Life — February 2, 1922 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Cartoon Analysis: "Bootlegging—Contraband enters the Senate" This political cartoon satirizes the infiltration of organized crime into the U.S. Senate during Prohibition. A group of exaggerated, menacing figures—appearing to represent bootleggers or gangsters—enters the legislative chamber while a senator exclaims "Scandalous!" A bottle labeled "Newberry's Booze" sits prominently on a pedestal, suggesting specific senatorial involvement in illegal alcohol trafficking. The cartoon critiques how Prohibition (1920-1933) empowered criminal syndicates and allegedly corrupted government officials. The senators' shocked reaction is ironic—their own complicity enables this criminal presence. The work comments on widespread belief that organized crime had penetrated the highest levels of American government during this era.