Other influences included the decline of the emphasis on naval power at the
time, especially as it related to the coastal defense of the United States, which was
contemporaneous with the rise of air power and trends toward naval disarmament.
With the defeat of Germany in World War I, moreover, the fears of hostile occupancy of
the Islands, that had motivated their acquisition for defense purposes in 1917, had
disappeared. Civil rights and racial groups, together with local agitators, may have
had some influence in inducing the transfer, but the key was the Navy's resistance to
change in the face of economic deterioration in the Islands.26

 A recent revelation has added a new wrinkle to the drama of the transfer.
Historian Luther Evans wrote of "a strong desire in high places to prevent a public
airing of certain personal frictions" in the Virgin Islands concerning "allegations of
poker-playing and drinking in Government House" that developed during the
Prohibition years of 1929 and 1930.27 Although Luther Evans mentioned no names,
Leon Mawson has left little doubt in his 1987 book that a schism had developed
between Navy Governor Waldo Evans and the autocratic Virgin Islands District Court
Judge -- George Washington Williams. Mawson, who was Governor Evans'
confidential secretary, was the only witness to Evans' summary and sudden dismissal
of Judge Williams who had allegedly broken up a party the previous evening in Evans'
living quarters. According to Mawson, Judge Williams replied: "This is not the end!
The Congress of the United States will hear about this. You can bet your life on it!'28

 Apparently Judge Williams made good on his threat, for Luther Evans claimed
that "it is clear that the Navy was withdrawn to prevent airing of an
unwholesome situation" and that otherwise the Navy would not ha-.e been withdrawn
at the time.29

 Whatever the main reason, President Hoover's executive order ended fourteen
years of military government in the Virgin Islands.