The Power of Persuasion

And the legacy of a lost cause...

I’ve just returned from a remarkable camping road trip, with my final destination being the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. If you’ve read my book, you might recall that almost ten years ago, I sent my friend Paul there to check out the THREE LINEAR FEET of papers that were primarily related to my great-great-uncle (OR great-granduncle) Howard Hyde Russell.

Prior to 2017, I had no idea he existed, and certainly didn’t have a clue as to his impact on the United States in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

But I did know about Prohibition.

It’s not a stretch to say that the Eighteenth Amendment would never have been enacted, if not for Uncle Howard. A lawyer first, he would later become a preacher, using both skills to persuade the U.S. that it was better off without alcohol.

The thing about serious research is, it’s a serious business. I had to make an appointment, set up an account, and be specific in what I was requesting. I blocked out the entire day. I remember when Paul sent me photos of things he thought I’d be interested in, I thought I’d need at least a day to go through everything.

I probably should have reserved several days, but I’m just a hobbyist.

If you’ve read my book, you also know I’m fascinated by letters. I’m starting to think the rest of the world might be as well, due to the smashing success of The Correspondent.

Box #1, the first of the three linear feet, almost derailed my entire day, because it contained CORRESPONDENCE! Oh my goodness, the folders, carefully marked and inserted in chronological order. Shortly after I began, one of the staff came over and gently admonished me to only hold ONE PAGE AT A TIME. I also needed to keep the folders IN THE EXACT ORDER by inserting a placard into the box where I’d pulled the folder. So very nerve-wracking.

After I was over an hour in, and only on about the fourth folder, I began to panic. But I’d already learned that while my uncle Howard was traveling the country converting it from wet to dry, my great-great-aunt Lillian was seriously ill and being treated at the Clifton Springs Sanitarium in New York. I deduced this from the letterhead of the stationary she used.

Dear Husband,

I am sitting in a chair. If you could be two places at once, I would be glad to have you here singing hymns with me. I am tired and it takes all my strength to sit up…

I am not really suffering now. My wound hurts and aches, but not greatly.

My curiosity often threatens to morph into an obsession. What was going on???

And then there was this family drama:

Dearest Wife Lillian:

I returned to my desk this morning and found three letters and a postal card. I cannot write at length today but I want to send you my sincere sympathy that you have had so much trouble with the children. I feel quite out of patience especially with Julia who is old enough now to have the sense of decency and young lady-likeness which she seems so shamefully to lack. I cannot conceive why she should not desire to make a good reputation for herself with her best friends and relations instead of standing in disgrace before them. I cannot see why she should wish to harass and burden you by her disobedience when we have made an effort and much sacrifice to give her a pleasant summer. I shall feel as if the enterprise is a failure as far as she is concerned.

I should note, these two letters had come out of the very first folder, marked UNDATED. So I doubt they were written contemporaneously, as Uncle Howard’s came from Ohio and implied that Aunt Lillian was home with the children. But when was she ill and getting treatment in New York? A wound? How did she get that??

As lunchtime approached, I knew I’d simply have to let this box go and move on. By that time I’d snapped almost 100 photos, which now reside in my iPad photo library. The miracle of technology!

After lunch, I turned to Box #2, which contained speeches and family genealogy. I also learned I could request up to two hundred pages to be copied, so I began making those requests, starting with “The Staffordshire Branch of the Russell Family.” (Note: another bucket list item is to visit Wednesbury, U.K., from where those Russells came.)

Perusing his speeches gave me a sense of Uncle Howard’s passion and motivation. In one of his early speeches, he declared that God had spoken to him and, through divine intervention, he founded the Anti Saloon League in 1893. Twenty-six years later, this powerful lobby group (with financial backing from wealthy benefactors such as John D. Rockefeller) pushed through the Eighteenth Amendment, otherwise known as Prohibition. Fourteen years later, in 1919, Prohibition was repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment (also the name of my favorite GWU bar when I was in college…but I digress…).

I’ve included links, so you can read more, if you’re interested.

Box #3 contained books and photo albums. My favorite was a scrapbook of newspaper clippings: a record, if you will, of Uncle Howard’s cross-country “Water Wagon Tour” and his tireless work against the evils of alcohol. One hundred years ago, this was a big deal.

And then, just like that, it was all erased. FDR campaigned on a “wet” platform, vowing to do what he could to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment. He won, and it was.

Uncle Howard spent his entire life (and may have neglected his family) on what would ultimately be a lost cause.

Racing against time, I took some notes and found myself thinking about the separation of church and state and how blurred that concept became in the early twentieth century with the quest for national prohibition. I’m feeling that blurring again, in a pretty significant way. It’s easy to claim God is behind certain reforms, but when these reforms restrict the rights and freedoms of others, I’m not sure morality can hold up as the impetus.

However, viewing Uncle Howards legacy with the hindsight of over a century, I also learned that the U.S. still stands as a country for and by the people. And if the people want something bad enough, and there’s enough money and persuasion behind it, they will get it.

Even if it only lasts fourteen years.