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White House Statement on Prohibition Enforcement in the District of Columbia.

September 22, 1929

SENATOR HOWELL'S statement that the prohibition law is not being enforced in the District of Columbia seriously impugns the good faith and capacity of Commissioner [Proctor L.] Dougherty in charge of Police, Superintendent of Police [Henry C.] Pratt, District Attorney [Leo A.] Rover, and Prohibition Agent William Blandford. The President is glad the Senator has raised the question. He is confident that the Senator would not make these charges unless they were based upon definite facts with time and place, and if he will lay any [p.300] such information before the Department .of Justice, the President will have the matters vigorously investigated, for it is the intention not only to secure the fullest enforcement in the District possible under the organization of enforcement agencies as provided by law, but to make it a model in the country. However, it is only fair to give to the District officials an opportunity to meet such charges.

Note: The statement was issued in response to remarks made by Senator Robert B. Howell of Nebraska which were published the same day.

Herbert Hoover, White House Statement on Prohibition Enforcement in the District of Columbia. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207947

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