prohibition in the 1920s essay

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Prohibition

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 24, 2023 | Original: October 29, 2009

The Prohibition Era began in 1920 when the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors, went into effect with the passage of the Volstead Act. Despite the new legislation, Prohibition was difficult to enforce. The increase of the illegal production and sale of liquor (known as “bootlegging”), the proliferation of speakeasies (illegal drinking spots) and the accompanying rise in gang violence and organized crime led to waning support for Prohibition by the end of the 1920s. In early 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the 18th. The 21st Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, ending Prohibition.

Origins of Prohibition

In the 1820s and ’30s, a wave of religious revivalism swept the United States, leading to increased calls for temperance, as well as other “perfectionist” movements such as the abolitionist movement to end slavery .

In 1838, the state of Massachusetts passed a temperance law banning the sale of spirits in less than 15-gallon quantities; though the law was repealed two years later, it set a precedent for such legislation. Maine passed the first state prohibition laws in 1846, followed by a stricter law in 1851. A number of other states had followed suit by the time the Civil War began in 1861.

Did you know? In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated the incumbent President Herbert Hoover, who once called Prohibition "the great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose." Some say FDR celebrated the repeal of Prohibition by enjoying a dirty martini, his preferred drink.

By the turn of the century, temperance societies like the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) were a common fixture in communities across the United States. Women played a strong role in the temperance movement, as alcohol was seen as a destructive force in families and marriages.

In 1906, a new wave of attacks began on the sale of liquor, led by the Anti-Saloon League (established in 1893) and driven by a reaction to urban growth, as well as the rise of evangelical Protestantism and its view of saloon culture as corrupt and ungodly.

In addition, many factory owners during the Industrial Revolution supported prohibition in their desire to prevent accidents and increase the efficiency of their workers in an era of increased industrial production and extended working hours.

Volstead Act

In 1917, after the United States entered World War I , President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary wartime prohibition in order to save grain for producing food. That same year, Congress submitted the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors, for state ratification. Though Congress had stipulated a seven-year time limit for the process, the amendment received the support of the necessary three-quarters of U.S. states in just 11 months.

Ratified on January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment went into effect one year later, by which time no fewer than 33 states had already enacted their own prohibition legislation. In October 1919, Congress put forth the National Prohibition Act, which provided guidelines for the federal enforcement of Prohibition. Championed by Representative Andrew Volstead of Minnesota, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the legislation was more commonly known as the Volstead Act.

Enforcement of Prohibition

Both federal and local government struggled to enforce Prohibition—Hoover’s “noble experiment”—over the course of the 1920s. Enforcement was initially assigned to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and was later transferred to the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prohibition, or Prohibition Bureau.

In general, Prohibition was enforced much more strongly in areas where the population was sympathetic to the legislation–mainly rural areas and small towns–and much more loosely in urban areas. Despite very early signs of success, including a decline in arrests for drunkenness and a reported 30 percent drop in alcohol consumption, those who wanted to keep drinking found ever more inventive ways to do it.

Organized Crime

The illegal manufacturing and sale of liquor (known as “bootlegging”) went on throughout the decade, along with the operation of “ speakeasies ” (stores or nightclubs selling alcohol), the smuggling of alcohol across state lines and the informal production of liquor (“moonshine” or “bathtub gin”) in private homes.

In addition, the Prohibition era encouraged the rise of criminal activity associated with bootlegging. The most notorious example was the Chicago gangster Al Capone , who earned a staggering $60 million annually from bootleg operations and speakeasies.

Such illegal operations fueled a corresponding rise in gang violence, including the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929, in which several men dressed as policemen (and believed to be associated with Capone) shot and killed a group of men in an enemy gang.

When Did Prohibition End?

The high price of bootleg liquor meant that the nation’s working class and poor were far more restricted during Prohibition than middle or upper-class Americans. Even as costs for law enforcement, jails and prisons spiraled upward, support for Prohibition was waning by the end of the Roaring Twenties . In addition, fundamentalist and nativist forces had gained more control over the temperance movement, alienating its more moderate members.

There were also many unintended consequences of Prohibition: Some cash-strapped restaurants shuttered their doors since they could no longer make a profit from liquor sales. Thousands of people died each year from drinking cheap moonshine tainted with toxins. And revenues shrank for many states that had previously relied on liquor taxes to fund roads, schools and other public benefits.

