Expert: Hank Hokamp Date: 5/7/2008 Subject: Prohibition in America
Question Heyy, I’m and eighth grader doing a history report on the Prohibition in America. I was wondering, since you’re the expert, that you could answer a few question for me?
1 Why do you think that America would ban just alcohol and not any other substance to solve all their so-called problems?
2 Why do think that pro-Prohibition groups are still around even though the Prohibition is over?
3 I read that some government officials had and drank alcohol during the prohibition. Did anything really severe happen to them as a result?
4 What is something that you think young people should take away from Prohibition?
Thanks for taking the time to read over this. -Erik Engstorm
Answer
Erik:
National Prohibition was accomplished by means of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified January 16, 1919) and the Volstead Act (passed October 28, 1919). Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect. A total of 1,520 Federal Prohibition agents (police) were given the task of enforcing the law. Principal impetus for the accomplishment of Prohibition were members of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Prohibition Party. The main force for prohibition came from pietistic Protestants, who comprised majorities in the Republican party in the North, and the Democratic party in the South. Catholics and German-Americans were prohibition's main detractors; however, German-Americans were discredited by World War I, and their protests were ignored.
The 65th Congress met in 1917, and the Democratic dries outnumbered the wets by 140 to 64, while Republican dries outnumbered the wets 138 to 62. In the 1916 presidential election, both Democratic incumbent Woodrow Wilson and Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes ignored the Prohibition issue, as was the case with both parties' political platforms. Both Democrats and Republicans had strong wet and dry factions, and the election was expected to be close, with neither candidate wanting to alienate any part of their political base.
Although it was highly controversial, Prohibition was widely supported by diverse groups. Progressives believed that it would improve society and the Ku Klux Klan strongly supported its strict enforcement as generally did women, southerners, those living in rural areas, and African-Americans. There were a few exceptions such as the Woman’s Organization for Prohibition Reform who fought against it. Will Rogers often joked about the southern pro-prohibitionists: "The South is dry and will vote dry. That is, everybody sober enough to stagger to the polls." Supporters of the Amendment soon became quite confident that it would not be repealed, to the point that one of its creators, Senator Morris Sheppard, joked that "there is as much chance of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment as there is for a humming-bird to fly to the planet Mars with the Washington Monument tied to its tail."
While the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol was illegal in the U.S., it was not illegal in surrounding countries. Distilleries and breweries in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean flourished as their products were either consumed by visiting Americans or illegally imported to the U.S. Chicago became known notoriously as a haven for disobeying Prohibition during the time known as the Roaring Twenties. Many of Chicago's most notorious gangsters, including Al Capone and his enemy Bugs Moran, made millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales. By the end of the decade Capone controlled all 10,000 speakeasies in Chicago and ruled the bootlegging business from Canada to Florida. Numerous other crimes, including theft and murder, were directly linked to criminal activities in Chicago and elsewhere in violation of prohibition.
