Old Issues In a New World

One of the key things to know about the1920’s is that it was still a very Victorian decade. Most popular histories depict the 1920’s as a time when everyone abandoned Victorian values almost overnight. Popular documentaries simplify the entire decade by showing footage of men and women doing nothing but drinking and dancing, interspersed with footage of gangsters shooting Tommy guns. While it is true that a large number of America’s youth adopted the new social freedoms that came with the “Jazz Age,” a great portion of Americans did not. Bear in mind that the Victorian Age lasted up until World War I. People who reached adulthood before the 1920’s had a tendency to hold onto Victorian values long after that era was over. One only has to briefly look through a newspaper from the 20’s to realize that many Americans still viewed the world in 19th century terms. Many of the “hot” issues of the 1920’s were actually carried over from the previous century. Prohibition, women’s suffrage, racism, communism, immigration, workers’ rights, anti-war sentiments, and isolationism were all old issues. They all just happened to converge and reach a boiling point around 1920.
In 1920, the Coast Guard and Customs were still equipped for the age of steam and sail. Men who grew old during the Victorian era led both of those organizations during the Prohibition years. A century later, we have come to take for granted the size, training, and equipment of both agencies. The sudden, overwhelming burden brought on by Prohibition enforcement caused growing pains in federal law enforcement. It was the job of both the Coast Guard and Customs to simultaneously work through these growing pains and carry out the mission of stopping an endless flood of smuggled liquor.