With the country mired in the Great Depression by 1932, creating jobs and revenue by legalizing the liquor industry had an undeniable appeal. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for president that year on a platform calling for Prohibition’s repeal, and easily won victory over the incumbent President Herbert Hoover .

FDR’s victory meant the end of Prohibition, and in February 1933 Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the 18th. The amendment was submitted to the states, and in December 1933 Utah provided the 36th and final necessary vote for ratification. Though a few states continued to prohibit alcohol after Prohibition’s end, all had abandoned the ban by 1966.

Prohibition: A Case Study of Progressive Reform. Library of Congress . Unintended Consequences of Prohibition. PBS: Prohibition . Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure. Cato Institute .

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100 years later, do we think Prohibition was good for the nation?

January 17, 1920, was an important day in American history. Why? Because on that day the grand social experiment called Prohibition was first enforced. The Volstead Act, the law that put enforcement teeth into the Eighteenth Amendment, banning intoxicating beverages, went into effect. The transformation of the nation from an alcoholic republic to a dry state created a surprising list of winners and losers.

Let’s start with the obvious people who lost out: drinkers, especially working-class immigrants. Temperance advocates worried about immigrant men who gathered—and drank—in saloons. “Alien illiterates rule our cities today; the saloon is their palace,” proclaimed prominent Prohibitionist Frances Willard. Of course many temperance advocates had a double standard; a drink for themselves with dinner was good manners, but booze for others (especially working-class people) was dangerous.

The increasing number of immigrants, and their bars, was a source of race- and class-based fear for many white middle- and upper-class people born in the United States.  By 1900, there were 300,000 saloons across the nation (one for every three hundred citizens), and they were heavily concentrated in urban areas. The neighborhood drinking establishment was where working-class men aired grievances, organized politically, and found jobs. The patrons, speaking their native languages (such as German, Croatian, and Italian, among others), worried Temperance advocates who feared the saloon customers were socialists or communists and perhaps fomenting political upheaval. To save America, the saloon must go.

While Prohibition may have killed saloon culture, it didn’t end the consumption of alcohol. Working-class men moved their drinking from saloons into their homes, private halls, “athletic clubs,” and illicit bars. Affluent Americans also continued to drink. Famed Chicago mob boss Al Capone was reported to have said “When I sell liquor, it is bootlegging. . . . When my patrons serve it on a silver tray on Lake Shore Drive, it is hospitality.”

One unexpected downside of Prohibition was its impact on the health of the nation. While alcohol consumption initially decreased after implementation of the Volstead Act, working-class consumers soon turned to alternative forms of alcohol, not all of which were safe. Patent medicine and over-the-counter goods with a high percentage of alcohol (even hair tonic) were consumed for off-label purposes. 

Tainted alcohol was an even bigger problem—especially for poor people. Alcohol is an important industrial chemical, and large quantities are produced for use as solvents in paint, antifreeze, and other non-potable substances. Industrial alcohol is not taxed like drinking alcohol and is denatured (purposely adulterated) to make it unattractive for human consumption. During Prohibition, denatured ethyl alcohol and deadly methyl alcohol found their way into the U.S. beverage stream. Many people got sick and some died from unregulated and tainted alcohol.

Retailers and producers of alcohol also lost out during Prohibition. Closing saloons was not only a blow for men who frequented the drinking establishments, but meant a significant loss of business in immigrant communities. Of all licensed saloons, 80% were owned by first-generation Americans.

Some beer producers turned to legal nonalcoholic beverages, but with only limited success. Others made ice cream, cheese, ceramics, and even homebrewing supplies . Vintners and distillers had different options. Since the United States has a large religious population, the Volstead Act allowed for the production and shipment of sacramental wine . Sales went up with Prohibition, essentially making some priests and rabbis bootleggers. A 1925 report by the Department of Research and Education of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ angrily reported that “there is no way of knowing what the legitimate consumption of fermented sacramental wine is, but it is clear that the legitimate demand does not increase 800,000 gallons in two years.”

Most distillers closed their operations during Prohibition, but another loophole in the Volstead Act allowed for the sale of medical whiskey. While medicinal whiskey had been sold by pharmacies for years, sales skyrocketed during Prohibition. Affluent customers could afford the three-dollar physician visit to get a prescription for legally purchasing their whiskey. In general, however, alcohol producers and retailers took a financial loss during Prohibition.

