Dry Diplomacy: The United States, Great Britain, and Prohibition

by Lawrence Spinelli

Overview

The Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act of 1920 would transform American life, giving birth to the Roaring '20s with its bathtub gin, speakeasies, and booze-running gangsters. Yet, as Lawrence Spinelli so clearly shows, the prohibition of the manufacture, sales, and transport of alcohol would have wider repercussions. In a world of international relations deeply unsettled after what was thought to be the War to End All Wars, the crusade for temperance on the American home front would disrupt the critical Anglo-American alliance.

Dry Diplomacy is the first complete treatment of the diplomatic ramifications of prohibition. Spinelli explores the widespread effects on international law, shipping, foreign policy, and trade. In this context, American interests appeared to be pitted against those of Britain as she sought to recover from the First World War by expanding trade, promoting domestic industries such as whiskey distilling, and reasserting shipping dominance in the sea lanes. American interference with international shipping—in order to disrupt what Presidents Harding and Coolidge deemed British alcohol smuggling—would lead to a diplomatic crisis in the mid-1920s.

Drawing on international archives such as the Cunard Archives and the records of the U.S. Justice Department, Spinelli digs deep into an important chapter of American "independent internationalism."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742560789
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/06/2007
Series:	America in the Modern World , #1
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Lawrence Spinelli is director of public affairs at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. He spent over a decade on Capitol Hill as a policy and communications director for three members of Congress and has been assistant professor of political science at Drew University and a lecturer at American University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The British Connection: Liquor Smuggling and the Bahamas, 1919–1923
Chapter 2: American Uncertainty: The Harding Administration and Prohibition Enforcement, 1921–1923
Chapter 3: "Puritanism Run Mad": Shipping and Prohibition, 1919–1923
Chapter 4: Limited Options: The American Treaty Proposal, May–July 1923
Chapter 5: A New Prospective: Negotiating the Anglo-American Liquor Treaty, July 1923–May 1924
Chapter 6: An Unresolved Problem: Post-Treaty Entanglements, 1924–1926
Chapter 7: Making the Treaty Work: The London Conference, 1926–1928
Chapter 8: A Surprising Finale: Canada, Hoover, and the Burdens of Repeal, 1929–1940
Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Of all the aspects of American life and politics that were changed by the 18th Amendment, relations between the United States and its closest ally might have been the least likely arena for disruption. But as Lawrence Spinelli shows in his absolutely authoritative and often fascinating book, 'disruption' doesn't begin to describe it. Dry Diplomacy is an excellent piece of research and analysis.

Daniel Okrent

Dry Diplomacy takes Prohibition out of its domestic context and projects it into the international sphere.. .. Spinelli's study is engagingly written and comprehensively researched in both American and British archives. It provides valuable insights into the history of Prohibition, Anglo-American relations, and United States shipping policy, and it should be welcomed as a significant contribution to the historical literature of the interwar period.

Journal of American History

Based on extensive research, Dry Diplomacy shows an important linkage between domestic and foreign affairs during this era.. .. Spinelli examines a feature of Anglo-American relations that has been largely ignored by historians.. .. Spinelli's book is a welcome contribution to the literature on drug smuggling—in this instance, liquor—in international relations.

American Historical Review

Dry Diplomacy takes Prohibition out of its domestic context and projects it into the international sphere. . . . Spinelli's study is engagingly written and comprehensively researched in both American and British archives. It provides valuable insights into the history of Prohibition, Anglo-American relations, and United States shipping policy, and it should be welcomed as a significant contribution to the historical literature of the interwar period.

Journal Of American History