Theresa Griffin Kennedy (Books)

Theresa Griffin Kennedy Books

Theresa Griffin Kennedy is a writer whose work spans creative nonfiction and gonzo journalism. Her style features hyper-realistic literary fiction and poetic explorations, often delving into historical profiles of Portland characters. Kennedy is a social activist, using writing as a tool for social change and expression. Inspired by her father's emphasis on writing range, her work explores diverse themes with a distinctive and incisive voice.

Murder & Scandal in Prohibition Portland: Sex, Vice & Misdeeds in Mayor Baker's Reign

162 pages
6 hours of reading

4.7(6)Add rating

The 1917 election of Mayor George Luis Baker ushered a long era of unscrupulous greed into Portland government. While supposedly enforcing prohibition laws, Baker ordered police chief Leon Jenkins to control and profit from the bootlegging market. Baker filled city coffers and his friends' pockets with booze-soaked cash while sensational headlines like the 1929 affair between policeman Bill Breuning and informant Anna Schrader scandalized the city. Maligned in the press, Schrader executed a bitter campaign to recall the mayor. In 1933, a hired gunman murdered special investigator to the governor Frank Aiken a day before he would have filed a report on corruption in the city government. Authors JD Chandler and Theresa Griffin Kennedy unearth the salacious details of Baker's crooked administration in a revelatory account of prohibition in the Rose City.