See more History Minute videos.
Become a Saturday Evening Post member and enjoy unlimited access. Subscribe now
The Saturday Evening Post History Minute: The Prohibition Hero of the Roaring Twenties
Considered one of the keenest legal minds in the United States and widely regarded as the most powerful woman in America, Mabel Walker Willebrandt took the Department of Justice by storm.
Comments
What an incredible video on an even more remarkable (to say the least) American woman! I certainly believe Ms. Willebrandt was the most powerful woman in America at that time, and likely the most intelligent, accomplished, level-headed PERSON (male or female) period!
Perhaps I’m only learning of this amazing woman now because the history books with mostly male publishers have intentionally chosen to “leave her out” for perhaps similar reasons Herbert Hoover decided to choose a man for the attorney general position of his administration in 1929.
The fact she handled 160,000 prohibition cases (alone) is nothing short of astonishing, never mind everything else. I can only imagine how much worse the criminal situation during 1920-1933 time period would have been without all of Mabel Willebrandt’s work.
She has exactly ‘the right stuff’ we need in a President, I’d say. Even though that can’t happen, isn’t it still a great thought?