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Document 4363

HERBERT HOOVER and ANDREW W. MELLON
Appointment of the man who made pot illegal, his Treasury Secretary's nephew-in-law.
Historically Important Partly Printed DS: "Herbert Hoover" as 31st U.S. President and "A.W. Mellon" as Secretary of the Treasury, 1p, 15¾x14. Washington, 1930 September 24. In part: "Know Ye, that, reposing special trust and confidence in the Integrity, Diligence and Discretion of Harry J. Anslinger, I do appoint him Commissioner of Narcotics...." HARRY J. ANSLINGER was the first Commissioner of Narcotics in the newly created Bureau of Narcotics in the Treasury Department from 1930-1962. Single-handedly, he escalated America's anti-drug efforts. He instituted an intensive media campaign that included warnings that smoking pot led to insanity and murder and had police posing for the cameras with piles of dope after busting drug rings. Anslinger was known for such outrageous statements as: "Marijuana is taken by...musicians. And I'm not speaking about good musicians, but the jazz type..." and "If the hideous monster Frankenstein came face to face with the monster of marijuana he would drop dead of fright." He did not believe in a public health approach to drug addiction, dismissing treatment clinics as "morphine feeding stations" and "barrooms for addicts". In his view, strict enforcement of the law was the only proper response to illegal drug use. The Boggs Act, passed by Congress at the height of the McCarthy era, specified the same penalties for marijuana and heroin offenses: two to five years in prison for first-time possession. As justification for the long sentences contained in that act and in the Narcotic Control Act, which followed in 1956, Anslinger, who served under five Presidents, stressed marijuana's crucial role as a "stepping-stone" to narcotics addiction. Like the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, who served under eight Presidents, he maintained dossiers on well-known entertainers whose behavior seemed un-American. ANDREW W. MELLON served as Secretary of the Treasury under three Presidents, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, 1921-1932. Mellon's niece was married to Harry J. Anslinger. Lightly creased. 3 pinhole-size stains in bottom blank margin and 1 near last line of text. Fine condition. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 46¼x23½.

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