John Dillinger : Robin Hood or Terrorist?

Last summer, Johnny Depp, Michael Mann, and crew were in my little town of Oshkosh, WI, to film parts of the newly released Public Enemies movie. Now that it's been released, I'm remembering how my Grappa Eddie used to speak of John Dillinger as a great hero.

I never quite understood why Grappa would think of a bank robber and murderer as a hero. To my mind the guy was a brutal terrorist, a criminal--pure and simple. He wasn't classified as a "public enemy" for delivering flowers.

So I asked a couple of friends (who happen to be history professors * at the local University) if they could explain this phenomenon to me ... At present, my Grappa is 98 years old. He lived through the Great Depression. He probably kept his money in his mattress (with a .45 in his night stand). (It's a miracle none of us grandchildren were not hurt at his house while we were growing up!) Banks were failing all over the country during The Great Depression. He saw Dillinger as a modern-day Robin Hood. The guy stole from the rich (banks). But did he ever give it to the poor? Maybe he left a fat tip at a restraunt ... you (not me) just wished you were the one to wait on his table.

The other thing that really stood out for Grappa was Dillinger's connection to The North Woods of Wisconsin, where Grappa Eddie grew up. Grappa was a full-blooded Bohemian (that's a nationality, not a life-style). So for Dillinger to show up at The Little Bohemia Lodge was a big deal--validation for a Bohemian otherwise lost in America. Grappa took tremendous pride in that Bohemians could show Dillinger proper hospitality. (I'll vouch for the bakery!)

I don't remember Grappa speaking so fondly of the other gangsters of the time, but he could have ... Didn't Capone have soup kitchens for Chicago's down-and-out? That certainly helped get the public on his side. At least it made it easier to turn the other cheek when it came to his crime and murder record.

Grappa now lives in a nursing home. His memory moves in and out. Sometimes he recognizes my mom and Aunt Cindy, some days he doesn't. Last I heard, he was sleeping all day and staying up all night to regale the nurses with stories of making moonshine in Garski Flowage with his buddies. He was back in the days of Prohibition, when the only way to get alcohol-for-drinking was to make it yourself with a distillery, or still (remember that contraption Hawkeye and BJ had in the old M*A*S*H episodes?). I think he used to use potatoes most often ... Anyway, he was telling the nurses he had to finish this batch because he'd get beaten if his Dad found out about it. Nevermind the G-Men. He's getting younger as he gets older ...

* Thanks to Dr. Kuhl and her husband Jeff Pickron for explaining this Dillinger hero worship phenomenon in the light Robin Hood. They have the much wider perspective of all historic time!