by Meghan Hoffman
The turn of the 19th century brought a large increase in industrialization known to most as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution represented a shift from an agricultural way of life to one where people worked in factories. In order to fill the new jobs, an influx of immigrants came and a working-class began to form. Large cities began to establish around a concentration of factories, and many people lived in close quarters with little money due to overpopulation in the lower class. Because of the increased poverty rates and poor working conditions, the industrial revolution spurred an increase in alcohol consumption for citizens hardened by the workday. High alcohol consumption combined with the confined areas of a city promoted violence and crime. Anti-alcohol groups, called prohibitionists, called for abstinence and elimination of alcohol to combat the growing violence. In practice, Prohibition and the 18th Ammendment’s federal ban on alcohol instead presented opportunities for large scale crime that the government was unequipped to handle and ultimately forced the government to yield to public pressure and reverse its policies.
Concerns regarding alcohol abuse prompted movements to push for the elimination of alcohol before Prohibition officially began in the 1920s because alcohol abuse was responsible for many problems in daily life. Men spent their wages at bars, either by consuming extreme amounts of alcohol or by gambling the money all away. As historian Phoebe Judge describes, “If husbands were drunk, they weren’t going to work, they weren’t helping out around the house, and they were spending valuable money.” After spending the night at the bar, men would go home and abuse their families due to intoxication. Many bars also offered prostitution, causing many malegoers to contract sexually transmitted infections which they often passed onto their wives as well. Besides the prostitution and abuse, excessive spending at bars made life more difficult for families that had little money to begin with. The increase of alcoholism and financial troubles, led to the issue of an increased crime and poverty rate. It also had long-lasting health effects. Young children were drinking, and people were just starting to learn how detrimental alcohol was to a child’s development, causing worry for many. This worry and fear, combined with a shift in religious mindset, allowed Prohibition to take root.
Prohibitionist ideas stemmed from a religious revival referred to as the Second Great Awakening. The movement began when preachers, most famously, Charles Grandison Finney, began to reject the notion that people’s actions on earth had no effect on their afterlife, and instead claimed that “people could exercise their free will, choosing to be sinners or perform good works.” Temperance groups such as the American Temperance Movement and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union utilized this new view of religion to push prohibitionist views of alcohol. They taught that alcohol was a great evil, and that the only way for the country to get rid of sin was to abolish booze. In 1826, two preachers, Lyman Beecher and Justin Edwards, founded the American Temperance Society (ATS) to combat the growing alcohol problem. By working closely with Protestant religious sects, especially Methodists, the ATS encouraged people to abstain from alcohol with the associated goal of prohibiting its sale, production, and importation. Over time, the ATS began to dissolve and split off into other temperance groups, including the Women’s Temperance Society and the Anti-Saloon League.
Inspired by the ATS as well as other Methodist and Baptist clergymen, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1869, began to emerge. The WCTU consisted of over 250,000 women, many of whom hailed from backgrounds where they felt alcohol and saloons had ruined their lives in one way or another. Overall, the WCTU sought to protect home life from alcohol and other abusive substances. They set up local unions around the country that aimed to reduce drinking by “holding prayer meetings, signing temperance pledges, personal visits to homes and saloons, and personal contacts with drinkers.” Their efforts were best exemplified by their slogan, “Agitate – Educate – Legislate.” Prohibitionists deemed alcohol a danger and said that alcohol robbed “people of their moral faculties,” or in other words, alcohol prevented people’s ability to control their actions. The effects of alcohol created a significant issue as people compromised their better judgment to commit crimes and be abusive. Prohibitionists argued that it was within states’ rights to regulate businesses, including alcohol providers, and that legislation was necessary in order to protect people from themselves. While the WCTU was unsuccessful in achieving its ultimate goal of amending the Constitution, it “lobbied for local laws restricting alcohol, and created an anti-alcohol educational campaign that reached into nearly every schoolroom in the nation,” making it influential in the fight for Prohibition. Although violence also contributed to the push for Prohibition, the religious mindset and fervor against alcohol consumption at the time played a dominant role in creating the prohibitionist mindset.
