History of Chicago from Trading Post to Metropolis
External Studies Program | University College

Module 3 Chapter 1
Chicago in the Roaring Twenties

Al Capone, notorious Chicago gangster	Movie Poster for "The Roaring Twenties"

Module II described the importance of issues such as prohibition to Chicago voters and discussed the cultural difference that divided Wets and Drys. Drys had wanted to close saloons since the day the first one opened, and temperance laws had been passed as early as the 1850's. Chicago's reputation as the "wickedest city in the West" survived all attempts to clean it up, and the city contained far more saloons than churches. By 1919, however, it appeared that the Drys had finally achieved their goal. In that year the United States Congress and three-quarters of the states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment that made it illegal to manufacture, sell, or transport intoxicating beverages anywhere in the United States. Significantly, the amendment did not outlaw the purchase of alcoholic drinks. The Volstead Act, by which Congress put into effect the demands of the 18th Amendment, defined intoxicating beverages as anything that contained more than 5% alcohol. The Act also specified that any liquor purchased before January 16, 1920, the date the law was to go into effect, could not be confiscated. Consequently, many private clubs stockpiled enough liquor to last for several years.

Wartime hysteria had made possible the passage of Prohibition. Anti-German feeling ran high throughout the country and many breweries were owned by Germans. It was far easier for Americans to give up liquor for patriotic reasons than for moral reasons. Hungry soldiers, it was argued, needed grain far more than distillers did. Thus, the denial of drink became another way to win the war. A "noble experiment" had begun which would determine whether or not banning liquor would improve the quality of life in the United States by eliminating saloons, reducing crime and public drunkenness and saving families. That many people were not interested in the experiment was evident from the results of a prohibition amendment offered to Chicagoans in a 1919 referendum: 147,000 people voted for the amendment while 406,000 voted against it.

Because of the extremely weak enforcement provisions written into the law and the question of who actually was to enforce the law--federal or local officials--speak-easies flourished in the city and most drinkers had little trouble finding a bootlegger. Mayor "Big Bill" Thompson gave bootleggers little reason to fear they would run into any trouble with local law enforcement officials because he issued licenses for thousands of "soft drink parlors", which usually served quite a bit more than soft drinks. Reform Republicans, led by State Attorney Robert Crowe, blamed the mayor for the wave of violence and death that swept the city. But vice and corruption had flourished in Chicago long before prohibition. The new law simply made profits from illegal activities much higher and competition that much more fierce. Over two hundred gangsters met violent deaths in the first few years of prohibition and, between 1920 and 1930, 550 gangsters were shot to death. No one was arrested for these murders, and in the eyes of many citizens, an alliance existed between the gangsters and the forces of the law. Al Capone himself estimated that it cost him $30,000,000 a year in payoffs to do business in the city. Another reformer, Charles Merriam, political scientist at the University of Chicago, described the workings of the "Big Fix" in his book on Chicago Politics as the result of a coalition of corrupt politicians, bankers, real estate developers, tax assessors, and gangsters who had joined forces to control an apathetic and confused populace. The fixers robbed the city blind while voters argued about beer.

One example of the "Big Fix" in action is the "experts fees" scandal. In accordance with the Burnham plan, city streets were to be widened. To do this, much property had to be bought by the city and condemned. In order to facilitate the condemnation proceedings, Mayor Thompson appointed several of his friends as "condemnation experts". These appointments, he explained, would save the city money because the experts would receive no salary; they would merely take a gratuity of 1% of the value of the property they condemned. By the time the scandal was disclosed, the real estate experts had received over $2 million in gratuities for services an outside firm said were worth about $50,000. The Tribune sued the city for the overpayments, and after a long trial a judge finally ruled against the mayor and ordered his "experts" to return over $1,700,000 to the city treasury.

Another city scandal involved some of the mayor's closest friends and advisors in a scheme that cost the school system over $3 million for shoddy or undelivered school supplies. That Chicago could not really afford such scandals was evident when the city filed for bankruptcy late in 1920. A post-war recession which spread across the country in 1920 and 1921 did not help the situation.

