of Trustees. This was left unanswered. Hebard continued to suggest that she attend a meeting of the “National League of Women Voters”, which Ross had declined.

Ross did believe in women’s capabilities within the political sphere and encouraged them to seek public office. However, she would often express her belief that a woman’s most important social role was being a wife and a mother. On March 28, 1926, The Brownsville Herald reported that “Although she (Ross) has faith in the future of America’s young womanhood and believes that ‘freedom of the younger generation of women will prove beneficial. Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross holds that the highest position of woman in life is matrimony and motherhood’”.¹⁹ Despite this, it did not stop her from believing in the importance of women in politics and positions of power. She was more concerned with the perception that engaging in politics had “unsexed” her.²⁰ She was committed to proving that despite her role in political power, she was still a feminine woman. In other words, femininity, politics, and public service were all compatible. While she praised motherhood, marriage, and domestic responsibilities, she also made it clear that women should not limit themselves to traditional roles alone.

Ross did not reject the traditional notion of women being wives and mothers. However, another reason for her distance from feminist ideology was the political climate of the 1920s. Politicians and political parties often supported women who did not engage in the feminist movement. If she had explicitly engaged in feminist activism, it is likely that she would not have been chosen as her party’s political candidate. She found herself having to prove that she could be as tough as any male politician while still maintaining her femininity. She advised women to not portray themselves as too “aggressive” when they entered office.²¹ Ross wanted people to support her because she was a capable candidate, not just because she was a woman. She hoped they would focus on her abilities and not discriminate against her because of her sex. In 1926, Ross responded to concerns that the entrance of women in politics would cause them to create havoc by exercising their newfound power. On January 24th, The Washington Post reported that she responded by stating, “It opens to woman the door for unbounded service and challenges her to prove whether she does possess high ideals.”.²² After losing her second-term election, she admitted regretting not doing more to appeal to women and challenge the sexist notions she faced.

Overall, despite Ross’ goal to distance herself from explicit feminist activism, she is still viewed as an important figure to women’s rights. Her title as the first woman governor in the U.S was and is still revered. She inspired other “new women” to get involved in the field of politics.

Wyoming’s Re-Election & Ross’ Post-Term

In 1926, The Democratic Party remained with her as their candidate for the next election. The Republican Party chose Frank Emerson, the state engineer. While Ross had won the 1924 election by a significant amount of votes, she did not succeed in re-election for a number of reasons. The most basic reason was that Wyoming was still an overwhelmingly Republican state, and the party had strengthened once again. Wyoming’s senior U.S. senator, Francis E. Warren, was believed to have been on the brink of passing away of old age. At the same time, Wyoming also had a Democratic junior senator, John B. Kendrick. If Ross had won re-election, she would have had the right to choose the next senior senator.²⁵ Republicans would not have preferred two Democrats. Another reason was that during the 1920s, the Klu Klux Klan had a resurgence, and many had controlled votes. Anti-immigrant sentiments and nativism surged during the decade, with Catholics and Catholic immigrants facing discrimination. Some Republicans portrayed Ross as a Catholic, which the KKK held hatred against. Lastly, Ross was a woman. Many still believed women were incapable of handling politics. Some female voters even believed that Ross didn’t automatically deserve their votes just because she was a woman. The Cody Enterprise reported on a woman who had voiced this. A woman named Mrs. Jenkins stated “What has Mrs. Ross done particularly to deserve the votes of women? Has she ever since taken any interest in Woman’s Suffrage? Has she ever been a delegate to a Woman’s Suffrage convention, to a Woman’s Christian Temperance meeting, to a Woman’s Relief Corps convention, to a meeting of the Federation of Woman’s clubs for Wyoming?.”.²⁶ However, while she had lost, she remained in politics and Democratic women’s groups. In the 1930s, she became a campaign orator and was even later on appointed as Director of the U.S Mint by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Significance

I chose Nellie Tayloe Ross’s achievement of becoming the first female governor in the U.S. because of my interest in women’s history. I was surprised to learn that a woman had already become a state governor as early as the 1920s. Ross’s victory was widely reported, with many 1920s newspapers covering her historic achievement and status as the first woman governor. It was perceived as a significant accomplishment.

