Academic topics and research overview

Prohibition and Its Legacy

The period leading up to, the time during and the repeal of the 18th amendment to the U.S. constitution is one of the most interesting in periods in history. The whole social experiment surrounding the prohibition of alcohol marks a time in history when the U.S. government and some strong social forces united in an attempt to legislate morality. (Columbia University, Press) Though other vices have had laws passed to make them illegal the government had never tried to make anything illegal that was so widely accepted as normal, i.e. The consumption and sale of alcohol, and this experiment proved a disaster on many levels. (Thornton) What the prohibition period does leave as a bright spot is countless examples of fascinating social history and a few great legacies of interest. This work will provide a basic overview of the time leading up to, the period during and the period after prohibition when the U.S. started to get back to normal after years of social strife in part created by the prohibition experiment.

Though no one single group or individual was entirely responsible for the 18th Amendment as it was to a large degree simply a reflection of a minority opinion regarding social vices and the perceived negative effects that alcohol had on the family. The public sentiment, though a minority opinion was a result of a large influx of immigration from an area of the world that incorporated alcohol consumption as a vital part of culture. In combination the "promise" of America was largely unrealized by these immigrants and other immigrants who had given up everything, including their home and often their extended family to come to the U.S. The area of the world that brought this massive influx of peoples was Southern and Eastern Europe and they faced serious discrimination from the mainly Northwestern European immigrants already here and already influencing law and social services. More than 28 million people immigrated to the U.S. between 1880 and 1930 and about half originated from Southern and Eastern Europe. (Min 65) it was during this period that many social service industries emerged, in part to try to resolve the living conditions and problems of the massive new immigrant population but also to determine the ethical and moral principles that the U.S. would live by. Some great things came from this, child labor laws, workers rights legislation, local and national infrastructure building for sanitation, all various aspects of the growth of the Progressive Movement, largely a social services driven political movement. (Byer 29) Yet, the movement to prohibit vices, such as the consumption of alcohol also emerged as a product of the investigations and moral views of these helping organizations. (Seller 145)

From the development of social sentiment surrounding the use of alcohol as barrier to success in families and success of immigrants resolving issues that in many cases were outside of their control, poor housing, poor sanitation infrastructure and horrible working conditions, the idea of the abolition of alcohol became a social movement.

The development of many local and grassroots citizen founded organizations occurred during the period 1877-1920 and some were more influential than others. One of the most interesting culminated into one of the U.S.'s most disliked of all legislative decisions Prohibition. The Women's Christian Temperance Union, was a highly influential organization founded by a women and a citizen that sparked national interest in social issues that were disruptive to the social order. They were highly influential in the development of broad public opinion regarding the need of the federal government to change laws and alter standards of morality to redirect the populous toward more "family friendly" traditions and standards. (Rorabaugh 18-19)

Some endeavors to mold the larger society according to evangelical mores echoed the antebellum zeal for social reform. One example is the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1873 by *Frances Willard, who later became an advocate of both woman's suffrage and the ordination of women. The WCTU became not only the largest women's organization of its day, but a major voice for social reform. With the Anti-Saloon League, begun in 1893, the WCTU led the movement that brought the national experiment with Prohibition after World War I. It also saw itself as protecting the American family from destruction because of alcoholism. Although moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages was frequently part of immigrants' cultures of origin, evangelicals emphasized its connections to urban poverty and slum life. Even though the WCTU and the Anti-Saloon League in time called for the government to enact and enforce Prohibition, their thrust was primarily individualistic. That is, individuals were urged one by one to sign pledges promising to abstain from alcoholic beverages. (Krapohl and Lippy 33)

The WCTU made great strides in areas outside of temperance and some would say even delayed the development of universal women's suffrage (through the failing of the 18th amendment) but none the less shaped the future of the nation significantly in both the negative and positive. The WCTU was also a big part of the Prohibition Party, which became the legal fighting force to force enactment of the 18th Amendment. (Columbia University Press "Prohibition Party") Though there were outstanding figures in law enforcement and elsewhere who are seen as the major influencing factors to prohibition the reality is that abstinence from alcohol was a movement that was a product of a vocal and influential minority that wielded enough power to get it done and pass the 18th amendment but did not have enough power to make it a an accepted social reality. (Okrent 30-37)

