Drugs, Alcohol & Lynching: The Expansion of the Law and Order President

• In Event: Poster Session: Presidents and Executive Politics & Public Policy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Presidents and Executive Politics

Abstract

This paper explores the expansion of the law and order presidency by examining the ways that early 20th century presidents used executive branch institutions to combat crime. After Reconstruction, the Supreme Court ruled that the president’s power to maintain law and order and protect African Americans from racial violence violated the Constitution because the federal government could not police individual behavior. However, the rise of organized crime, kidnapping, drug usage, and prohibition led presidents to police individual behavior; create a Federal Bureau of Investigations without congressional consent; and expand their power over federal law enforcement. However, the expansion of the president’s power over law enforcement was not absolute. While presidents claimed that they had the authority and power to stop individuals from drinking alcohol and using drugs, they also claimed they had no such authority to stop the racial massacres or the lynching of African Americans. Therefore, a paradox emerges for the law and order presidency as presidents expanded their federal law enforcement powers over the lives of individual citizens—while refusing to use that power to protect African Americans from racial violence.

Author

• Joshua L Miller, Catholic University of America