A Brief History
On December 5, 1933, history was made that would change the United States (back) forever! Well, you never know, so maybe not forever. In any event, this date was the day Prohibition ended in the United States, although its legacy lives on in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.
Digging Deeper
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, known as the Volstead Act had been passed in 1920 riding a wave of anti-alcohol sentiment, largely by women that had previously been active in the women’s suffrage movement. Apparently, women especially were likely to be anti-alcohol as they saw drunkenness as a highway to domestic abuse, lack of industriousness/income, and adultery/prostitution.
The country at that time was still mostly rural, and the rural Protestants overwhelmed the urban Catholics to prohibit most forms of alcoholic beverages. Although many “dry” groups had campaigned against alcohol since before U.S. independence and continuously since, after ratification of the 18th Amendment, plenty of Americans were not so satisfied with the result. Consider, for example, the 30,000 to 100,000 New York City establishments that served alcohol illegally!
With that kind of demand for booze, beer and wine, a whole new genre of criminal developed: the bootlegger. Fortunes were made by the likes of Al Capone and allegedly Joseph Kennedy, father of future president John F. Kennedy (although this claim is hotly debated). Illegal booze generated about $3 billion a year or criminals. Lawmen like Eliot Ness of Untouchables fame and J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI made their reputations based on vigorous enforcement of prohibition. Other lawmen drove the wrong way on that one way street and served as escorts and facilitators for the bootleggers. The current HBO production of Boardwalk Empire showcases the criminals and corrupt politicians and lawmen in graphic style.
Many Americans traveled to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean to enjoy their alcohol and smuggle back their own stash. A lot of American money flowed out of the country during prohibition, which probably meant a serious period of mourning in those places after this epic date! Many other Americans resorted to “moon shining”, the home manufacture of beer, wine and especially whiskey. Illicit “stills” ramped up production for personal use and sale to neighbors, and new stills sprung up all over the country.
Transporting illegal “hooch” was dangerous and profitable, and spawned a new breed of drivers that modified cars to carry alcohol and go faster, corner better, etc.. so as to better elude the police. This activity led to the development of the auto racing form now known as “stock car racing.” Meanwhile, the term “rum-running” most likely originated at the start of Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933), when ships from Bimini in the western Bahamas transported cheap Caribbean rum to Florida speakeasies.
Researchers seem to be in disagreement as to the actual impact prohibition and the repeal of prohibition had on alcohol consumption in the U.S., whether consumption went up or down before, during, and after prohibition. One lasting effect that we do know, is that many counties, wards, precincts, towns and cities in the U.S. still prohibit the sale of alcohol and are known as “dry” jurisdictions. The state of Kansas even outlawed alcoholic drinks served in bars and restaurants until 1987, and Mississippi did not repeal their own state prohibition until 1966. Since the repealing of the 18th Amendment did not prohibit states from controlling alcohol within their own borders, and many states allow smaller jurisdictions to restrict alcohol as local whim dictates, we have a patchwork of “wet” and “dry” areas and different selling days and times all over the country.
The ratification of the 21st Amendment that repealed the 18th Amendment was certainly a momentous day in U.S. history. Question for students (and subscribers): Would the 1920’s have “roared” without prohibition? Would Alcoholics Anonymous have been founded in 1935 without the 21st Amendment? Would we even have NASCAR today? Feel free to state your opinion of the 18th and 21st Amendments in our comment section below this article. Cheers!
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Historical Evidence
To learn more about this time period, you may want to follow the series on HBO and read-up on the historical background as covered in a nice companion book.
Johnson, Nelson and Terence Winter. Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City. Plexus Publishing, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine brewery during the Prohibition era between 1920 and 1933, is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 541928. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="692 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=692">90 Comments
I have seen a few episodes of Boardwalk Empire, but having all this historical background provides a lot more context and helps with my understanding of the show and its characters’ motives.
After taking a class on American Literature and Alcoholism last semester, I find this article to be very interesting. In that class we examined much of American literature that came out during the time of prohibition that centered around alcoholism as a symbol or topic. I would like to point out that although illegal booze was big in the United States, a majority of Americans moved to Europe in order to continue consuming alcohol without the fear of the law. This had a significant impact on culture in Europe during this time as American drinking culture began to spread into Europe. Although the sale of alcohol is something to examine at this time, I think this articles points towards a more important effect of the 18th Amendment which was the migration of many U.S. citizens to Europe so they could continue their consumption of alcohol.
