IT’S AUGUST IN Washington, and the livin’ ain’t easy. Under the swelter of the noonday sun, the nation’s capital is moving in shimmering slow-mo. If you walk, you’ll wilt. The subway tunnels are steam baths. Most of the city’s taxicabs — those without air-conditioning — are hell on wheels. The smart folks have gotten out of town. Had it not been for Harry Zitelman, however, things might be even worse.
“There is as much chance of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment,” said its author, Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, “as there is for a hummingbird to fly to the planet Mars with the Washington Monument tied to its tail.”