The story of Nellie Tayloe Ross both reinforces and complicates our understanding of the decade. Common themes of the 1920s are flappers, economic prosperity, and prohibition. Flappers are known to have been young “new women” who strayed away from restrictive and traditional female roles. However, Ross represents a different kind of “new woman” who did the same. She was a woman involved in politics. Another aspect that her story demonstrates is that while women were increasingly becoming involved in politics, some had to distance themselves from feminism in order to gain support from male peers. Ross’ distance from feminism and her commitment to continuing what her husband left behind may explain why newspaper coverage of her victory was more positive than many people today would expect.

The theme of Prohibition is something many associate with the 1920s and Ross’ time as governor demonstrates that it is an accurate depiction. Prohibition had Americans question the amount of power the federal government possessed. Many people and certain senators argued that it violated the constitution by limiting states’ rights.²⁷ However, Ross’ stance on strict prohibition enforcement demonstrated that some state leaders supported it. She proved this by confronting two sheriffs who were accused of crimes associated with it.

Finally, Ross’s story complicates the common image of the 1920s as being filled with prosperity and fun. Wyoming was a state that was going through an economic depression and Ross’s election loss exposed a darker side of the decade. ​The KKK had reemerged and gained some influence in the political sphere.

Bibliography

Mackey, Mike. “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics.” Journal of the West 42, no. 3 (2003): 25–34.https://research-ebsco-com.library2.ramapo.edu:2443/linkprocessor/plink?id=f5cae36e-3b49-3ace-ba5b-0cabe6b1f206

Scharff, Virginia. “Feminism, Femininity, and Power: Nellie Tayloe Ross and the Woman Politician’s Dilemma.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 15, no. 3 (March 1, 1995): 87–106. doi:10.2307/3346786.

Scheer, Teva J. 2005. Governor Lady: The Life and Times of Nellie Tayloe Ross. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.http://site.ebrary.com/id/10129006.

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995.

“Beat Texas to It, and Elect Woman Governor,” The Buffalo Voice (Buffalo, Johnson County, WY), October 17, 1924. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92067096/1924-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/.

“Wyoming Inaugurates Nellie Tayloe Ross—First Lady Governor in United States.” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), January 7, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-01-07/ed-1/seq-1/.

“Her Excellency, The Governess.” The Challis Messenger (Challis, Idaho), January 14, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88056159/1925-01-14/ed-1/seq-3/.

“Evening Star.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 18, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1925-01-18/ed-1/seq-96/.

“Wyoming Senate Rejects Child Labor Amendm’t.” The Cody Enterprise (Cody, Wyo.), January 21, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066929/1925-01-21/ed-1/seq-1/.

“Armed Prohibition Force Guards Gov. Nellie Ross.” The Washington Post (1923-1954), April 11, 1925. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. 1.

“Gov. Ross Removes Loomis from Office.” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), June 17, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-06-17/ed-1/seq-4/.

“Matrimony Is Proper Thing.” Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Tex.), March 28, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1926-03-28/ed-1/seq-5/.

“Woman Governor Sees No Havoc in Vote for Her Sex: Merely Opens Door…,” The Washington Post (1923-1954), January 24, 1926. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. A7.

“Clean Politics Urged On Women.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), December 2, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1926-12-02/ed-1/seq-27/.

“Prominent Wyoming Lady Says Mrs. Ross Not Entitled to Woman Vote—Sympath Not Issue.” The Cody Enterprise and the Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), October 13, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066930/1926-10-13/ed-1/seq-4/.

