Eliot Ness

People are afraid of the drastic and dramatic solution. They are afraid to hurt people and damage property. But sometimes, the drastic solution is the best. It is the only way to ensure that results will be produced and the problem will be dealt with. This is what my hero, Eliot Ness, did back in the prohibition era of the United States. He decided to go with the more drastic solution of shutting down the breweries, specifically those of famous gangster Al Capone. Eliot Ness is my hero because he was able to take the riskier solution in order to get results, and helped support the laws of America.

Eliot Ness was born on April 19th, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois. As a child, he was a huge fan of the famous crime solver, Sherlock Holmes. This is what started his interest in crime solving and law enforcement. He graduated from Fenger High School, and then went to the University of Chicago. He graduated with a degree in political science. His first job was a position as a credit investigator for a credit company, but he decided it was best to find another job. He went to the Prohibition Bureau, and was placed in the Chicago division.

Eliot Ness sits behind his desk at the Prohibitio ((Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) )

Back in the 1920s, Chicago was a crime-ridden city, and was a center for illegal activity. Police officers were corrupt, and gangsters were in charge of the city. The most famous criminal of the area was Al Capone. He made money with illegal alcohol and was one of the richest men in Chicago, but he didn’t have to pay taxes since his income was illegal. The Prohibition Bureau went in two directions for catching Al Capone, tax evasion and bootlegging. Eliot Ness was put in charge of the bootlegging direction. He decided to put together a team of law enforcers that were un-bribable, which gave the squad the name, “The Untouchables”. This group raided different breweries and stopped trade. Ness even went into Al’s brother’s hotel room to wiretap his phone, which meant he actually had to go into the room and do all the technical stuff. When raiding the different breweries, he rode a large truck with a ram on it, and broke open the door to the breweries. His team then secured the place and shut it down. He helped stop Capone’s rule, but wasn’t the one who officially caught him. The tax group was the one who caught him and put him in jail. Afterwards, he went to Cleveland and was put in charge of public safety. He had an amazing track record, but decided to leave office when he was in an accident that was proposed that it could be a DUI. Afterwards, he tried to run for mayor of Cleveland in 1947, but he didn’t win the position. He went into private business and lived a quiet life. He died in 1957 of a heart attack.

Eliot Ness meets the people during his mayoral ca ((Photo by James Thomas) )

Eliot Ness is someone that I can consider a hero. He took a more drastic and extreme approach to his problem. This is a quality that I idolize, since most solutions that I think of tend to be a bit drastic. He is someone who shows that a riskier solution is one that will most likely work and that can take care of the problem. This is how I feel that situations should be dealt with. Another reason that he is my hero is because of the opposition he faced during his attempt to stop illegal bootlegging. The mob hunted him down and tried to kill him many times, as well as kill his family. They even got so far as killing a close friend of Ness. This didn’t stop him, and he continued with his mission.

Eliot Ness is a man everyone can view as a hero. He was determined to finish his goal and wouldn’t care what the mob tried to do. Determination can bring your goals to you easily, and it is an important heroic quality. Another reason is his boldness. Being bold about your decisions can also bring about your goals. Eliot Ness is someone whose heroic qualities can solve most any problem in life that they face.