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Prohibition Portia: Mabel Walker Willebrandt - a woman who pushed the boundaries for women

10/10/2011

16 Comments

 
With this brief biography  of Mabel Walker Willebrandt, I'm starting a new series on my blog about  Women Who Pushed the Boundaries for Women. 

I first learned about Mabel Walker Willebrandt from the Prohibition series on Public Television.  She served as the Assistant Attorney General under President Warren G Harding's administration, but before her stint in Washington, D.C., she was turning the courts on the California courts on their ear long.

After receiving her law degree from USC in 1916, she became the first public defender of women on record. Working without pay, she handled more than two-thousand cases of prostitution. Through her efforts, both men and women were allowed to testify in court, where she insisted the Johns be arrested and prosecuted for their crimes, as well as the prostitutes.

She is given credit for California's revised community property law. Before her move to the nation's capital to accept her appointment to the Assistant Attorney General's position she served as head of the Legal Advisiory Board for draft cases in Los Angeles during World War I.

Mabel was only the second woman to be appointed Assistant Attorney General, and the first to serve an extended term. She assumed that position in Washington in 1921 and was instrumental in getting the first Federal prison for women build in Alderson, West Virginia, a minimum security prison camp with no walls and no fences.

During prohibition her duty was to enforce the Volstead Act. A former tippler, she became a teetotaler the day the new law passed, and began reviewing prosecutions for violations of the unpopular and difficult to enforce Act. She argued more than forty cases before the Supreme Court during those turbulent times, a record few others in the legal profession hold.  

In 1928, Al Smith, prohibition opponent running for president on the Democratic ticket, called her Prohibition Portia, but it was on her recommendation that J. Edgar Hoover became the head of the FBI.   

In another first late in her life, she was the first woman to chair a committee of the American Bar Association, its committee on aeronautical law.      

Information in this blog was gleaned from the PBS documentary Prohibition and from Wikipedia. 

16 Comments
R. Ann Siracusa link
10/11/2011 07:24:33 am

She must have been an amazing woman. A real role model.

Reply
David Walker Brown
10/17/2011 03:10:17 pm

I was named after Mabel Walker Willebrandt's father, David Walker. My mother was Mabel's foster sister . . . she and Mabel were like sisters for many years, and I knew her as Aunt Mabel. (I am now 85).

My mother was at Park College, when Mabel was expelled, and she went on to graduate - sponsored by the Walker family. And my Dad's first job when he got out of college in 1913 was at David Walker's bank in Buckley MI.

Reply
Ben H.
6/9/2014 03:00:17 am

Hi Mr. Brown! I'm currently in the middle of a history project at my school (St. Mary's College of Maryland). I've chosen Mabel Walker Willebrandt as my topic. As I was researching online I came across this post of yours explaining your relation to Ms. Willebrandt. If you are willing to, I would very much like to get in contact with you and ask you about both your mother and Mabel, their relationship, and any other information you can offer me that I might not get by simply reading her biography.

Reply
Toni Noel link
6/9/2014 04:31:51 am

Benjamin Haman, <[email protected]> is researching Mable walker Willebrandt's life and would like to hear from you.

Toni Noel

Reply
Toni Noel link
10/18/2011 09:59:23 am

That's fascinating. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Toni

Reply
Andrew P.
11/9/2011 06:14:32 am

I am finding that the more I read about Mabel Walker Willebrand, the more fascinated I become with her life, both as a public official and after. Although I suppose that if I lived in her era, I probably would not agree with much of what she represented to Americans during the time of Prohibition, after all she was a crucial part of the mechanism which projected enforcement of the Volstead Act. There is no denying that she was one of the most powerful, influential and accomplished women of the first half of the last century. What I find amazing is that she has been dispatched into the depths of the historical wilderness. She was one of the best known public figures of her generation, man or women. The prohibition era is getting some attention lately with Ken Burns’ PBS documentary and cable TV’s Boardwalk Empire which I am a fan. It’s curious that on the HBO show, they have introduced a character with such a strikingly similar background to Mable Walker Willebrand however they don’t give her historical standing as they do with other historical figures such as Arnold Rothstein or Charles “Lucky” Luciano, who have prominent standing in the show. It would be a great service to history and to the understanding of the Prohibition era if historians paid more attention to her impact.

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Jackie Phillips link
11/14/2011 02:01:15 pm

I also recently became interested in Ms. Willebrandt through the Prohibition PBS movie. I am trying to search for the copyright owner or heirs of her book from 1929. Is there are any ideas on who this might be I would love to chat with them. Feel free to contact me directly at my email address: [email protected].
Thanks.

Reply
Eva M. Wike, Ph.D.
2/21/2012 08:14:45 am

Thanks for the great review on Mabel Walker Willebrandt. In my 'latest' read "Last Call" (12-11) by Daniel Okrent, I learned lots of details on this impressive lady. We need more WOMEN with Ms. Willebrandt's courage and brillance in our governmental operations!

Eva Wike, Educator

Reply
Flora Avila Mendoza
5/31/2012 06:03:40 am

My Dad Jose Avila, leased land from Mrs. Willibrandt and cared for her Date Palms, Citrus and Grapes on Ave. 49 & Monroe, in Indio, Ca. in the '50s

Reply
Martha Eaton Gonzalez
12/20/2012 01:31:00 am

What a small world it is as I read your post. I am quite sure that my family met your father at some time during our visits to Mabel's home in Indio.

Reply
barrie singles link
8/19/2012 10:26:49 am

Great blog, enjoyed browsing through the site

Reply
Chris link
11/8/2012 04:19:28 am

I too first heard about Mabel Walker Willebrandt from the Ken Burns documentary on PBS. Found her story so interesting that I decided to learn more about her and ended up writing a song called "The Untold Story of Mabel Walker." Here's a link to it.. http://soundcloud.com/cspowers/untold-story-of-mabel-walker

Reply
Michele
12/5/2012 08:16:58 am

Just today watched Ken Burn's Prohibition series and am fascinated with Mabel Walker Willebrandt. To achieve what she did in that era is amazing. To push for enforcement of the law in the face of adversity is admirable. I hope to learn more about her and other women who have 'pushed the boundaries'. Thank you for your blog, Toni.

Reply
Martha Eaton Gonzalez
12/19/2012 11:15:33 am

Mabel's mother was my father's aunt. We spent a lot of time with her and Uncle Dave in LA and Indio. It is very interesting reading about what a great woman she was.

Reply
Angela
12/22/2015 08:42:36 pm

Hello everyone,

I am doing a project on this great woman and I would like more information about her.

Reply
Toni Noelt link
12/22/2015 10:22:14 pm

Okay, folks, heres another chance to help a student out with their research. Good luck, Angela.

Reply

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    Toni Noel enjoys  writing romantic suspense and contemporary romance, reading, gardening and walking her dog Jack in Southern California.  

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