The Anti-Saloon League (ASL), an offshoot of the ATS, pressured and ultimately convinced the government to address the societal concerns regarding alcohol abuse. Founded in 1893, the ASL became one of the most powerful pressure groups in US history by advocating for change to the government’s policy towards alcohol production, sale, and consumption. The ASL firmly argued against the sale and consumption of alcohol and used their motto, “The Saloon Must Go,” to push their ideas. Carry A. Nation, one of the most influential people in both the American Temperance Society and the Anti-Saloon League, became highly active in the prohibitionist movement because her first husband died because of his alcohol addiction. Nation was best known for her extreme way of protesting. When Nation did not receive the support she desired for Prohibition, she traveled to different saloons or bars, and smashed them up with her hatchet and bricks. With Nation drawing attention to the cause, the ASL first gained influence through its connections with religious leaders, and then later was able to amend the Constitution by gaining the support of political leaders. Throughout the ASL’s fight for prohibition, events such as the passage of the Income Tax Amendment in 1913 made political change a possibility. With the Income Tax Amendment, the federal government no longer depended on liquor taxes for money, thereby removing a significant argument against limiting the sale of alcohol. The ASL took advantage of this change in legislation to more effectively pressure the government to ban alcohol. The ASL also used World War I propaganda to connect booze with the Germans in the public’s mind and advocated the importance of innocent children and families who were falling victim to alcohol monopolies. Therefore, in order to keep public support, “most politicians dared not defy the ASL,” for fear of looking like German sympathizers. The strength of ASL’s lobbying power pushed politicians to change legislation.
The extreme pressure coming from prohibitionist groups and the unavoidable issues that alcohol abuse was causing led Congress to pass the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, the nation’s first step towards complete prohibition. It outlawed the production, transport, and import of alcohol, but stopped short of banning the consumption of alcohol. Although the amendment allowed itself seven years to be ratified, the support for the movement was so strong that it only took a year. Many Americans started stockpiling booze despite the seemingly high support for the amendment It was the Volstead Act, enacted later in 1919, that provided the legal scope to completely ban alcohol, including its consumption. The Volstead Act stated that no one, on or after the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect, could “manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor.” The only exception to this law was if alcohol was prescribed by a pharmacist that had a permit to sell liquor. Loopholes like this were part of what made Prohibition so difficult to successfully regulate.
Following the ratification of these laws, many American citizens believed the country would see a reduction in violence and crime and that the economy would thrive.
“Real estate developers and landlords expected rents to rise as saloons closed and neighborhoods improved. Chewing gum, grape juice, and soft drink companies all expected growth. Theater producers expected new crowds as Americans looked for new ways to entertain themselves without alcohol.”
However, none of these changes ever occurred. Many thought that, with the new legislation, people’s lifestyles would change, and with that, their habits. As evangelist Bill Sunday commented to ten thousand of his followers in the tabernacle when the Prohibition laws were passed:
"The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile, and the children will laugh. Hell will be forever for rent."
Many believed that eliminating alcohol from their lives had saved them from eternal damnation. However, as soon as alcohol became fully illegal, rather than adapting to the change, citizens began to find openings to ignore the system so they could continue their current habits, causing an increase in organized crime.
Although Prohibition was intended to decrease violence, the state of the nation worsened as its citizens continued to drink, and organized crime in the form of mobs began to rise. Prohibition brought about the rise of a criminal class, corruption of public officials, and a blatant disrespect for the law, all of which threatened the safety of households nationwide. Doctors that had been permitted to prescribe alcohol started prescribing it to everyone who asked and set up illegal saloons behind their shops. Bootlegging, the illegal distillation and sale of alcohol, also became a very profitable business. Mobsters such as Al Capone took advantage of this new business opportunity to grow their empires and bribed government officials and law enforcement to prevent any interference. The small-time bootleggers and moonshiners (smaller liquor smugglers) who could not protect themselves ended up in jail instead of the dangerous crime lords. The desire for alcohol outweighed abiding by the law that the citizens themselves demanded for. Alcohol was still available to anyone who wanted it. Even “people who had always followed the rules, now openly ignored the highest laws of the land.” Despite government effort, “legal deterrents had little effect on limiting consumption outside of their effect on price.” The Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act had been successful in making alcohol more expensive but not in preventing its consumption. Not only did a new type of crime emerge, but rather, the country’s response to Prohibition prioritized finding loopholes in and ignoring the law rather than getting rid of violence caused by alcohol abuse.