Yet, despite all the scandals and corruption and gangland killings, Big Bill Thompson remained highly popular with the voters. To many Chicagoans he appeared to be the champion of the little guy and the enemy of big business, the utility trusts, and the millionaires. Thompson used the prohibition issue as the chief vehicle for maintaining his power; but he also favored a nickel bus fare and a program to exempt all incomes under $5,000 from federal taxation. Thompson also exploited issues such as war with Germany and opposition to membership in the League of Nations to arouse ethnic voters and retain their support.

ANSWER QUESTION 1 IN THE REPLY BOOKLET. (Provided after registering for courses through the External Studies Program.)

Black voters, however, gave Thompson the most consistent and loyal support of any group in the city. In 1915, the mayor had recognized the importance of black voters and had openly cultivated them at a time when most other candidates simply ignored the race issue. Patronage was handed out on an equal basis to leaders in the city's only black ward, the Second, and in 1916 Thompson appointed the first black to a city office above that of janitor. The office was that of assistant corporation council. When Thompson spoke to blacks, something most other politicians feared to do, he stressed that he, too, had been persecuted and abused by newspapers, rich men, and reformers just like members of his audience. To some, he became a "second Lincoln" as he promised to help the blacks in their struggle for recognition and equality. Thompson, though, did not win the favor of all ghetto residents. Some recognized that his chief supporters included the worst gamblers and bootleggers in the Second Ward. According to the Whip, a radical black newspaper, Big Bill had a more sinister motive in forming this friendship and alliance: he and his police force were becoming extremely wealthy from payoffs that allowed the south side black belt to remain a "cesspool" of crime and violence. While the Whip fumed, however, 80% of the voters in black Chicago chose Thompson in 1919. Recognition, apparently, meant more to many people than did law and order.

By 1921, Thompson controlled almost all of the important forces in the city, county, and state. Only the county judiciary remained independent and Thompson's organization fought an all-out battle to capture that branch of government in 1921. An aroused Democratic party joined forces with reform Republicans and offered a blue-ribbon ticket of judges. These coalition candidates charged that if Thompson candidates won the election there would be no check on the mayor's power at any level of government. Voters defeated the Thompson slate easily as the Republican judicial ticket carried on two wards in the city, one of them the black ward. This was the first major defeat suffered by the mayor's organization, and it indicated that many voters were getting tired of Thompson's style of politics and the ensuing disorder.

Another symbol of the disorder which characterized the city's history in the 1920's was the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. The original Klan which terrorized the South after the Civil War had disbanded by the late 1870's, but in 1916 in Atlanta the Klan had been revived. The new Klan resembled the older one in its hatred of blacks, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. But, in 1921 in Chicago, the Klan also stood for "decency and good government". Leaders of the "Hooded Empire" called for strict enforcement of prohibition and for an immediate crackdown on corruption, crime and vice. The Klan appealed to Americans who blamed the disorder of their society on the blacks, Catholics, Jews, and other immigrant groups who had retained their own cultures and religions and had refused to assimilate into the mainstream. For Klansmen these culture clashes, religious battles, and race wars were the central cause of the disorder that flowed throughout Chicago's streets. Unity, not diversity of culture, races, and religions, brought order. And in the search for order the Ku Klux Klan was willing to use un-American means such as intimidation and physical violence to achieve its ends. On many occasions between 1921 and 1923, mass rallies were held, crosses were burned, and denunciations of the enemies of America were made. Leaders of the Klan pledged to continue their efforts until the city was clean. Membership grew rapidly until it reached its peak of 80,000 in the summer of 1923. After that, however, scandals in the national office in Atlanta led to a rapid decline of adherents to the Klan philosophy, and within two years the Klan virtually disappeared from the American scene.

The Klan program probably did more in uniting ethnic voters and politicians than it did in fulfilling its intended purpose of creating a unified white America. Ethnic politicians and voters, so eager to prove that they were the 100% Americans, had a field day denouncing the ridiculous costume worn by the guardians of morality. And many ethnically oriented politicians built their early careers by denouncing the Klan. Both sides in the Klan debate argued they were the true Americans, and both argued that they were only trying to maintain their communities and guard them from dangerous outsiders. Whether unity or an acceptance of diversity would provide the best means for keeping the city from exploding into chaos remained uncertain.

