Wayne Wheeler, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Wayne Wheeler

American temperance activist

Date of Birth: 10-Nov-1869

Place of Birth: Brookfield Township, Ohio, United States

Date of Death: 05-Sep-1927

Profession: lawyer, jurist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio


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About Wayne Wheeler

  • Wayne Bidwell Wheeler (November 10, 1869 – September 5, 1927) was an American attorney and longtime leader of the Anti-Saloon League.
  • The leading advocate of the prohibitionist movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s, he played a major role in the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages.A native of Brookfield Township in Trumbull County, Ohio, Wheeler was raised on his family's farm, and a childhood accident caused by an intoxicated hired hand gave Wheeler a lifelong aversion to alcohol, as well as an anecdote he later used in recruiting converts to the prohibition movement and promoting a prohibition amendment to the U.S.
  • Constitution.
  • Wheeler graduated from high school in Ohio, received his teaching qualification, and taught for two years before becoming a student at Oberlin College.
  • After graduating in 1894, Wheeler became an organizer for the Anti-Saloon League.
  • He earned his LL.B.
  • degree from Western Reserve University in 1898.
  • In 1902, Wheeler became head of the Anti-Saloon League, and perfected a system of single issue pressure politics, including media campaigns and public demonstrations, to win enactment of laws limiting or banning the sale and consumption of alcohol. Wheeler's career hit its high point with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act in 1920.
  • As enforcement of Prohibition became increasingly difficult, federal agencies resorted to draconian measures including poisoning alcohol to try to dissuade people from consuming it.
  • Wheeler's refusal to compromise, for example by amending Prohibition measures to allow for consumption of beer and ale, made him appear increasingly unreasonable.
  • His influence began to wane, and he retired in 1927. Soon after his retirement, Wheeler was beset by several tragedies.
  • His wife was killed in an accidental kitchen fire, and his father-in-law had a fatal heart attack after trying unsuccessfully to aid her.
  • Wheeler suffered from kidney disease, and died at a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan on September 5, 1927.

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