Rockpile Museum. Nellie Tayloe Ross for Governor. Postcard, 1926. Catalog No. 2004.025.0005. Accessed March 21, 2025. https://rockpilemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/E78C4C54-6A62-4033-A6E8-793416583805.

Bettmann Archive. Nellie Ross and Eleanor Roosevelt. Photograph. July 1928.

Bettmann Archive. Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross Opens Gimbels. Philadelphia, 1926.

Bain News Service. Gov. Nellie T. Ross. [ca. 1915–1920]. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014709682/.

Featured image: Bettmann Archive. Nellie Tayloe Ross Making a Speech with Clarence Morley, 1924.

Additional Resources

Nellie Tayloe Ross. YouTube video, 7:00. Posted by Wyoming PBS, 7 years ago.

National Governors Association. “Nellie Tayloe Ross.” National Governors Association. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.nga.org/governor/nellie-tayloe-ross/.

Rea, Tom. “The Ambition of Nellie Tayloe Ross.” WyoHistory.org, November 8, 2014. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/ambition-nellie-tayloe-ross.

Wyoming History Day. “Nellie Tayloe Ross, First Woman Governor in the United States.” Wyoming History Day. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.wyominghistoryday.org/theme-topics/nellie-tayloe-ross-first-woman-governor-united-states

“Nellie Tayloe Ross: Wyoming, United States’ First Female Governor.” Wyoming Public Media, January 10, 2025. https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/open-spaces/2025-01-10/nellie-tayloe-ross-wyoming-united-states-first-female-governor.

“Nellie Tayloe Ross Papers, 1900-1977.” Archives West, accessed March 24, 2025. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv317842.

“Nellie Tayloe Ross.” Digital Public Library of America, accessed March 24, 2025. https://dp.la/search?q=Nellie+Tayloe+Ross.

Lucht, Tracy, and Chelsea Davis. “Gender, Race, and Place in Newspaper Coverage of Women ‘Firsts’ after the Nineteenth Amendment.” Journalism History 47, no. 4 (October 2, 2021): 333–52. doi:10.1080/00947679.2021.1982564.

Citations

1. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images, Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross Opens Gimbels, Philadelphia, featuring Ellis Gimbel, Governor Ross, and Mayor Kendrick of Philadelphia; Bain News Service, Gov. Nellie T. Ross, [ca. 1915–1920], George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2014709682/. ︎
2. Teva J. Scheer, Governor Lady: The Life and Times of Nellie Tayloe Ross (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005), 27. ︎
3. Wyoming Inaugurates Nellie Tayloe Ross—First Lady Governor in United States,” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), January 7, 1925, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-01-07/ed-1/seq-1/. ︎
4. “Her Excellency, The Governess.” The Challis Messenger (Challis, Idaho), January 14, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88056159/1925-01-14/ed-1/seq-3/. ︎
5. Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 18, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1925-01-18/ed-1/seq-96/. ︎
6. “Beat Texas to It, and Elect Woman Governor,” The Buffalo Voice (Buffalo, Johnson County, WY), October 17, 1924. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92067096/1924-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/. ︎
7. Mike Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” Journal of the West 42, no. 3 (2003): 26. ︎
8. Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995), 32-35. ︎
9. Scheer, Governor Lady, 74. ︎
10. “Armed Prohibition Force Guards Gov. Nellie Ross,” The Washington Post (1923-1954), April 11, 1925. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. 1. ︎
11. Dumenil, Modern Temper, 229. ︎
12. Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” 28. ︎
13. “Gov. Ross Removes Loomis from Office.” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), June 17, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-06-17/ed-1/seq-4/ ︎
14. Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” 30. ︎
15. “Wyoming Senate Rejects Child Labor Amendm’t.” The Cody Enterprise (Cody, Wyo.), January 21, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066929/1925-01-21/ed-1/seq-1/. ︎
16. Scheer, Governor Lady, 83. ︎
17. Dumenil, Modern Temper, 105.
    ︎
18. “Clean Politics Urged On Women.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), December 2, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1926-12-02/ed-1/seq-27/. ︎
19. “Matrimony Is Proper Thing,” Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Tex.), March 28, 1926, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1926-03-28/ed-1/seq-5/. ︎
20. Virginia Scharff, “Feminism, Femininity, and Power: Nellie Tayloe Ross and the Woman Politician’s Dilemma,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 15, no. 3 (1995): 88. ︎
21. Scharff, “Feminism, Femininity, and Power,” 88. ︎
22. “Woman Governor Sees No Havoc in Vote for Her Sex: Merely Opens Door…,” The Washington Post (1923-1954), January 24, 1926. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. A7. ︎
23. Nellie Tayloe Ross for Governor, postcard, 1926, Catalog No. 2004.025.0005, Rockpile Museum, accessed March 21, 2025, https://rockpilemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/E78C4C54-6A62-4033-A6E8-793416583805. ︎
24. Bettmann Archive, Nellie Ross and Eleanor Roosevelt, photograph, July 1928. ︎
25. Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” 31. ︎
26. “Prominent Wyoming Lady Says Mrs. Ross Not Entitled to Woman Vote—Sympath Not Issue,” The Cody Enterprise and the Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), October 13, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066930/1926-10-13/ed-1/seq-4/. ︎
27. Dumenil, Modern Temper, 29. ︎