ANSWER QUESTION 2 IN THE REPLY BOOKLET. (Provided after registering for courses through the External Studies Program.)

The Election of 1923.

Everybody expected "Big Bill" to run for a third term in 1923 but he was too wise a counter of votes for that; he knew that because of the continuing charges of corruption he had little chance with the voters, and he remembered only too well the judicial election of 1921. He wanted a third term but felt there would be a better possibility in 1927; by that time voters would little remember the "real estate experts", the school scandals, or that Len Small, governor of Illinois and close friend of the Chicago mayor, had just been indicted for embezzlement of state funds while serving as state treasurer during the War. (Small was later acquitted because the primary evidence had been "accidently" burned by a janitor who then died.) And so late in 1922 Thompson announced that he would not seek re-election in 1923.

Leadership of the Republican ticket fell to Arthur Lueder, a Chicago businessman and a leader in the German-American community. Lueder had a reputation for honesty, despite having served on the County Election Board at the behest of Mayor Thompson. Relations between the two had cooled, however, since Senator Medill McCormick, a staunch foe of Republicanism, Thompson style, had had Lueder named Chicago postmaster in 1921.

The Democrats picked Judge William Dever, a longtime friend of Jane Addams and a member of the small reform faction of the party. "Dever and Decency" became the slogan of the reform coalition that backed the Judge.

Religion and prohibition were the most important issues before the voters. Lueder was a German but many people had doubts about his position on the "beer question." Early in the campaign, he attended an Anti-Saloon League rally, a move for which he received much criticism even from fellow Republicans. The Anti-Saloon League had led the battle for the 18th Amendment and was considered the enemy of workingmen everywhere. Democrats immediately accused Lueder of being a Dry. In German wards they distributed leaflets arguing that the Dry question was obviously more important to German-Americans than the ethnicity of the candidate.

Towards the end of the campaign other leaflets were handed out on the streets in front of Protestant churches. The leaflets warned: "Non-Catholics--if you want Rome to run our public schools and city government vote for Wm. E. Dever!" Protestant voters were also informed that "The One Outstanding Issue Is: Arthur C. Lueder, Republican, Protestant. William Dever, Democrat, CATHOLIC." While Dever's religion hurt him, Democrats effectively used Lueder's national origin against him, reminding Poles and eastern Europeans that Germany had started the war. That was enough to turn many voters against the German-American candidate.

ANSWER QUESTION 3 IN THE REPLY BOOKLET. (Provided after registering for courses through the External Studies Program.)

Dever now had his chance to swing the city onto more decent paths. After eight years of Thompsonism, Chicago was ready for reform, and Dever went right to work. A few weeks after his inauguration, he placed a 24 hour guard in all the breweries where beer had been sold openly for $50 a barrel during the Thompson years. Over six thousand "soft drink" parlors were in operation, and Dever closed 1400 his first year in office. Because of mounting criticism of his actions, Dever announced that personally he was not a prohibitionist but that as mayor he had to enforce the Constitution. He also came up with the unique explanation that by enforcing prohibition rigorously he would inspire opponents to work more vigorously for repeal of the amendment. Dever assured the voters that as soon as enough complaints had been received by Congress, repeal would begin.

But Dever had trouble from his own administration in his battle against saloons. John Cervenka, city treasurer and owner of the Pilsen Brewing Company, was indicted by a federal grand jury for illegal possession and transportation of alcohol. Cervenka probably represented the feelings of Democrats more than did Judge Dever. So quickly did Dever's own party turn against him that he had little opportunity to institute his reforms. For example, in 1925 Dever offered Chicagoans a chance to clean up the transit mess when he sponsored a referendum that would have permitted municipal ownership of the bus and streetcar lines. Anti-prohibitionists in the Democratic party worked against the proposal, simply to show the mayor their power, and they succeeded in getting the proposal defeated by over 100,000 votes.