Bootleggers like Capone capitalized on the lack of alcohol during Prohibition to produce alcohol and sell it to the public for a large profit, facing little government obstruction. Prohibition gave way to a large increase in organized crime, a name that described the multiple mobs that controlled many cities during the Gangster Era (1920s-1930s). Capone became powerful by controlling the supply of alcohol during Prohibition under his organization, in Chicago,“The Outfit,” but later moved to Cicero, Illinois when regulation increased. Capone was able to control the Chicago government with bribery, and combined with his excellent public relations, was almost untouchable. In order to gain the public's respect, Capone gave back to the Chicago community. He paid the hospital expenses of an innocent woman who was hit and blinded in a shootout targeted at him. He even opened up soup kitchens across Chicago when he was about to go to jail for tax evasion. Capone proved exceptional at curating his image in the press. Even if he was guilty, Capone could convince a journalist that he was innocent, and even go so far as to make the journalist believe that he hated violence. Despite winning the public over with acts of non-violence, Capone was an aggressive person. “As his business and the bulging rolls of cash in his pocket grew, he also grew bolder and more violent.” As mobsters like Capone became more confident about avoiding the law, with events such as the Valentine’s Day Massacre, violence ensued as the whole country seemingly fell into anarchy.
The atrocities committed by organized crime during Prohibition, as best represented by Al Capone, exemplify Prohibition’s failure to accomplish its goal of reducing violence and crime. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 highlighted the stark contrast between the original intent and the ultimately negative impact of Prohibition legislation on society. The massacre took place because of an intense rivalry between Capone and one of his bootlegging competitors, George “Bugs” Moran. When seven of Bugs’ men were waiting in a garage on a routine delivery, some of Capone’s men pulled up to the garage in police uniforms. When Bugs’ men lined up against the wall expecting a routine police search, they were brutally shot and killed. This hit left a resounding impact on the Chicago community and showcased the extreme violence that occurred throughout the Prohibitionist Era. While only seven men died in the incident, the gruesomeness of the massacre surpassed anything else the community had seen. Besides the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a great deal of other violence occurred as a result of organized crime. In 1924, Capone’s men beat up a group of democratic workers and voters in hopes of reestablishing Capone’s men in the local government of Cicero. The violence from the incident left at least three men dead. Under Capone’s influence, “dozens of men were shot in 1926 by a passing car or ‘taken for a ride,’ lured or forced into a car and then murdered.” However, the citizens of Cicero turned a blind eye to the murders. Violence had become a common event in everyday society, and the whole country had become accustomed to it as the government struggled to enforce the law.
Throughout Prohibition, the government repeatedly proved ineffective due to corruption and lack of enforcement of prohibition laws. At first, the government did not know how to combat the growing alcohol problem. In an attempt to prevent the public from drinking illegally, the government tried extreme measures, including poisoning its citizens. As citizen Will Rogers commented, the “government [was] used to murder by the bullet only. Now it [was] by the quart.” Tired of the disrespect for the law and in an attempt to get the public to stop drinking, the federal government, under the Federal Poisoning Program, began poisoning the cleaning alcohol in factories that small-time bootleggers were stealing and reselling as drinkable spirits. At first, doctors thought the alcohol had just gone bad; however, many people soon became seriously ill. Ultimately, over 10,000 people died from alcohol poisoning. In addition to poorly designed programs, the wealth that was generated from the illegal sale of alcohol was used to pay off police, judges, and politicians, leading to wide-spread government corruption. As Edward Behr explains in his book, Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America, the real villains throughout the Prohibition Era were “not the Al Capones, Johnny Torrios, Gus Morans, Dutch Schultzes, or Frank Costellos, but the political bosses in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere who used the underworld to their considerable advantage, [...] conniving police and law enforcement officials who supplemented their incomes with mobster money.” One of the most notorious examples of this corruption was William Hail “Big Bill” Thompson, the governor of Chicago, who was paid by Al Capone to protect Al’s elaborate mob and bootlegging business. It was because of “Big Bill” and other corrupt officials that Al Capone was able to escape conviction and arrest for so long. Corruptible government officials failed to enforce the Prohibition Amendments, and by doing so, provided the ideal breeding ground for large criminal organizations.
