October, 2011 - Mabel Willebrandt - Warsaw

Mabel Walker Willebrandt

Mabel Walker Willebrandt (May 23, 1889-April 6, 1963), popularly known to her contemporaries as the "First Lady of Law", was the U.S. Assistant Attorney General from 1921 to 1929, handling cases  concerning violations of the Volstead Act, federal taxation, and the Bureau of Federal Prisons during the Prohibition Era. She received her law degree from the University of Southern California in 1916 and a master's degree a year later.  She worked as an assistant public defender without pay, the first public defender of women. She handled more than 2,000 cases of prostitution and her efforts changed court proceedings to permit the testimony of both men and women. 
     The second woman to receive an appointment to Assistant Attorney General as well as the first to serve an extended term, Willebrandt was officially appointed to the position on September 27, 1921.  Although a known opponent of Prohibition, Willebrandt aggressively upheld the Volstead Act and criticized the federal government's efforts to enforce the law in her book The Inside of Prohibition, describing political interference, incompetent public officials, and public indifference. Willebrandt's insistence to other federal agencies to prosecute bootleggers, specifically the Prohibition Bureau and law enforcement agencies, were initially hampered by the skepticism of senior officials in the Justice and United States Treasury Departments who overlooked advice from the 32-year old woman.
     During the early years of her administration, Willebrandt was successful in some of the biggest prosecutions during Prohibition including the 1923 prosecution of the Big Four of Savannah, reportedly the largest bootlegging ring in the U.S., as well as the bootlegging operations of Cincinnati bootlegger George Remus. She also argued more than 40 cases before the Supreme Court, a number few others have attained, and won several victories in cases regarding the control of liquor sales on both American and foreign vessels.  During the 1928 presidential campaign, Democratic candidate and Prohibition opponent Al Smith called her "Prohibition Portia".  She also argued for the federal prosecution of major bootleggers, saying that prosecuting speakeasies was "...like trying to dry up the Atlantic Ocean with a blotter.“
     Resigning her post in 1929 after failing to be appointed Attorney General by Herbert Hoover, for whom she had campaigned heavily in the 1928 election, she worked as an attorney and had offices in Washington and Los Angeles.  She was the first woman to chair a committee of the American Bar Association, heading its committee on aeronautical law, and she held several honorary doctorates.

The Drink:

The Warsaw Cocktail:

1 ½ oz vodka

½ oz blackberry liquer

½ oz dry vermouth

¼ oz lemon juice

Drinkability:  4

Drunkability:  4
Taxic Diversity:  3
Accessibility:  4
Priority of Conservation:  4.6

Comments:  "We just now realized no one is taking notes.  Whoops!"

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