CONGRESSMAN ATTACKS MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AS ''A LIAR"
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 24, 1926, Rep. John J. O'Connor* (D-New York) "attacked" Dr. Clarence True Wilson** on the floor of the House of Representatives "as a liar."
Dr. Wilson, secretary of the Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals, had said that "before prohibition the rum element was in control of Congress."
Rep. O'Connor characterized the statement as "a lie, a deliberate, dastardly canard...fallen from the lips of a minister of the gospel."
He added,
"Do (we) now sit in the places vacated only seven years ago by drunken derelicts?"
*John Joseph O'Connor (1885-1960) was born in Raynham, Massachusetts & graduated from Brown University, 1908 & Harvard School of Law (1911). JJO served 8 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1923-1939. He opposed the New Deal & was defeated for re-election in 1938.
**Clarence True Wilson (1872-1936) was born in Milton, Delaware & became a Methodist minister at the age of 19. He was pastor in Portland, Oregon & president of the Oregon Anti-Saloon League. CTW characterized repeal of prohibition due to a "blind populace stampeded by the wet press & crooked politicians."
SOURCES
"Clarence True Wilson: 'America's Number One Dry'," Alcohol, Problems and Solutions, www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/
"Dr. Wilson Called 'Liar' In House," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., March 24, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