As I stated in the last article about Prohibition, I think it just caused more problems than it solved. The history behind stock car racing is interesting.
I also agree that prohibition of alcohol just caused more problems, (fights and riots) in the society that could have just been prevented.
I think prohibition created a lot more problems and solved none.
Prohibiting alcohol isn’t the best decision to solve problems. If the government wants to banned alcohol, there should be an early announcement that states alcohol will be banned in 3 months which is helpful idea that people can use to it and plan to quit alcohol in the right way. The government should create insurance or hospitals that allow people to quit alcohol in the right way.
I was unaware that each state had it’s own prohibition laws, and that Mississippi did not repeal their prohibition until 1966!
Prohibition was a good idea, if people actually followed the law, there would have probably been less domestic issues like the ones mentioned. However, gangsters learned they could make quite a profit off of people’s desire for liquor, so we had guys like Al Capone. The most important thing is that America survived and is still surviving with guys like that around.
It is hard to ban a thing like alcohol when each state has their own laws.
I think a lot of the problems that followed Prohibition could have been avoided if the law was never passed to begin with.
I had no idea that there were “dry” jurisdictions and that the whole state of Kansas banned serving drinks in the bars and restaurants until 1987, that is a long time after.
I didn’t know that each state had their own prohibition laws. Having a bunch of different prohibition laws probably made it harder to regulate since they could go from one place to another to get their alcohol.
It is hard to believe that not to long ago alcohol was banned
I can not even image a time with alcohol being banned. It plays such a role in society today. What would college kids do?!
It’s hard to imagine a world where alcohol is completely prohibited. There are still a lot of alcohol laws around today that include the sale of liquor on certain days.
I didn’t know that each state had their own prohibition laws. Wonder what today would be like if alcohol was still banned?
Prohibition was a mistake by the American government.
Though alcohol can be a problem, i am glad that prohibition is over.
although alcohol can get out of control, banning it altogether just created a better market for the gangsters
i had no idea each state had its own prohibition laws. either way prohibition was not a good idea it just created more problems
I’m not sure if we can say there are more crimes with alcohol but we could say that alcohol can influence crime. When we think of drunk people I think of people doing stupid things some being crimes
I can definitely see how alcohol increases a persons chances of committing a crime, but I can also understand how crime increased with the prohibition of alcohol.
The fact that many Americans traveled to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean to smuggle alcohol back into the country makes me think of the marijuana legalization issues our country is in debate about today. There is crime with laws against it, and there is still crime with laws for it. Sometimes you just cannot win. -ACL
This article just goes to show that no matter how hard they tried to band alcohol they were never successful in doing so. This just goes to show when there were 100,000 secret establishments that sold alcohol illegally!
100,000 secret establishments sold alcohol that is shady no wonder people died from drinking some of this stuff
I feel the same would happen if they banned guns, we would have gun gangsters.
Al Capone was one of the most influential gangster of all time.
I thought the prohibition law was throughout the country. I didn’t realize that each individual state held their own laws regarding the banning of alcohol.
Like I said in a previous article, banning alcohol created more crimes and just was not worth it.
The of banning alcohol led to the development of criminal organization and illegal activities, which is still impacting our nation.
Without the 21st amendment, we might not have space beer! That would be quite a shame if we didn’t.
Congress did not consider all the ramifications of passing the 18th Amendment would cause. Would organized crime have still developed? Probably, but maybe a little later.
It is crazy how much prohibition influenced crime. I did not realize that some places did not sell beer again until 1987.
I’ve always been intrigued by the story of the moonshiners and the rum runners. I understand that it was illegal, but I’ve just always been amazed by the lengths people went to!
I did not realize that some of those areas still did not allow alcohol. I think that the 20’s wouldn’g have “roared” without prohibition because that is what made it exciting for people. I cannot believe how big of a deal it was then but I could only imagine how people would act now.
People made their own alcohol during the Prohibition because drinking was a part of their life. Many people did this making them criminals at the time. This act may have caused more harm than good.