But, not all sellers of alcohol took a loss. The amount of money to be made in bootlegging was astronomical. Booze is big business. According to United States Attorney Emory Buckner, bootleg liquor sales in 1926 amounted to $3.6 billion. That was about the same as the U.S. federal budget at the time. Bootlegging was an opportunity for entrepreneurial criminals to become fast millionaires. But smuggling, transporting, and distributing large amounts of alcohol was complicated. Criminals organized national operations to manage and conduct their business. Where crime had once been local, the Volstead Act inadvertently promoted the development of organized crime. And competition between rival operations soon became violent.

Despite Prohibition, many Americans chose to flout the law and continue consuming alcohol at home or in illicit bars. Making matters worse, the poorly paid Prohibition officers hired to enforce the Volstead Act often found lucrative opportunities in criminal sales of alcohol. The resulting rise in government graft and corruption led to a lack of respect for authority that continued after Prohibition was repealed. 

Who were the winners during Prohibition? One was quick meals. As saloons closed during the first decade of Prohibition, the number of restaurants in the country tripled, and eating patterns changed with the rise of quick meals. Luncheonettes, cafeterias, and soda fountains sprang up in largely urban neighborhoods catering to middle-class and lower-middle-class workers.

Women helped win the argument for Prohibition. White protestant women were the principle advocates for Prohibition. Groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League made a moral argument, claiming that men squandered money on drunkenness, putting their wives and children at risk. Women’s and family rights were recognized and protected to a degree by Prohibition. More importantly, these activist groups not only won their argument when Prohibition became law, they developed skills and expectations that applied to another cause: woman suffrage. In general, the 1920s was an era of increased rights for women (although to different degrees). 

The ultimate loser in the tale of Prohibition was the Eighteenth Amendment itself. Andrew Volstead, author of the Prohibition enforcement act, was defeated in 1922 in his bid for an 11th term in Congress. Widespread unemployment and the economic chaos of the Great Depression fueled political upheaval. The 1932 elections swept many “wets” (politicians opposed to Prohibition) into office. Widely considered unenforceable and a failure, the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment were repealed by passage and ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933. The effort for a government-led common good (Prohibition) was replaced by a public desire for a good time. Americans could legally drink again. 

Peter Liebhold is a co-curator of the American Enterprise exhibition in the Mars Hall of American Business.  

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The Prohibition In The 1920s Essay

During the roaring twenties, society began evolving into political and industrialize perspectives which allow growth in many different aspects of life. The events occurred during this period exceed the feminine rights to vote and show prospects in equality of gender. However, many illegal activity began due to the eighteenth amendment enacted on January 16th, 1920. The eighteenth amendment was ratified to decrease drunkenness and family abuse when consumed alcohol. The prohibition interdicted the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol in the United States.

Thus, contributed in the creation of ootlegging liquor business as a complex criminal enterprise and many other illegal activities. Bootlegging was an illegal production and distribution of liquor into speakeasies. The consequences of drinking liquor in public or selling a beer was considered against the prohibition was six months of jail time and a fine of one thousand dollars. Although, the law did prevent citizens to drink publicly, it was a loose enforced law which did not consider containing liquor within a flask.

Bootlegging was an ‘undercover’ market business and raced up the prices of bottled liquor to make profit due to the emand of alcohol. Even though, at the time it was illegal to sell liquor, many purchases the beverage and drank it at home because the law did not suggest the action as illegal. In the book “Bootleg, Murder, and the lawless years of Prohibition,” Karen Blumenthal emphasizes the bootlegging business in a more depth perspective of American citizens throughout the United States who were in desperate need of alcoholic beverage.

Blumenthal accentuates the demand of liquor had not improved since the enact of prohibition where in a matter of months “drinking moved from bars and restaurants to the ome,”(Blumental 62) people began to distilled and brew their own liquor in households. Doctors wrote prescriptions for alcohol as medicine, priest and rabbis would purchase wine for worships and more to be sold for profit. Many would buy kettles, yeats, grains and other supplies create homemade brews and moonshine. William McCoy, known as ‘the real McCoy,’ sold pure liquor and was an early rumrunners who smuggled liquor from the Bahamas to New York.

