Subtitles section Play video
-
On January 17, 1920, six armed men robbed a Chicago freight train.
-
But it wasn't money they were after.
-
Less than one hour after spirits had become illegal
-
throughout the United States,
-
the robbers made off with thousands of dollars worth of whiskey.
-
It was a first taste of the unintended consequences of Prohibition.
-
The nationwide ban on the production and sale of alcohol in the United States
-
came on the heels of a similar ban in Russia
-
that started as a wartime measure during World War I.
-
But the view in the Western world of alcohol
-
as a primary cause of social ills was much older.
-
It first gained traction during the Industrial Revolution
-
as new populations of workers poured into cities
-
and men gathered in saloons to drink.
-
By the 19th century, anti-drinking groups called temperance movements
-
began to appear in the United States and parts of Europe.
-
Temperance groups believed that alcohol was the fundamental driver
-
behind problems like poverty and domestic violence,
-
and set out to convince governments of this.
-
While some simply advocated moderate drinking,
-
many believed alcohol should be banned entirely.
-
These movements drew support from broad sectors of society.
-
Women's organizations were active participants from the beginning,
-
arguing that alcohol made men neglect their families and abuse their wives.
-
Religious authorities, especially Protestants,
-
denounced alcohol as leading to temptation and sin.
-
Progressive labor activists believed alcohol consumption
-
harmed workers' ability to organize.
-
Governments weren't strangers to the idea of prohibition, either.
-
In the United States and Canada, white settlers introduced hard liquors
-
like rum to Native communities,
-
then blamed alcohol for disrupting these communities—
-
though there were many other destructive aspects of their interactions.
-
The American and Canadian governments banned the sale of alcohol
-
to Native populations and on reservation land.
-
American temperance movements gained their first victories
-
at the state and local levels,
-
with Maine and several other states banning the sale and production of liquor
-
in the 1850s.
-
In 1919 the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution
-
banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation
-
of all alcoholic beverages.
-
The amendment took effect a year later under the Volstead Act.
-
Since the act did not ban personal consumption,
-
wealthy people took the opportunity to stock up while restaurants and bars
-
rushed to sell their remaining supply.
-
Workers lost their jobs as distilleries, breweries, and wineries closed down.
-
Meanwhile, organized crime groups rushed to meet the demand for alcohol,
-
establishing a lucrative black market in producing, smuggling,
-
and selling illicit liquor.
-
Often they worked side-by side with corrupt policemen
-
and government officials,
-
even bombing the 1928 primary election for Illinois state attorney
-
in support of a particular political faction.
-
Tens of thousands of illegal bars, known as "speakeasies,"
-
began serving alcohol.
-
They ranged from dingy basement bars to elaborate dance-halls.
-
People could also make alcohol at home for their own consumption,
-
or obtain it legally with a doctor's prescription or for religious purposes.
-
To prevent industrial alcohol from being consumed,
-
the government required manufacturers to add harmful chemicals,
-
leading to thousands of poisoning deaths.
-
We don't know exactly how much people were drinking during Prohibition
-
because illegal alcohol wasn't regulated or taxed.
-
But by the late 1920s,
-
it was clear that Prohibition had not brought the social improvements
-
it had promised.
-
Instead it contributed to political corruption and organized crime
-
and was flouted by millions of citizens.
-
At one raid on an Detroit beer hall, the local sheriff, mayor and a congressman
-
were arrested for drinking.
-
With the start of the Great Depression in 1929,
-
the government sorely needed the tax revenue from alcohol sales,
-
and believed that lifting Prohibition would stimulate the economy.
-
In 1933, Congress passed the 21st Amendment repealing the 18th—
-
the only amendment to be fully repealed.
-
Members of the temperance movements
-
believed that alcohol was the root of society's problems,
-
but the reality is more complicated.
-
And while banning it completely didn't work,
-
the health and social impacts of alcohol remain concerns today.