Al Capone was probably one of the most famous crime bosses in history. Learning out him and the prohibition era is extremely interesting. I love learning about Speak Easies in particular.
This just shows another danger of the prohibition. With this bring a lot of violence and gangsters, we see above that it also brought a lot of crime as well.
I think that our country would have been a lot worse off if prohibition would have been permanent. With the amount of violence that happened in just this short time, I think that it would have continued.
Prohibition was an interesting time in American history. I am not sure what our country would look like today if this were still in tact. I am sure that the law of the land would be broken many times. One thing that really struck out to me is that people escaped to Canada and Mexico during prohibition. This really shows how much Americans enjoyed alcohol at the time.
I think regardless of prohibition it was inevitable there would be alcohol available somewhere. We continue to have “dry,” counties and campuses across the United States but alcohol is still present there. Ashland Co. at one time did not sell alcohol on Sundays but surrounding counties did. Alcohol today is part of everything from weddings to sporting events, it would be impossible to ban it just as it was back then.
I personally think the prohibition was not a good idea. If people want something (like alcohol) they are going to find a way to get it and they did. As the articles mentions, people went out of the country to get alcohol and smuggle it back into the United States or they would make it themselves.
Like I stated in the other article about prohibition, I feel that it was good thought with good intentions, but it was not carried out correctly. People would just find ways to get things that were made illegal, it would just be sneakier and more of a crime.
The most amazing thing is that this changed the way Americans drink to this day. think about all the mixed drinks that came out of hiding the taste of bath tub hooch. It destroyed the beer industry and changed the way america drinks every bottled beverage
I did not realize that there are still dry areas of the country until recently when I met someone from a dry county in Arkansas. I feel like these laws are outdated, so I think that is why I was so surprised to learn that there are still dry areas of America.
By making it illegal to use alcohol does not mean that everyone will agree completely. It was nice try, but like Alyssa had said was not carried out correctly.
Excessive drinking can cause people to lose mind control. Alcohol plays an important role in many crimes. So, in my opinion, I think the intentions of the prohibition were good. But, it was too strict and harsh. People should be controlled to avoid drinking too much rather than prohibiting.
We’ll never really know what the 20s would have been without the prohibition, but I do think that the amount of crime wouldn’t have been as great.
They should have made a better plan because Americans love their alcohol and it would be hard carry it through.
Its amazing how a policy that was suppose to do so much good, actually made organised crime boom.
Just because they made alcohol illegal does not mean that everyone will follow it. I think that because it was illegal more people drank.
When you tell someone that they can’t do something, it is human nature to want to do that one thing more than when they have the freedom to choose.
Since it was illegal, you really did see a lot of people spending the money to the outside nations. This took a lot of money away from us, and then it also caused people to break the law and make their own, or smuggle alcohol back.
It is strange to think that back in this time period women did not drink.
A lot of money revenue going undocumented for taxes. You would have thought the government would have thought about that first!
Also AA was quickly founded after the reinstatement of alcohol. Kind of odd to happen so quickly.
If the prohibition had remained a permanent fixture, I wonder how much worse it may have made things in our country. People would likely continue to get their hands on things that they wanted, regardless of the risk and the fact that it was illegal.
The would not have been the same without alcohol, i think it was just a way of life but I feel that it was not needed at all.
Alcohol is not god for good life.
When there are laws that prohibit things that people desire, then it creates a criminal element that supplies the need.
Taking something that people want always makes people want it more. People who want it that bad will find a way to get what they want even if it risks their safety.
I don’t think we would have some of the things as of today if wasn’t for the 21st amendment. We need the alcoholics anonymous and things of that such.
It is interesting how the ban of alcohol spread out and helps many other things grow, such as NASCAR.
I love Al Capone, the mafia, and all of this era. It was a very interesting time to live. I do not agree with prohibition but I do think the illegal activity that was involved was awesome.
The increase in criminal activity was obviously a direct response to the prohibition of alcohol. As others have stated, when you take something away it just makes people want it more.
The ban of alcohol had a major impact on this time frame. It was a way for people to want it even more.
The reasons they banned alcohol were all good reasons. I do think by legalizing it slowed down the illegal part of it. People always want things they can’t have.
