The Knights of Prosperity
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
The Knights of Prosperity were America's largest Temperance Movement organization. Dedicated to purifying the American spirit and eliminating the scourge of alcohol from the nation, The Knights of Prosperity were active between 1902 and 1933.
Contents |
Formation of the Knights
Founded in 1902, the Knights were originally called the Teddy Roosevelt Fan Club. Under their first chairman, Donal Logue, the organization worked to increase President Roosevelt's popularity in New York City. Over time, the group began to embrace Roosevelt's belief that a strong moral character was vital to American prosperity. In a meeting at New York's famous Trump World Tower in 1907, the TRFC voted to change their name to "The Knights of Prosperity".
The Knights and Moral Purity
While the Knights never issued an exact declaration of their moral beliefs, they had several broad goals for Americans to meet in order to help the country become prosperous. Among these were:
- Avoiding vices such as drinking, smoking, and use of drugs for recreational purposes.
- Abstaining from pre-marital sex and not engaging in extramarital affairs.
- Achieving racial harmony throughout the country.
- Tolerance of one's fellow man, despite political and religious differences.
Obviously, the Knights weren't exactly successful.
The Knights before Prohibition
Under their second chairman, Lenny Venito, the Knights became more active in causes such as Prohibition, the anti-war movement, and the suffragette movement. A Knights rally in 1917 drew over 57,335 people to Washington, D.C.. In 1919 the Knights instituted the first mass letter-writing campaign (not to be confused with the show Campaign!) to members of Congress. Bowing to pressure from the Knights and other anti-liquor organizations, Congress passed the 18th Amendment and America officially went dry on January 16, 1920.
The Knights in the Prohibition Era
Lord Acton's statement that "Power corrupts" could not have described the Knights' actions in the 1920's any more accurately. Given a free hand to enforce the anti-drinking laws, the Knights acted with rash impunity, smashing anybody who dared oppose them. In an infamous incident in Chicago on Valentine's Day in 1929, the Knights began shooting anyone who was drunk, acted drunk, or whom they just didn't like. (Ironically, tapes of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre are still shown to police today as a training tool.) The tendency toward violence reached its apex under the Knight's third chairman Al Capone. Gangs of thugs from Detroit would execute drive-by shootings at bars across the land. Only in South America, where the bootleggers who would one day become NASCAR were active, did any effective opposition to the Knights form. The rest of America, hung over and with its spirits crushed, fell into a Great Depression.
The End of the Knights
After President FDR's victory on the 1932 edition of Campaign!, he made a pledge, known as the Fair Deal, to rid the nation of the Knights within 100 days. While the Knights initially laughed at the threat, they didn't laugh when FCC agents raided their national headquarters in Boston. In an attempt to gain more support, the Knights fired Capone and replaced him with dual chairpersons, Sofía Vergara and Kevin Michael Richardson. The strategy didn't work, and The Knights of Prosperity officially disbanded in June, 1933.
Television Series
While the Knights have faded into history, their ideals still live on. Many of their beliefs are still held by the religious right to this day. Seeing a potential audience, Aaron Spelling agreed to become executive producer of a planned 2006 ABC television series titled The Knights of Prosperity. 24 scripts were written for the first season. Following Spelling's death, the scripts were stolen from Spelling's modest Hollywood home. However, thanks to intervention from Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, they were eventually recovered.
As a result of the incident, The Knights of Prosperity was moved back from its planned Fall 2006 start. ABC will now debut the show in January 2007, as part of a "comedy block" with the new show In Case of Emergency. Executives at ABC say that the two shows are highly anticipated by ABC audiences and will eventually be considered as being among the best shows ever.
