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Prohibition Flashcards

1
Q

Prohibition

A

The nationwide ban on the production, transportation and sale of alcohol from 1920-33

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2
Q

What group had campaigned against alcohol since the 19th century?

A

The Temperance Movement (religious people who thought drinking was bad for social standards and morals)

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3
Q

What were the main pro-prohibition groups?

A

The Anti-Saloon League

The Women’s Temperance Society

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4
Q

What did people in rural areas hope?

A

Prohibition would help to restore a more traditional way of life- worried at the influence which cities were having

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5
Q

Why was making alcohol seen as a waste of grain?

A

Many Europeans were starving following the destruction of farmland during WW1

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6
Q

What did drinking cause because of the drunkenness?

A

A drop in factory and farm output

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7
Q

Who thought prohibition would make a more reliable workforce as there would be less hangovers?

A

John Rockefeller

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8
Q

How many babies were smothered each year by drunk parents?

A

3000

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9
Q

Why was drinking seen as unpatriotic?

A

It gave German brewers large amounts of money because many beers on sale in America were either imported from Germany or brewed by German immigrants
After 1917, it was said that the Bolsheviks drank alcohol

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10
Q

How did the government enforce prohibition?

A

Ran information campaigns

Prohibition agents arrested offenders

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11
Q

How many prohibition agents were there?

A

Around 1500

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12
Q

Two famous prohibition agents

A

Issy Einstein

Moe Smith

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13
Q

How many arrests did Einstein and Smith make?

A

4932

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14
Q

How did Einstein and Moe make arrests?

A

Keep raids low key
Enter speakeasies and order a drink
Einstein had a hidden flask where he preserved the evidence

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15
Q

What type of admissions to state mental hospitals decreased?

A

Alcoholic psychosis

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16
Q

How did alcohol consumption fall?

A

80% to 50%

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17
Q

In 1921, how many arrests did Federal agents make? How many did this rise to by 1929?

A

34,000

67,000

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18
Q

What % did death rate due to alcohol decrease by?

A

42%

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19
Q

What % did the death rate due to cirrhosis of the liver decrease by?

A

70%

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20
Q

What % did crime decrease by?

A

54%

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21
Q

What % did insanity decrease by?

A

66%

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22
Q

What % did arrests for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct decrease by?

A

50% between 1916 and 1922

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23
Q

Where did prohibition gain widespread approval?

A

Rural mid west

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24
Q

What did the government run to gain approval for prohibition?

A

Information campaigns

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25
How did prohibition agents try to enforce the law?
Locate places that sold or made alcohol then make arrests and confiscate the alcohol
26
How many miles of coastline and land borders did the USA have to control?
18,600 miles
27
What was bootlegging?
Alcohol being smuggled in by sea or over the border from Mexico or Canada
28
Why was prohibition difficult to enforce?
Millions willing to continue drinking, breaking the law | Bootlegging
29
Why was it very easy to get alcohol?
Criminal gangs got involved in making and supplying it
30
What did gangs run?
Illegal bars (speakeasies)
31
What did speakeasies sell?
Bootleg alcohol | Moonshine
32
What was moonshine?
A home made spirit
33
Where were speakeasies hidden?
Cellars or private hotel rooms
34
How did gangs avoid arrest and prosecution?
Bribed police officers, prohibition agents, border guards and judges
35
How else did gangs make money?
Fixing horse and dog races Running brothels Racketeering
36
What was racketeering?
When businessmen paid money to gangs to stop them smashing up their premises
37
What phrase was coined to describe the gangs’ behaviour?
Organised crime
38
How much did Al Capone make from racketeering?
$10 million a year
39
Where was prohibition never supported?
Cities
40
What did states do that didn’t agree with prohibition?
Repealed the law and left it up to the Federal Government to enforce it
41
Why did millions not support it?
They wanted to drink
42
Where was prohibition not even introduced?
Maryland
43
By 1925, what were there more of than there had been legal saloons in 1919?
Speakeasies
44
What did George Remus give men?
$25,000 cuff links to turn a blind eye against his activities
45
Ratio of agents that were corrupt
1:12
46
What mayor was corrupted?
Bill Thompson in Chicago
47
What did prohibition lead to?
Organised crime and violence
48
Where did gangsters control?
Cities
49
How much did Capone make a year in Chicago from illegal alcohol?
$60 million a year
50
What were hoodlums?
Gangs’ private armies of gangsters who fought to defend their business
51
Example of gang violence associated with prohibition?
Valentine’s Day Massacre- 14th February 1929
52
How many unsolved murders took place in Chicago?
300
53
In Cooks County, Chicago, how many gangland murders took place? How many killers were arrested?
130 | None arrested
54
How much did gangsters make in total?
Over $2 billion
55
What did moonshine cause? Why was this?
Blindness and death | Made from industrial strength alcohol
56
What was the government losing by banning the alcohol industry?
A large amount of tax
57
How many speakeasies were there?
200,000
58
What group protested against prohibition?
The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment
59
What would be created if alcohol was legalised?
Legal jobs in the brewing industry
60
Why were there not enough agents?
Poorly paid | Each responsible for large areas
61
How many distilleries were seized?
280,000
62
Who supplied speakeasies?
Bootleggers
63
Fraction of illegal alcohol coming from Canada
2/3
64
What was the name of a famous bootlegger who brought in alcohol by sea?
Caption McCoy | This is where the phrase ‘the real McCoy’ comes from
65
What did Captain McCoy specialise in?
The finest Scottish whisky
66
Who caught their corrupt agents?
Don Chaplin | New York FBI boss
67
How did Don Chaplin discover his corrupt agents?
Ordered his 200 agents ‘put your hands on the table. Every son of a bitch wearing a diamond is fired’
68
5 reasons why prohibition was ended
``` Lacked support (many ordinary people broke the law) Not enough agents Led to organised crime and violence Health problems Lost vital taxes ```

USA (42 decks)

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