Prohibition

Question 1

What did the 18th Amendment do?

Answer 1

Banned sale, transportation and manufacture of “intoxicating liquor”

Question 2

Volstead Act 1919

Answer 2

Defined intoxicating liquor as drink containing over 0.5% alcohol

Question 3

When did National Prohibition begin? How many states has already banned alcoholic drinks?

Answer 3

• National Prohibition began 1920

- 18 states had already banned alcoholic drinks in 1916, 27 states by 1917

Question 4

SUCCESS: Church and Temperance Movements

• What was their issue with alcohol?
• Which religious group heavily campaigned for prohibition?

Answer 4

• Women’s groups saw alcohol as damaging family relations; made men more violent and abusive to wives/ children
• Men drank away their wages, leaving their families neglected and starving; used effective campaigning depicting neglected families
• Alcohol linked to gambling, prostitution (unchristian)
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union: alcohol is a work of the devil, responsible for sin, heavily campaigned for prohibition

Question 5

SUCCESS: Impact of the War on Reducing Alcohol Consumption

• What was considered patriotic?
• Why were some breweries boycotted?
• What was the “brave new world”?

Answer 5

• Grain used in production of alcohol needed for food= “patriotic” to give up alcohol to feed the country
• Many largest breweries e.g. Budweiser, Pabst were German= unpatriotic to support them
• Alcoholism linked to communism- stereotype of drunken Bolsheviks.
• Belief that alcohol led young soldiers away from home into sin and temptation= best to create a “brave new world” (restrained behaviour, no alcohol)

Question 6

What was the 1917 Lever Act?

Answer 6

Banned use of grain in manufacture of alcohol

Question 7

SUCCESS: Support of Businesses and Factory Owners

• Why did large corporations support prohibition?
• Two large corporations in support of prohibition?

Answer 7

• Saw drunkenness as leading to inefficiency and danger in the workplace, especially factories, which affected profit margins
• Rockerfeller and Heinz: lobbied for prohibition for greater workforce efficiency

Question 8

SUCCESS: Weak Opposition to Prohibition

• Who were the AFL, why did they have little impact?

Answer 8

• Forces against were unorganised, overall little protest
• One march/ rally in NYC, parade in Baltimore but had small turnout and little impact
• American Federation of Labour: led a campaign against “taking away the working man’s beer”, had less impact as AFL was thought to be communist

Question 9

FAILURE: Geographical Difficulties

• How many miles of land borders did the US share with Canada and Mexico?
• What was Rum Row?

Answer 9

• 6,500 miles of land border with US and Mexico, neither had prohibition= difficult to enforce, lots of alcohol illegally imported
• Waters just outside the national limits labelled “Rum Row” due to successful smuggling in these areas

Question 10

What % of alcohol coming into the US was being intercepted?

Answer 10

1925: enforcement officers estimate only 5% of alcohol coming into the US was intercepted

Question 11

How many $ worth of alcohol was seized in 1924? What was actual estimated volume of business?

Answer 11

• $4 million worth of alcohol was seized in 1924

- Actual volume of businesses estimated at $800 million

Question 12

What is bootlegging?

Answer 12

• Production, transportation and sale of alcohol illegally

- Bootleggers exploited alcohol still sold by chemists on doctor’s prescriptions

Question 13

Who was the “King of Bootleggers” and what did he do?

Answer 13

• George Remus- bought breweries for manufacture of “medicinal alcohol” then arranged for a total of 3000 gangsters to hijack his products for illegal stills in cities
• Made $5 million in 5 years

Question 14

Why was industrial alcohol a problem?

Answer 14

Industrial alcohol was easily redistilled and diverted into alcoholic drinks

Question 15

What was moonshine?

Answer 15

• DIY Alcohol made from scratch or using industrial/ medical alcohol
• Highly profitable= encouraged ordinary people to start making/ selling their own alcohol e.g. even taxi drivers sold moonshine

Question 16

How many deaths in NY due to moonshine?

Answer 16

No quality control= 34 deaths in NY related to moonshine, due to dangerous chemicals/ substances used

Question 17

FAILURE: Treasury Agents

How many treasury agents were employed by 1920? What were their numbers at their highest?

Answer 17

• Only 1,500 Treasury Agents employed by 1920
• At their highest, 3000 employed
• Could not cope with number of speakeasies and bootleggers

Question 18

What was the average salary for a Treasury Agent? Why was this an issue?

Answer 18

Average salary only $2,500, meanwhile they were shutting down an industry with approximately $2 billion in annual profits= many officers were corrupt, took bribes

Question 19

How much was one officer rumoured to make illegally?

Answer 19

One officer said to have made $7 million selling illegal licenses and pardons to bootleggers

Question 20

What % of officers fired for corruption?

Answer 20

1920-1930: approximately 10% of treasury agents fired for corruption.

Question 21

FAILURE: Speakeasies

What were they and why were they popular?

Answer 21

• Illegal drinking in gangster-run speakeasies became popular with fashionable city dwellers
• Most Americans’ main aim during prosperity of 1920s was to have fun, particularly in cities= drank in secret, many formerly law-abiding citizens now breaking law

Question 22

How many speakeasies in Detroit 1925?

Answer 22

15,000 speakeasies

Question 23

How many speakeasies in NY 1929?

Answer 23

30,000 speakeasies

Question 24

FAILURE: Difficulties amongst supporters

How much did the Anti-Saloon League want and how much were they given?

Answer 24

• ASL estimated $5 million budget needed to enforce prohibition
• Kramer given only $2 million= ill equipped

Question 25

Why was the ASL bitterly divided?

Answer 25

Some supported stricter enforcement laws, others wanted education/ deterrence= less effective enforcement

Question 26

FAILURE: Limited Government Involvement

Why did the gov not do more to enforce prohibition?

Answer 26

• Congress did not do much to enforce prohibition to not alienate rich influential voters
• Laissez-faire ideology of Republicans required less gov intervention
• Al Cooper had alcohol at his campaigns, Coolidge served alcohol at the Whitehouse.

Question 27

What was the Wickersham Commission?

Answer 27

• Commission set up by Hoover to investigate prohibition.

- 1931: reported that prohibition was impossible to enforce- everyone wanted to drink

Question 28

FAILURE: Involvement of Organised Crime

How were mobsters involved?

Answer 28

Mobsters established territories in sale of alcohol, expansion of territories resulted in turf wars, elimination of rival gangs, increased violence

Question 29

How much did notorious gangster Al-Capone make from prohibition?

Answer 29

Made $70 million worth of business, used turf wars and violence

Question 30

What was the St Valentines Day Massacre?

Answer 30

St Valentines Day Massacre 1929: Al Capone’s men kill 7 members of rival “Moran Gang”, fired 100 bullets= public outrage over “rule of gangsters”, prohibition is blamed for rising crime rates

Question 31

How much are criminal gangs estimated to have made during prohibition?

Answer 31

Estimated $2 billion made during Prohibition

Question 32

How did mobsters influence politics?

Answer 32

Mobsters controlled police, prohibition agents, politicians e.g. Mayor of Chicago Bill Thompson (Big Bill) allowed gangsters to function untouched in Chicago, embezzled $1 million in public funds. Their influence in politics remained after end of prohibition in 1933.