It is also important in interesting to note that prohibition on a state level was rampant prior to the passage of the 18th amendment as 65% of the states had already passed laws that controlled or eliminated alcohol production and distribution. The U.S. should have learned from the state experiments because interstate trafficking became rampant, illegal bars (speakeasys) violence and illegal production and distribution of alcohol seriously taxed local law enforcement and other agencies. Yet, instead the national movement led mostly by the Anti-Saloon League and the WCTU convinced those on high that a national prohibition would solve the interstate problems that were associated with illegal alcohol activities, making the state and local laws enforceable. Yet, this was hardly the case as violence was more common and became even worse after the federal amendment passed. January 16, 1920 marked the beginning of prohibition in a legal sense as breweries, distilleries and saloons were closed and some even called the prohibition movement a patriotic aspect of WWI (Mintz)

In 1916, seven states adopted anti-liquor laws, bringing the number of states to 19 that prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. America's entry into World War I made Prohibition seem patriotic since many breweries were owned by German-Americans. Wayne Wheeler, lobbyist for the Anti-Saloon League, urged the federal government to investigate "a number of breweries around the country which are owned in part by alien enemies." In December 1917, Congress passed the 18th Amendment. A month later, President Woodrow Wilson instituted partial prohibition to conserve grain for the war effort. Beer was limited to 2.75% alcohol content and production was held to 70% of the previous year's production. In September, the president issued a ban on the wartime production of beer. (Mintz)

It could be argued that the Anti-Saloon League, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union as well as other prohibitionist organizations seeking to remove alcohol from the long list of the nation's ills, got very lucky in timing. The U.S. was in crisis mode and conservation of needed supplies for the war were foundational to the ratification of the 18th amendment as well as other preceding legislation and the idea of prohibition as a war cause also gave the groups and the government just enough push to get society to at least briefly support prohibition.

Additionally, it must be made clear that the 18th amendment (and most state and local laws) prohibited the manufacture and sale of "intoxicating liquors" and the meaning was expanded to include beer and wine, which many hoped would not be included as they were so much a part of U.S. culture. The Volstead Act which allowed for enforcement of the 18th amendment further expanded the definition of what was being controlled as well as illegalizing transportation of alcohol. (Mintz) Yet, even with this additional legislation:

Enforcing the law proved almost impossible. Smuggling and bootlegging were widespread. Two New York agents, Izzie Einstein and Mo Smith, relied on disguises while staging their raids -- once posing as man and wife. Their efforts were halted, however, after a raid on New York City's 21 trapped some of the city's leading citizens. In New York, 7,000 arrests for liquor law violations resulted in 17 convictions. Enforcement of Prohibition was originally assigned to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); hence, the enforcement agents who destroyed moonshine stills were called "revenuers." In 1930, enforcement transferred to the Justice Department…. Prohibition failed because it was unenforceable. By 1925, half a dozen states, including New York, passed laws banning local police from investigating violations. Prohibition had little support in the cities of the Northeast and Midwest. (Mintz)

The issue most largely debated today regarding prohibition is that the social experiment did not improve conditions in the U.S. For anyone and in fact created massive violence and great deal more illegal activity that had been occurring before the 18th amendment.

Prohibition quickly produced bootleggers, speakeasies, moonshine, bathtub gin, and rum runners smuggling supplies of alcohol across state lines. In 1927, there were an estimated 30,000 illegal speakeasies -- twice the number of legal bars before Prohibition. Many people made beer and wine at home. It was relatively easy finding a doctor to sign a prescription for medicinal whiskey sold at drugstores. In 1919, a year before Prohibition went into effect, Cleveland had 1,200 legal bars. By 1923, the city had an estimated 3,000 illegal speakeasies, along with 10,000 stills. An estimated 30,000 city residents sold liquor during Prohibition, and another 100,000 made home brew or bathtub gin for themselves and friends. Prohibition also fostered corruption and contempt for law and law enforcement among large segments of the population. Harry Daughtery, attorney general under Warren Harding, accepted bribes from bootleggers. George Remus, a Cincinnati bootlegger, had a thousand salesmen on his payroll, many of them police officers. He estimated that half his receipts went as bribes. Al Capone's Chicago organization reportedly took in $60 million in 1927 and had half the city's police on its payroll. (Mintz)

The experiment ended December 5, 1933 when Utah ratified its repeal by becoming the 36th state to register support of the 21st amendment.