In the East, many cabarets open businesses and were called “speakeasies. ” Leroy Ostransky father, Sharkey, would inject pure alcohol into he ‘legal beer which contain “less than one-half percent”(67) of alcohol and produce ‘bathtub gin. ‘ Furthermore, bootlegging business in New York and Chicago rose the American Mafia, the Italian-American Mafia and the rise of gangsters. Notorious gangsters rose was Alphonse “Al” Capone, John Gotti, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, and Johnny “Fox” Torrio who increase the rate of crimes for many years which consist of gang violence .

Johnny “Fox” Torrio recruited “Scarface” Capone as an enforcer for debt collecting. In “The Mammoth Book of Gangs: The fascinating inside story of 34 notorious gangs,” James Morton states during he Mann Act in 1910-1920, “Torrio arranged for Jim Colosimo. to receive a shipment of whiskey”(Morton 48) four months after the prohibition was enacted. On February 9, 1925 Torrio gave his position as mafia leader to his understudy Al Capone, who became the Boss of Chicago. Karen Blumenthal states “In Cicero, the Capone crowd turned out in force. ” (Blumenthal 96).

Al Capone had killed the town president because he did not pass Capone order. The killings continue throughout the years and escalated. Additionally, Mafias integrated illegal activities with their racketeering as a cover to not raise any suspicion. In ” Buster, Maranzano and the Castellammare War, 1930-1931,” David Critchley explores key aspects of the Castellammare War, which began in New York City between the two biggest Italian- American criminal gangs. A war for bloody power in the criminal business and Salvatore Maranzano declared himself as “Capo di tutti capi” which means boss of all bosses.

Critchley states “Uprising mobster Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano murdered Maranzano” and ended the war between gangs . Luciano formed a central organization consist at least 20 crime families across the country. All families in the mafia followed a code of loyalty nd silence. Once the repeal of the prohibition occurred, Mafia moved beyond bootlegging into the underworld activities such as illegal gambling, loan-sharking, to prostitution rings. Into legitimate business which provided millions of dollars to bribe police officers . Al Capone controlled all of the underworld go.

He had a great public relations by donating money to charities and opened a soup kitchen during the Great Depression. Mobsters were engaged with street battles over power control issue. In conjunction with Mafia rivalry, on February 14, 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre occurred etween arch rivals Al capone and George”Bugs” Moran. Based on “History on the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” states” four men dressed as police officers enter gangster Bugs Moran’s headquarters on North Clark Street in Chicago. ” The police officers were associated as men who worked for Al Capone.

These men killed seven of Moran’s henchmen against a wall. After this event, Criminals became national celebrities which activities in Ch symbolized public’s lack of faith in society’s institutions. The mafia gathered for a conference on May 13-15, 1929 in Atlantic City, New York. Mafia leaders lead the conference in fear of the nding of banning alcohol. Without the prohibition enact there would be less money for the mafia, and would lose business in bootlegging. Violence became discreet, less visible in American society and the mafia’s power increase drastically.

The Teapot Dome Scandal occurred in April 7, 1922 involving national security, big oil companies and bribery and corruption at the highest levels of the government of the United States during President Warren G. Harding term. The Teapot dome was a naval petroleum reserves which would not be drilled unless a national emergency when at time of war. President Harding ave positon of office to his closest friends who had no experience of the role. His best friend, Albert Fall, was given the position of Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding.

In the book “The Teapot Dome Scandal Trial A headline Court Case,” Jonathan L. Thorndike reveals the main events of the scandal made in the government corruption arising out of the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Jonathan L. Thorndike explains the complex of the scandal which took ten years to resolve and states ” in 1921, Albert B. Fall persuaded him to secretly transfer control of three huge government oil eserves from the Navy to the Department of the Interior. ” (7). The oil reserve for Naval use to insure there was fuel during war time.

Secretary Fall, secretly sold the bases to Teapot Dome oil rights to Harry Sinclair’s Mammoth Oil Company and the Elk Hills oil rights to the Pan-American Petroleum Company to gain profit from leasing the oil fields. President Harding placed his friends in high authority where they committed bribery, embezzled government money, and committed fraud. The first major scandal formed by the Harding administration consist involvement of Charles R. Forbes and the Veterans Bureau.

