Prohibition Flashcards
Who opposed prohibition?
Opponents were likely to be urban, of non-northern European ethnic origin, Roman Catholic and vote democrat.
Why did women support prohibition?
Many women’s groups saw alcohol as a means by which men oppressed them.
Why did big businesses support prohibition?
Big businesses saw drunkenness as leading to danger and inefficiency in the workplace.
Why did religious groups support prohibition?
Many religious groups believed alcohol was the work of the devil and was overwhelmingly responsible for sin and wrongdoing.
How did the Great War impact the decision to enforce prohibition?
Grain was needed for food, many people felt prohibition was patriotic.
Many Brewers in America were German.
Drunkenness would damage the war effort.
It was felt that alcohol would lead young soldiers into temptation and sinful ways.
Many believed sobriety would be part of the ‘brave new world’ created after the war.
What pressure groups opposed prohibition and were they effective?
Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Aim was to persuade State Governments to ban the sale of alcohol within their states.
By 1916, 21 states had banned saloons.
Why did big businesses support prohibition?
John D. Rockefeller gave his personal support and large sums of money to the Anti-Saloon League because he believed that his workers would be more productive without alcohol.
Men such as Henry Ford with their new production lines and machinery needed sober men in their factories.
Farmers used to be able to plough whilst drunk but this was not safe when operating machinery.
Were those who opposed prohibition well organised?
Forces against prohibitions not organised.
Beyond a March and rally in NYC, a parade in Baltimore and a resolution against taking away the working man’s beer by the American Federation of Labor, there was little protest.
What problems did the Prohibition Bureau face?
Underfunded, Congress supported prohibition but didn’t want to find it, $9 million budget.
Not many agents hired, only 2,836 in 1930.
Unskilled, lacked scientific and industrial expertise to carry out work.
Low salaries therefore easily corruptible, earned between $1,200 and $2,000 in 1920.
About 10% fined for corruption.
Who were Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith?
Two of the Prohibition Bureau’s most successful agents.
Within 5 years they confiscated 5 million bottles of liquor worth over $15 million and made 4,000 arrests.
How did smugglers make prohibition hard to enforce?
Smuggling into the USA from Canada and Mexico soared.
In 1925 the officer in charge of prohibition enforcement estimated that agents only intercepted about 5% of alcohol coming into the country illegally.
How did bootleggers make prohibition difficult to enforce?
Bootleggers went into business as producers and distributors of illegal alcohol.
George Remus bought breweries on the eve of prohibition for the manufacture of medicinal alcohol and then arranged for 3,000 gangsters to high jack his products and divert them to the illegal stills of the big cities.
Remus made $5,000,000 in 5 years.
Was alcohol easy to make?
Industrial alcohol was easily diverted and re-distilled.
‘Vino Sano’ grape drink could be left to ferment and become wine.
However, 34 people in NYC died from wood alcohol poisoning.
How were attitudes towards prohibition changing?
Urban Americans wanted to have a good time.
Illegal drinking in speakeasies became popular.
Immigrants were not won over by the appeal to stop drinking.
Urban middle classes were outraged at not being able to have cocktails at their parties.
How did the Anti-Saloon League become divided?
Divided between those who wanted stricter enforcement laws and those who emphasised education programmes to deter people from drinking.