grlynn

Grlynn is a Ramapo College senior majoring in history

Women’s lives had changed significantly from the late 19th century into the 1920s. They became more involved in politics and increasingly joined the workforce. This challenged the traditional ideas of women’s roles within society. Social and sexual norms surrounding women had also changed, leading to new ideas about womanhood and femininity. Many women had moved away from restrictive clothing of the Victorian era, as seen with the example of flappers. 

In the 1920s, Nellie Tayloe Ross achieved a historic title. She was elected Governor of Wyoming in 1924. She took office in 1925, becoming the first woman to ever serve as a governor in the U.S.A. Ross represents the “new woman” but in a way that differs from the stereotypical image of the carefree flappers of the 1920s. She was an older woman actively involved in politics. During the late 19th century and into the 1920s, women had entered the political arena. They became political actors, supported suffrage, and sought progressive and urban reforms. One popular reform was prohibition, a law infamously tied to the image of the 1920s. Ross was one of these women. She was a firm supporter of prohibition. Ross had believed that the consumer was just as guilty as the bootlegger. She was even once requested to authorize an investigation of the Park County Sheriff, who had been accused of accepting pay from an alleged bootlegger. 

The “new woman” of the 1920s would agree on one thing: women’s roles within society were changing, and their roles would be different from the old restrictive version of womanhood. However, this did not prevent disagreement and tension. Women’s ideas of feminism and women’s rights were sometimes at odds. Some women, like Julia Lathrop and Frances Perkins, believed in women’s distinctiveness. They believed that women needed special protections that aligned with their sex. While many women supported the Equal Rights Amendment, which promoted equal rights between men and women, many women like Lathrop and Perkins felt indifferent to it. They feared this would create barriers to sex-based labor legislation that specifically protected working women. Ross is an example of a woman who possessed different ideas of women’s newfound roles and power. Feminists and suffragists did view Ross’ election as a victory and a step towards women’s political voices. However, some women’s rights movement leaders were disappointed with Ross’ refusal to prioritize her influence on the movement. She believed in women’s capabilities within the political field but was not a “hardcore feminist”. Echoing the traditional views during the previous century, she stated that a woman’s role as a wife and mother was of the highest importance. She would become cautious with her involvement in feminism because of its negative image within the politics of the time. This cautiousness prevented her from appointing more women in government positions. Nevertheless, Ross firmly believed in women’s roles within the political sphere. While she promoted femininity, she sought to prove it did not have to dismiss a woman’s right to exercise political power. Her status as the first woman governor still inspired other “new women” to get involved in the field of politics. 