One problem encountered by Dever in his campaign against crime was the lack of cooperation from the police. As he told a congressional committee in 1926, over 60% of the Chicago force were known to be taking bribes from bootleggers and there was nothing he could do about it. Al Capone had moved his headquarters to Cicero in 1924, but most of his stills remained in Chicago. Dever felt the laws were unenforceable, and he hoped to be relieved of their burden before prohibition destroyed the city.

Crime and vice had already forced an exodus of middle-class Chicagoans to the suburbs. During the 1920's Chicago's population grew by 25%. The population of the suburbs, however, grew by almost 75% and one of the major reasons for the exodus, according to contemporary observers, was the inability of law enforcement agencies in the city to control crime. Residents of working-class and ethnic neighborhoods may not have taken the laws on prohibition seriously, but middle-class voters did. Criminal activity may have provided a way out of the ghetto for many impoverished ethnics, but for those who had already attained some measure of economic security, criminal activity provided evidence of disunity and dissolution, and they retreated from the city in large numbers.

William Hale Thompson used the issue of prohibition as he sought to return to power in 1927. As mayor, he announced, he would do everything he could to nullify the law, and he promised to fire any policeman who entered a citizen's home or business in an attempt to enforce prohibition. His opponent would be William Dever.

Thompson campaigned hard among his two chief constituencies, the Germans and Blacks. To German audiences he protested American membership in the World Court and promised to protect the rights of German-Americans as he had done during the war. And he also promised to "build the largest town hall in the world where German choruses of 25,000 voices can sing as they never have sung before." In front of black audiences, Thompson reiterated his support for total equality and a significant political voice for black politicians.

Leaders of the Democratic party decided to stress the racial issue in their campaign, though Dever himself refrained from making racial slurs. The party chairman stated the campaign theme succinctly when he said, "I cannot believe that the people of Chicago will repudiate honest and efficient government and turn the city over to be ruled by the black belt, the gunmen, and the hoodlums." In the days before the election, Democratic precinct workers pushed calliopes which played "Bye Bye Blackbird" through white neighborhoods. And they distributed handbills which pictured a trainload of southern blacks ready to head for Chicago, "but only", the caption read, "if Thompson is elected." Dever had unintentionally exacerbated the racial situation early in the campaign when he ordered the police to close down the black district vice belt. White red light districts were not disturbed. Thompson, however, warned white audiences that "if they do it to Negroes now, how soon before they do it to Jews, to Polacks, and to Germans?"

Each candidate appealed to the prejudice of his favorite ethnic group. Thompson stressed "America First," by which he meant a total withdrawal from the world and a return to the "wide open town" in Chicago. Americanism played a significant role in the campaign; for many first generation immigrants it seemed that the best way to prove their Americanism was to reject their European heritage. King George, Thompson charged, was conspiring to get the United States into the World Court, but Americans did not need that--"what was good enough for George Washington is good enough for me." "We'll make the king of England keep his snoot out of America," Thompson promised. England was a favorite target because of its relation with Ireland and Germany. In many parts of Chicago, Irish nationalism was stronger than it ever had been on the Emerald Isle, and German-Americans continued to blame England for the war.

Religion entered the campaign after Thompson charged that Dever had appointed a Catholic majority to the School Board. If Dever continued in office, the charge continued, Chicago schools would be totally dominated by the Pope. Actually, Dever had appointed 7 non-Catholics and only 4 Catholics to the Board, but in the heat of the campaign that fact seemed to make little difference. After all, Dever had greeted several cardinals at the huge Eucharistic Congress held in Chicago in 1926, and had actually knelt and kissed their rings.

Thompson received at least $100,000 from Al Capone during the campaign, though no one knew about it at the time. He promised to open two "joints" for every one Dever closed down. In response to the racial appeal of the Democrats, he told black audiences that "the black finger that is good enough to pull a trigger in defense of the American flag is good enough to mark the ballot." Thompson pledged to defeat the "lily white" Democratic party.