By then, even some proponents admitted that the 18th Amendment resulted in "evil consequences." The Rev. Sam Small, an evangelist and temperance advocate, said that Prohibition had created "an orgy of lawlessness and official corruption." John D. Rockefeller, a teetotaler, observed in 1932, "drinking has generally increased, the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has been recruited and financed on a colossal scale." (Mintz)

Prohibition (the 18th amendment) proved a failure in the sense that economic gain was not procured for the government, and societal ills were not curbed, and in fact were bolstered to a large degree. Amendment 21 responded to the failure of the 18th amendment by repealing it and redirecting efforts toward a more controlled distribution and manufacturing alternative, where the alcohol was available for sale but was regulated and formed a basis for revenue for the nation. The rebuttal to the support of amendment 21 claims that the 18th amendment was a success in several areas and should not have been repealed, but does not take into consideration the legitimate ills that were created by this attempt to control fundamental rights. It is a fundamental right to prosper (legitimately) from the sale of goods and services but not a fundamental human right to do so when the way you do it is illegal. Seeking to eliminate the means of production and distribution of alcohol removed legitimate work and revenue opportunities in the public and private sector and ultimately created the opportunity for illegitimate means of production to reign, therefore increasing illegal activity. Specifically the rise of the mafia and other individuals who prospered from the price hikes on alcohol and the extreme opportunity, with risk to profit from it. (Reuter)

If someone were to argue that the 21st amendment (the amendment that repealed prohibition) should never have happened for religious or immigration reasons would be really wrong as the discrimination that occurred toward new immigrants seriously challenges religious principles. (Thornton) the broader concept of immigration discrimination, grounded in the fact that earlier settlers from other regions of the world were discriminatory against Eastern European and Irish immigrants and the sheer number of their arrivals was economically and socially challenging to an already stretched social and economic infrastructure. Some also argued that the manifest destiny of the U.S. is to create a better society, lacking social ills and that such a society can do so by prohibiting the sale and distribution of alcohol negates the fact that some of the perceived social ills had nothing to do with the legitimate exchange of alcohol and more to do with other economic and the social realities they created. Some of these issues are a lack of supportive welfare systems, lack of livable wages and very poor housing and work conditions facing immigrants who had been promised and were seeking far better alternatives upon immigration. These arguments do not include the fact that in general the religions and cultures of the previous immigrants were ultimately opposed to alcohol while those of the new immigrant population were not. This very fact separates the two and allows the previous immigrants to use alcohol as a scapegoat for all social problems, when clearly this was not the reality. (Auerhahn)

Social conditions for new immigrants were regionally varied but in the large part atrocious and those who were more established felt threatened by the overwhelming nature of the visible symptoms of poor wages, squalor in living conditions and limited opportunity for success on the part of new immigrants. None of this was associated with the legitimate distribution and sale of alcohol and its prohibition in fact made things worse as it slowed the development of state supported social services that might have partly addressed the real social issues of the time and slowed legislation that might have helped, housing codes and property standards, hygiene legislation, municipal infrastructure building, minimum wage laws, fundamental child labor laws and legislative challenges to institutionally accepted economic and social discrimination against new immigrants. The problems in society were not seated in alcohol distribution or sales but in broader issues and at the very least alcohol consumption was a symptom rather than a cause of social ills, as people sought a means of escape from appalling conditions and lack of opportunity. (Auerhahn)

The period of prohibition marked further disenfranchisement for the immigrants and poorer classes because not only did they not have the expendable income to get alcohol, because it was very expensive now, they were subject to all the violence that came with the period and their conditions hardly improved. It is also really important to discuss the Mafia in the U.S. As we talk about prohibition because many would argue that the Mafia was not really even a strong player in society until prohibition, because the illegal production, sale and distribution of alcohol fed the Mafia's revenue and created countless opportunities for further development. The Mafia organized and created a substructure that would be hard to counter, after prohibition as prohibition lasted just long enough for the Mafia to gain a foothold in society and then was stopped in just enough time for the Mafia to find other ways to make money and wreak havoc on society. The mafia itself cannot be discussed without at least some history.

Initially, the American Mafia was a prominent supplier of bootlegged liquor. That required good connections with the local police department and political machines. Paying off the local beat cop provided a speakeasy, with its conspicuous and regular flow of traffic, little effective protection. Instead, it was necessary to guard against any cop who might be on that beat; the efficient solution was buying the whole department, if it was for sale. In many cities it was. (Reuter 89)