Bibliography

Bettmann Archive. USA: Clara Bow in Get Your Man. 1927. Photograph. Bettmann Archive. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/clara-bow-in-get-your-man-news-photo/514892606.

Bettmann Archive. Portrait of Actress Louise Brooks. Photograph. Bettmann Archive. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/actress-louise-brooks-poses-for-a-portrait-session-in-news-photo/514205164.

Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). October 24, 1929. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1929-10-24/ed-1/seq-3/.

Bettmann Archive. Activist Julia Clifford Lathrop Posing with Her Supporters. Photograph. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/julia-clifford-lathrop-lead-the-way-for-improving-american-news-photo/517294142.

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995.

Mackey, Mike. “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics.” Journal of the West 42, no. 3 (2003): 25–34. https://research-ebsco-com.library2.ramapo.edu:2443/linkprocessor/plink?id=f5cae36e-3b49-3ace-ba5b-0cabe6b1f206.

Scharff, Virginia. “Feminism, Femininity, and Power: Nellie Tayloe Ross and the Woman Politician’s Dilemma.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 15, no. 3 (1995): 87–106. https://doi.org/10.2307/3346786.

grlynn

Grlynn is a Ramapo College senior majoring in history

When I think about the 1920s, the immediate picture I believe many, including myself, imagine is that of flappers, speakeasies, music, and dances such as “The Charleston.” The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the “Roaring Twenties.”. It was the decade after World War 1 and possesses the reputation of being a time of prosperity, economic growth, consumerism, and the boom of the stock market. However, I know this is mostly a stereotypical image of the 1920s instead of a fully accurate interpretation. 

I view the image of the flapper as a prominent symbol of the 1920s. This decade brought new attention to the rights of women. Women had recently gained the right to vote, granted by the 19th Amendment. It was passed by Congress in 1919. It was ratified in 1920. I recall learning that the new fashion trends of the decade demonstrated the movement of women straying away from the norm and dressing more freely. They rejected the restrictive clothing that was deemed appropriate for women decades prior. Flappers wore shorter dresses that were sleeveless and had a more straight style. For their hair, the bobbed cut increased in popularity. This was a way for young women to rebel and demonstrate their new expression of femininity and independence. The 1920s was also the era of prohibition in the United States. Prohibition, through the 18th Amendment, banned the production, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages. It was officially put into effect in 1920. The illegalization of alcohol evokes the image of the illegal activities surrounding alcohol, referred to as bootlegging. It also evokes the image of organized crime within the 1920s. At the end of the 1920s, it is relatively common knowledge that the stock market crashed. This led to The Great Depression, ending a time of prosperity. 

In addition to the image and stereotype the 1920s evokes within America and American society, I am aware of the history of political tensions outside the country, including Europe and Asia. Last semester, I took a course on socialism and communism. This course explored the influence communism had in European and American politics throughout the late 19th century and the 20th century. These political movements and tensions had made their way into the decade of the 1920s. An event that occurred in the United States regarding the increasing fear of communism was the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants in the United States who were accused of murder and robbery. They were viewed as political radicals and anarchists. The fear of political ideologies considered radical, such as communism and socialism, coupled with anti-immigrant sentiments, led to the conviction and execution of these two men. I am also aware of the events that took place within Russia in 1922. The Russian Civil War had ended, and Russia transitioned into a socialist state. The Soviet Union was officially established, inspiring political movements in other regions.

My Impression on Images from the 1920s

While searching images of the 1920s, I came across these two pictures:

1. Louis Armstrong House and Archives. “Louis Armstrong with His Hot Five.” The Roaring 20s. Accessed January 28, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/crash-roaring-20s/.

This image is of Louis Armstrong and his “Hot Five” band. Louis Armstrong is a famous Jazz musician who started his first jazz recording band in the 1920s. After looking at this image, it confirms the image of the 1920s as a time of music and dance. I know that jazz music was one of the most popular genres of the decade. The 1920s is also considered to be “The Jazz Age”.