In the day preceding the election, George Brennan, Democratic party chairman, predicted that "nature never makes a mistake. Mayor Dever will be re-elected by a majority greater than he received four years ago for the reason that this is a White man's town." Dever did not win though. Thompson defeated him decisively 52% to 43%. Prejudice had not worked hard enough for the Democrats, while Thompson had attracted enough Black and German votes to win. The black ghetto remained comparatively small throughout the 1920's and the bloody riot of 1919 had successfully re-established racial boundaries; hence, fear of blacks was not that critical an issue, yet. Ethnic pride and, ironically, ethnic insecurity, provided the basis for Thompson's victory. Germans, especially, felt very insecure about charges of un-Americanism, charges that had lingered since the war. Thompson's "America First" program gave the Germans an opportunity to prove that they were true Americans, the true defenders of the Constitution, and the true defenders of traditional American foreign policy. Thompson's theme song, "America First", was sung at every rally and he heightened the consciousness of his insecure audience by proclaiming that the "plain people" had to destroy the common enemies of American society. These enemies included reformers with their alien ideas, newspapers that considered regular people "low brows and hoodlums", social workers, dogooders, and other "high-brows" who complained about conditions in the city yet usually lived in the suburbs. Other ethnics joined Germans and Blacks in their reaction against old-line Americans. Yugoslavs, Italians, Swedes, Jews, Poles, and Lithuanians all gave "Big Bill" a large proportion of their votes. "America First" paid off especially well among those voters not yet sure whether they were Americans.

After his election Thompson moved quickly to consolidate his support by attacking Dever's Superintendent of Schools. Thompson charged that students had been taught history from textbooks that contained pro-British propaganda and deliberately ignored non-British contributions to American society, especially to the American Revolution. The Mayor demanded more recognition for German, Irish, and other ethnic heroes and he appointed a committee to comb the shelves of the Chicago Public Library for pro-British books--if found they would be removed.

The school board at first accepted the charges and voted to oust the superintendent. Only after a yearlong investigation, during which the Board found absolutely no evidence of disloyalty among anyone in the school system, did it reverse its decision and offer an apology. The whole episode, the board declared, had been a waste of taxpayers' money. Many ethnics felt that the controversy had been well worthwhile, however. The more heroes they had in this adopted land the more American they would feel. Thompson read these feelings well and built his political career on them.

Criminal activity in Chicago increased during the year of the school controversy. Al Capone moved back into the city, perhaps in recognition of his contribution to the campaign. In the bloody "pineapple primary" of 1928, several bombs were thrown, and hand grenades severely damaged the houses of two Republican politicians. Public reaction to the violence resulted in a severe rebuke for the Thompson ticket as reformers won the Republican contests for governor and state's attorney. On the Democratic side, Tony Cermak, still secretary of the United Societies for Local Self-Government, won the nomination of United States Senator but in the general election he lost as a result of a heavy downstate vote. Cermak retained support among ethnics because of his defense of the right to drink, but Irish Democrats had adamantly opposed his running for mayor, fearing that if he ever won, he and his Czech supporters would take over the party. They preferred to lose with Dever or another Irish candidate than to give up control of local party offices.

Events beyond the control of Thompson, Cermak, or Irish politicians changed the face of the Chicago politics, however. Wall Street crashed in October, 1929, and soon countless thousands of people across the country were out of work. Chicago was especially hard hit, and the Thompson administration found itself totally unprepared to meet the massive problems of unemployment and relief. The politics of ethnicity and 100% Americanism offered much to people in an era of affluence; poverty and despair required other solutions to public problems and other symbols of security.

SUMMARY

1. Many ethnics supported "Big Bill" Thompson because he reassured them of their true Americanism. Thompson's success also lay in his appeal to the "common man" against the "big interests."

2. Religion and prohibition played important roles in Chicago politics. The Ku Klux Klan played an important role in the early 1920's.

3. Many middle-class citizens left the city because of the crime wave.

4. The Dever administration attempted to reform the city but found too much opposition among the police and many citizens to carry out its goal.