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

(Paperback)

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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 shippingin order to disrupt what Presidents Harding and Coolidge deemed British alcohol smugglingwould 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."

Reviews

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 smugglingin this instance, liquorin 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 *
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, author of Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center

Author Bio

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.