The Veterans Bureau was in charge of taking care of former members of U. S military. Forbes began taking advantage of his position and sold government medical supplies to private companies. Another crime committed was between Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty and his assistant Jesse Smith, rented a little green house on K. Street which store liquor legally and many times deliver in government vehicles. Attorney Daugherty took “bribes from bootleggers, tried to get criminals out of jail. ” (Thorndike 44). The Harding Administration was known as the ‘Ohio Gang’ because they were a collection of crooks and black-mailers.

The Harding Administration benefited from their positions for personal gain of profits. As a result, in the 1920s many criminal activity rose from the prohibition era lead to illegal activities such as illegal liquor, gambling, prostitution ring, and government corruption. Police complicity to accept bribes and blackmail from bootleggers were a common situation during the time. People wanted to prosper in wealth and business after the great depression drained money and employment in the United States . Throughout the roaring twenties, organized crimes activity began to increase worldwide and manage to continue today .

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Home — Essay Samples — Arts & Culture — Modernism — Traditionalism in the 1920s: Clashing with Modernity

Traditionalism in The 1920s: Clashing with Modernity

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Published: Mar 8, 2024

Words: 548 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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Traditionalism and social values, traditionalism and the prohibition era, traditionalism and immigration policies.

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I read my grandparents' love letters from the 1920s. It was a gift to see how their relationship began.

• I found my grandparents' love letters when cleaning out their house.
• Reading them gave me insight into what dating was like 100 years ago.
• Some facets of life in the 1920s are still relatable today, like selfies and mail-order catalogs.

When my 89-year-old grandmother moved out of her home, I was tasked with going through her personal belongings. I didn't know where to start. Her house was small and tidy, but she had no use for minimalism like I did. She'd kept everything.

I began in her bedroom. The dresser was overflowing with scarves, jewelry, and empty perfume bottles. It took me all day to go through six drawers. But tucked away securely in a string-wrapped envelope was a stack of love letters my grandfather wrote to her when they were dating. These treasured notes from the 1920s were fragile and falling apart — and a time capsule of what dating was like 100 years ago.

I read all the letters with my grandmother's blessing

Watching my own two kids navigate dating in their 20s , my grandparents would be amazed at their constant access to one another and ability to track each other's location . But there's something to be said for opening a letter in the mail and seeing a loved one's handwriting. For perspective, my grown kids raised in the digital age don't know how to address an envelope.

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Judging from the letters I read (with my grandmother's blessing), they wrote to each other daily, hustling to get to the Post office in time to make the next day's mail. My grandfather mentions a time he "made five trips to the Post office for that one letter," today's equivalent of picking up our phone every five minutes to check for a text.

FaceTime would've been inconceivable, and phone calls were expensive. Since they lived 30 miles apart — she in San Marcos, Texas, and he in Austin (which in one letter he predicted "will be a city someday"), seeing each other was a challenge. It involved long bus rides or, when he was employed as a steel worker in Fort Worth, transfers and a train ride on the Texas Special through Waco.

One Sunday night, my grandfather missed the bus back to Austin — Uber would have been a dream come true — and spent a restless night in a cold horse stall. He was late for work the next day, but his boss let it slide because he could tell "this man is in love."

I learned about history and what their lives were like

Postmarked 1923 and 1924, most began with an endearment like "My dearest little dear" or simply, "My dear Alice." This cache of letters not only allowed me a glimpse into their young lives but was a much more engrossing account of history than any book I'd ever read. He wrote of strikes, fear of unemployment, prohibition , and how much he missed her.

Some facets of life in the 1920s are relatable today. He always asked her for pictures ("in the black dress you showed me" or "in your new swimsuit") and finally bought her a Kodak camera so she could take photos of herself. He sent off for a Sears Roebuck catalog so he could mail-order medicine. And he eventually found a place for them to live once they were married near a Piggly Wiggly grocer "so we won't have to tote the groceries far."

As an only child , I'm struck by the privilege of seeing this intimate side of my heritage. I know how it ended — my grandparents sitting at their Formica kitchen table, watching the hummingbirds and sharing the daily newspaper — but what a gift to see how it began.

Life may be easier now, but it was simpler then. I saved notes my husband wrote me when we were dating, but my kids and their friends don't communicate this way anymore. Love letters, written in cursive and sealed with a kiss, may truly be a relic of the past.

Watch: How the last artificial flower factory in New York City survived a century

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