I still think it’s amazing how after years of police and investigative work it was accountant Frank Wilson who brought down one of histories most notorious criminals.
Bootlegger’s such as Al Capone are legendary in history. This is the first that I have heard that president John F. Kennedys father was an alleged “Bootlegger” (Very interesting).
Great Lakes Brewing Company makes a craft beer titled “Eliot Ness”, which I find humorous since he was a lawmaker that strongly enforced prohibition!
I understand the need to abolish alcohol. However, when someone is told they cannot have something, they want it. When I was a student at Tiffin University, my buddies and I would drive to Canada (before passports were required) to party legally since we were not 21 yet.
Just another loss of tax revenue. Now if they would just legalize marijuana and reap the profits. It would appear as though everyone continued to drink that wanted it. Still today those communities that did not want alcohol are dry.
I think that making alcohol legal was helpful. The people who wanted to drink during that time period, still drank regardless of the fact that it was supposed to be a dry country or city. The same is true now about drugs. Clearly a lot of people still do drugs even though they aren’t legal. Some states are starting to consider making marijuana legal.
I find it so interesting what a role alcohol has played in our culture. From speaking terms to sports, it has influenced many things. There is only one current dry town that I know of and its an area around Columbus, I think Grandville?
I think that reasoning behind Prohibition was good one, but they never not about the negative impacts. It should be a person choice were to do drink or not. Alcohol is not bad if you don’t abuse it and is not like illegal drugs that once you take it you have no control over your body.
I believe if you take away alcohol it will only make people want it more. I dot believe alcohol is a bad thing it it is used in the correct way.
I think that if people know their limit on using alcohol that you wouldn’t have so many issues. but alcohol is never used in a correct way, is there even a correct way to use it?
I did not realize that the United States still had “dry” counties, cities and towns. To be honest I guess I never gave it a thought though. The other interesting fact I learned was that AA was founded in 1935, I would have never guessed that this program has been around for so long.
I think no matter what it is that is made illegal such as drugs, alcohol and even guns. There is going to be someone somewhere that decides “oh its illegal lets start selling it”. I can understand where those women were coming from back then voting for this act, as some domestic abuse was a result of drunkenness.
I think it would be fun to go back and be a bootlegger! “Smokey and the Bandit” style! (plot was post prohibition but same concept)
People have shown time and time again to be resilient. If you take something away from us that we want, we will find a way to get it to satisfy our means. Exactly what happened with alcohol. The government took it way with Prohibition, but the people found a way of procuring it.
To think the United States had prohibition is crazy! Alcohol is such a part of our culture today, for better or worse. I found it humorous that the women’s suffrage movement had a lot to do with the wave of anti-alcohol sentiment that allowed the 18th amendment to pass.
3 billion dollars to criminals during prohibition! That is a big chunk of change. I wonder what the percentage of police officers was that partook in the criminal activity, getting their own stash of booze.
Alcohol is just like smokes. It will never be banned. If so, only for a short time. Our government is greedy. If they are able to make a dollar selling something, they are going to sell it with a quickness.
Agreeing with Tiffany alcohol is just like cigarettes, They will never be banned. The government get much more tax money out of those items than most others. With that being people addictions and habits they easily make money.
I do not think Prohibition will ever be considered again. The government makes a great deal of income on the sale of alcohol as do businesses which are ran by the government, etc.
I think it is funny that still today we smuggle alcohol from other countries. I, myself, have traveled to Jamaica and Mexico and brought back alcohol. Furthermore, I do not believe we will ever see prohibition again; also, agreeing with two previous posts on how the government receives a lot of tax money when purchasing alcohol.
I do not think prohibition will ever be considered again. Alcohol has become a huge part of our culture today.
I agree with previous posts. Prohibition will not occur again as too much money is made off of alcohol.
alcohol really brought a lot social issue not only for the days in the past, but also made a lot of people in trouble today. Prohibition with Alcohol not going to decrease the problem of people who were being drunk. The effective method maybe is set up a limitation for each person.
Alcohol is one of thing that brought a lot of social problems to public, especially about drunk driving that made many people to death. Prohibiting Alcohol might decreasing these problems but not all of it