Description
First edition of The Challenge to Liberty by Herbert Hoover, inscribed to the “First Lady of Law,” Assistant United States Attorney General Mabel W. Willebrandt.
Octavo, 212pp. Blue cloth, gilt title on spine and cover. First printing with Scribner’s A on copyright page. Light sunning to spine, rubbing to lower edge of spine, solid text block. In publisher’s dust jacket, $1.75 on front flap, light sunning to spine, closed tear along heel of spine, bright illustrations. (Tracey, 005)
Signed by former President Herbert Hoover on front free endpaper: “To Mrs. Mabel W. Willebrandt, with the Kind Regards of Herbert Hoover.”
Mabel Willebrandt (1889-1963) was the Assistant Attorney General from 1921 to 1929, the highest-ranking woman in the federal government during that time. Known as “the Prohibition Portia,” she was responsible for enforcing the Volstead Act during the Prohibition era. During the 1928 presidential election, Willebrandt organized several high profile raids of speakeasies, all to benefit the election prospects of Hoover. The press noted that “no other woman has ever had so much influence on a presidential campaign.” Willebrandt expected to be named Attorney General for her loyalty to President Hoover, but she was passed over and soon resigned.
