David Hunt Blair (January 13, 1868 – September 13, 1945) served as

Commissioner of Internal Revenue The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an agency within the United States Department of the Treasury. The office of Commissioner was created by United States Congress, Congress as part of the Reven ...

from 1921–1929. Blair was associated with Col.

Francis Henry Fries Francis Henry Fries (February 1, 1855 – 5 June 1931) was an American textile businessman and industrialist from North Carolina. The town, Fries in Virginia was named in his honor. Early life Fries was born on February 1, 1855, in Winston-Salem, ...

the President of

Wachovia Bank Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

previous to his appointment as Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Blair was born in

High Point, North Carolina High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph County, North Carolina, Randolph, ...

. He was selected by

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Andrew Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon ...

, who thought that as a

teetotaller Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to be ...

from a strongly pro-

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

region of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, Blair would be the best individual to help enforce the Eighteenth Amendment. However, Blair was criticized for asserting in a speech that every bootlegger should be stood before a wall and shot to death. He was also criticized for issuing a leaflet urging all citizens to spy on their neighbors and to use telephones outside their neighborhoods to report Prohibition offenders anonymously. On the other hand, many "drys" (proponents of Prohibition) criticized him for allegedly hampering his enforcement officers by requiring them to follow the law and verify that alleged bootleg beverages were actually alcoholic before seizing them and taking other legal actions. Blair was a delegate to the

1924 Republican National Convention The 1924 Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Public Auditorium, from June 10 to 12. Incumbent President Calvin Coolidge was nominated for a full term and went on to win the general election. The convention nomina ...

from North Carolina.

References

Sources

IRS list of commissioners "Prohibition enforcement"
report by Blair and Lincoln C. Andrews to Congress, 1927.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, David H. 1868 births 1945 deaths Commissioners of Internal Revenue Prohibition in the United States People from High Point, North Carolina North Carolina Republicans