2. “Josephine Baker Performing the Charleston at the Folies Bergère, Paris.” Roaring Twenties. Accessed January 28, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Twenties.

This image is of Josephine Baker, an African-American-born dancer and actress. She performed in Paris and danced “The Charleston.” She gained popularity mostly in Europe. This image confirms my initial image of the 1920s as a time of dance and performance. It also demonstrates a flapper-like appearance.

While these two images of Louis Armstrong and Josephine Baker confirm a popular image of the 1920s, It also leads me to think about a darker side of the 1920s. African Americans were still experiencing racial discrimination, segregation, and violence. Despite this, it seems African Americans played an important role in the culture of the 1920s through the expression of art and music.

Bibliography

Louis Armstrong House and Archives. “Louis Armstrong with His Hot Five.” The Roaring 20s. Accessed January 28, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/crash-roaring-20s/.

“Josephine Baker Performing the Charleston at the Folies Bergère, Paris.” Roaring Twenties. Accessed January 28, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Twenties.

grlynn

Grlynn is a Ramapo College senior majoring in history

Significant events occurred in the 1920s; this includes the creation of prominent organizations, like the League of Nations, the women’s suffrage movement, and peacemaking efforts. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was one such organization that rose to prominence during this decade, although it had been established before the 1920s. This awareness is tied to my work with the Jane Addams Papers Project. Outside of this, I look at the 1920s as an era in between important world events. It is before the Great Depression, which is of course tied to the presence of Wall Street during the 1920s. Furthermore, it takes place after the industrial revolution and after an important era of the labor movement, which thus means that this decade saw the results of these movements in labor. Perhaps most importantly, the 1920s was part of the interwar period, as it was after World War I and before World War II. This is of course indicative of the post-WWI turmoil that plagued the world, in particular the losing parties in Europe, after the peace treaty. 

1. Louis Armstrong Playing the Trumpet, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, July 12, 2022), https://www.theherbert.org/news/259/grown-up-in-the-1920s-music.

Upon searching for images of the 1920s, I stumbled upon one of the iconic trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong. I was, of course, aware of his presence before seeing this image, but I had not known that his music came into popularity during the 1920s. With consideration to the fame and legacy of Armstrong, I can infer from this image that the 1920s was an important era for jazz as a genre. With that said, most images I saw that included people of color were limited to performers like Armstrong. This is indicative of the discrimination that people of color were subjected to during the 1920s.

2. Frank Scherschel, Revelers Celebrating the End of Prohibition, Wisconsin Historical Society (Wisconsin Historical Society), accessed January 27, 2025, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM9426.

This second image demonstrates one of the many reactions the American public had to prohibition, a policy that had slipped my mind upon my first consideration of the events of the 1920s. Although there were individuals who supported prohibition, like Jane Addams, this image makes it clear that there were many who were in complete defiance of this law. The tongue-in-cheek manner in which this image is posed demonstrates the humor with which many interacted with the 18th amendment.

3. An American Advertisement for Cars, Public Broadcasting Service (Public Broadcasting Service), accessed January 27, 2025, https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ush22-soc-1920sadvert/american-advertisements-in-the-1920s-interactive-image/.

The final image I located when searching through pictures of the 1920s appears to be an advertisement for cars. This makes it clear that by the 1920s, cars became a popular mode of privately owned transportation. This may also be indicative of the increased affordability of cars. The rhetoric of this advertisement further demonstrates the consumer culture that was likely prominent during this decade. 

These images tell a fascinating story of the musical, political, and technological changes that the 1920s saw, but there is much left to be said about the era. I look forward to discovering more about this decade during this semester!

Bibliography

An American Advertisement for Cars. Public Broadcasting Service. Public Broadcasting Service. Accessed January 27, 2025. https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ush22-soc-1920sadvert/american-advertisements-in-the-1920s-interactive-image/. 

Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet. Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, July 12, 2022. https://www.theherbert.org/news/259/grown-up-in-the-1920s-music. 

Scherschel, Frank. Revelers Celebrating the End of Prohibition. Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Historical Society. Accessed January 27, 2025. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM9426. 

stefanieviera

Stefanie Viera is a 3rd year History and Humanities & Global Studies double major who is taking the Discovering Digital History course in the spring of 2025. She currently work at the Jane Addams Papers Project as an Editorial Assistant.

Through my work with the Jane Addams Papers Project, I know that the 1920s also saw a rise in international affairs after World War One. With women gaining the right to vote in the beginning of 1920, there was a rise in women’s involvement in the political sphere and as a voting force. There were the creation of many organizations like the League of Women Voters, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor, and an increased membership in other pre-existing Women’s Clubs. As women gained more freedom not only to show their legs and smoke cigarettes like flappers did, women also gained freedom in the political and social sphere beyond the home. I know that the 1920s was filled with a lot of political and international turmoil, especially relating to immigrants and to African Americans. There was the first Red Scare, multiple xenophobic acts were passed, and a rise in segregation and the Ku Klux Klan. As many white men became richer, immigrants and other minorities struggled to stay afloat and keep up with the growing consumer culture. 

Teach and Thrive. “Urban vs. Rural Life in the Roaring Twenties.” February 4, 2023. https://teachnthrive.com/history-passages/u-s-passages/urban-vs-rural-life-in-the-roaring-twenties/.

“Grown Up in The 1920s – Music.” The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, July 12, 2022. https://www.theherbert.org/news/259/grown-up-in-the-1920s-music.

Lim, Ching Yee. “The Roaring Twenties: Consumerism, Decadence and All That Jazz.” The Collector, November 28, 2024. https://www.thecollector.com/the-roaring-twenties-jazz-age/. 

After looking at these images, I can recognize that google perpetuates the same positive perspective of the 1920s that I had in mind. While there were a few images sprinkled in that showcased riots, protests, or discontent with the state of life in the 1920s, almost every image was focused on flappers, consumerism, the Jazz Age, or other events that are a part of our general idea of the “Roaring 20s.” Especially with some of the photos, like the second photo, of the Black trumpet player, it seems as though google is trying to show the diversity of the Roaring 20s. The 20s were definitely a time of increased consumer culture and a general rise in wealth, but not everyone was as happy or successful as google displays it to be. 

Specifically, the first photo also helps to show a bit of the “hidden history” of the 20s. While people knew that flappers showed their knees, drank, and smoked, it was pretty common that most women did not support alcohol consumption. Many women, through the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, that rallied for the prohibition of alcohol in America, because they believed it would lead to a decrease in abuse. A lot of the popular ideas that focus on the 1920s on a time of prosperity, glitz and glam overlook the fact that there was a large group of middle-class or upper middle class women who were deeply religious, disliked the new “flapper” culture, and supported the prohibition of alcohol wholeheartedly, thus creating a divide amongst women. Overall, there is much more to the “Roaring 20s” than people think of when they think of the speakeasies, the moonshine, or the stock market crash.

Bibliography:

“Grown Up in The 1920s – Music.” The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, July 12, 2022. https://www.theherbert.org/news/259/grown-up-in-the-1920s-music.

Lim, Ching Yee. “The Roaring Twenties: Consumerism, Decadence and All That Jazz.” The Collector, November 28, 2024. https://www.thecollector.com/the-roaring-twenties-jazz-age/. 

Teach and Thrive. “Urban vs. Rural Life in the Roaring Twenties.” February 4, 2023. https://teachnthrive.com/history-passages/u-s-passages/urban-vs-rural-life-in-the-roaring-twenties/.

hannahsteinlauf

Hannah Steinlauf is a senior history major with a minor in museum and exhibition studies at Ramapo College. She is a student research aide for the Jane Addams Papers Project. She is a member of the Ramapo College Dance Company and Tri Sigma. Hannah is going to attend Trinity College Dublin for a masters degree in Public History after graduation.