By the 1930s, the violence, combined with economic, political, and social troubles prompted the majority of the population to advocate for Prohibition’s removal. In an interview for the Federal Writers’ Project, a source commented on the “money that was poured out in the gutter, you might say, tryin' to enforce prohibition.” The government spent so much money trying to enforce Prohibition, yet it was all a waste because it was so ineffective. This only angered the public who believed their money was going to waste. Many believed that getting rid of Prohibition and allowing alcohol would boost the economy by providing jobs for the unemployed and increasing domestic spending. The notion of boosting the economy by investing money domestically aligned with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan to get the country back on its feet after the Market Crash in 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Politically speaking, the public had been criticizing the government over the course of the decade for interfering with what they deemed as private matters. As Samuel D. Mobley described during his interview for the Federal Writers’ Project, “every attempt to legislate morals into the people has resulted in disaster.” Instead, the public wanted the government to let the people themselves determine which “religion and morals should be taught and inculcated in the church and home, and self-control and temperance should be read and studied from the Bible rather than the Statutory Code.” In other words, the Eighteenth Amendment had caused a conjoining of church and state that directly contradicted America’s own values. It had become apparent that Prohibition did more harm than good, and the public wanted to change it.
The ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment on December 5th, 1933, which essentially nullified the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act, represented the people’s response to the government’s failure to enforce Prohibition and curtail crime. After seven years of debate in Congress, this amendment reestablished the trade of alcohol within the economy as legal, officially marking the end of Prohibition. The nation had neither the money, nor the support to continue the battle against alcohol, and by the end of Prohibition, the amount of alcohol consumed daily was three times the amount that the average person drinks today. Since Prohibition began, law enforcement agencies struggled to keep up with the increase in crime rate, responding in inconsistent and ineffective ways. Not only had Prohibition “made alcohol problems worse by encouraging drinkers to switch to spirits[, it also] created a large black market for alcohol supplied by organized crime.” Overall, Prohibition failed to achieve its goal of improving societal conditions.
Instead of reducing crime and violence as originally intended, Prohibition created an environment for increased lawlessness, the emergence of large scale criminal organizations, and widespread government corruption. Prohibition started as a result of religious groups successfully pressuring the government to violate the separation of church and state, a fundamental American value. As President Herbert Hoover later commented, Prohibition was “a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose," but it was only an experiment because, unlike the other constitutional amendments, Prohibition, like many other amendments, did not have the complete support of the public, but it was so disliked that the amendment was later repealed. Not only did the ban fail to stop the consumption of alcohol, but it also provided a mechanism for racism. When Prohibition was enforced, it often criminalized poor ethnic immigrants and African Americans, a legacy that continued through the Civil Rights Movement and can still be seen in society today. The only groups who seemingly benefited from the legislation were the bootleggers and the crime syndicates. The power of these mob bosses to bribe government and law enforcement officials led to an environment of increased violence and lawlessness. The country had tried to see what it would become if it removed alcohol, and in the end, America’s “noble experiment” was a disappointment. The government’s attempt to exercise its influence on everyday American life had been proven ineffective. As soon as Prohibition was terminated, the country went back to the way it was before, and “it was almost as if the craziness of Prohibition—and the poisonous measures taken to enforce it—had never quite happened." What took years for prohibitionists to gain legal support for, ended abruptly and society returned to how it was before, leaving behind no trace other than the lives lost to the very violence that Prohibition was supposed to suppress.