There is little to nothing known about Mae Capone save for her parents, birthday, and the ways in which she suffered from the actions and decisions made by her husband, Al “Scarface” Capone. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Capone had an unusual start for their time. The couple’s first and only child, Albert Francis “Sonny” Capone, was born out of wedlock three week before the couple’s wedding in December 1918. Over the course of their union, Mr. Capone transferred syphilis onto Mrs. Capone, resulting in her later infertility. He continually cheated on her throughout their marriage until he went away to prison

Despite her husband’s status as a high profile public figure, Mae was able to remain out the public eye if she so desired; but at times she would come to her husband’s defense in the press. Her relationship with the public was very in and out, black and white. At this point in 1934, Mae’s husband Al Capone, has been in prison for close to three years of his eleven year sentence.

This declassified document from her husband’s FBI file reels reveals that while Mae Capone remained out the public eye, private eyes were watching her.

Transcription

Dear Sir:

Under date of May 28, 1934, you wrote to me the effect that you you had received confidential information that Mrs. Alphonse Capone, Sr. [Mae Capone (1897-1986)], wife of Al Capone, had established a residence in Reno, Nevada, with a view of divorcing her husband. You asked that when an agent was nest at Reno, that such inquiries as can be discreetly and diplomatically made, should be made to determine whether there was any foundation to the story.

On July 17, 1934, Special Agent J.F. O’Connell of this office, while at Reno, Nevada, interviewed Postmaster W.E. Kinnikin, who stated that he heard nothing of the matter, and had not heard that Mrs. Alphonse Capone Sr., was receiving mail at Reno. If Mrs. Capone is, or has been at Reno for the purpose referred to, it is quite probable that she would be living under an assumed name, with her identity known only to her attorney, while if she had instituted a suit for divorce she would, of necessity, file complaint under her right name, and as soon as filed, the newspapers at Reno would learn it and publish it, as is their practise. It is a daily routine matter for representatives of newspapers at Reno to learn the identities of the persons filing suits for divorce.

If the Division wishes this matter pursued further at Reno, I suggest that the Division, through its Jacksonville or Chicago Division offices, in which territory Mrs. Alphonse Capone Sr. is said to have resided in the past, endeavor to determine her last known address, and then make such inquiry as is possible for the purpose of determining if she has been absent from that place, and if so where. 

Either one or both of these offices might also learn the name and address of the Attorney who has represented her interests in the past, and through some contact with the office of the attorney, determine the accuracy or inaccuracy of the information related to any contemplated divorce on her part. 

Very Truly Yours,

John A. Dowd, Special Agent in Charge

Significance

Information was given to the FBI claiming Mrs. Capone had moved to Reno, Nevada for the purpose of seeking a divorce from Mr. Capone. If she was, the scandal surrounding it would be equivalent to a circus. A divorce would end their marriage with the same shame that started with it. What’s puzzling is why would Mrs. Capone seeking a divorce peak the interest of the FBI? Mr. Capone was already imprisoned, so the fact that she could possibly testify against him seems insignificant at this point. It’s possible the FBI’s interest in Mae Capone resulted from her hot and cold relationship with the press.

When Mr. Al “Scarface” Capone was released from prison, he had the advocacy of his wife, Mae, to thank. She did not divorce him, she did the opposite. She cared for him in his deteriorated state until he passed away in 1947. However, this document ignites further pause for thought about the mysterious Mrs. Al “Scarface” Capone.

Bibliography

“Al (Alphonse) Capone.” Federal Bureau of Investigation – Freedom of Information Privacy Act, Part 9c. Accessed May 4, 2023. https://webharvest.gov/peth04/20041015123315/http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/capone.htm.

Michelle Steidle

Michelle Steidle is a History Major at Ramapo College, graduating with the Class of 2023. She enjoys historical research, long walks on the beach, and a good joke.