Reformers wanted addressed several problems in society:Workplace safety

Women and childrenLarge corporations and

controlling over American society

Government not being more responsive to the people

MORALITY (improving people’s lives) Prohibition (banning of

alcoholic beverages)Led to tensions with

immigrant groups, whose customs often included the consumption of alcohol

Lyman Beecher was a famous Lyman Beecher was a famous social activist of the day who social activist of the day who was particularly concerned was particularly concerned about the negative impact of about the negative impact of alcohol on society.alcohol on society.

By contrast, the 1850 engraving, "The Temperance Home," depicts a scene of domestic harmony, order, affection, and material comfort.

In the 1850 engraving, "The Drunkard's Home," a cowering family in a squalid home is subjected to the whims of a brutal patriarch.

Billy SundayReformer/Preacher Worked at Chicago YMCA Gave him first-hand experience

with the destructive potential of alcohol

Famous “Booze” Sermon:I am the sworn, eternal and uncompromising enemy of the liquor

traffic. I have been, and will go on, fighting that damnable, dirty, rotten business with all the power at my command

I challenge you to show me where the saloon has ever helped business, education, church morals or anything we hold dear

The WCTU fought for prohibition reform.

GOAL WAS ENDING PRODUCTION, SALE, AND CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL (SIN)

Frances Willard was the national president of the union from 1879 to 1898.

Composed of mostly women angered by men who abused their wives and children

Member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Known for bursting into barrooms, wielding a hatchet or hammer, and smashing the saloon.

Between 1900 and 1910, Nation was arrested some thirty times for her aggressive tacticsAlso beaten by saloon owners

wives and threatened by mobs.

Targeted? The Anti-Saloon

League focused only on the legal prohibition of alcoholic beverages.

Printed anti-drinking brochures, appealed to church members for support, and lobbied both lawmakers and businessmen.

Wayne Wheeler

Members of the Anti-Saloon League meet in Chicago.

SALOONS

LOOK-

What is the message of this cartoon?

A glass of wine is not a sin

Take a little for your stomach’s sake…

LOOK-

Is this Cartoon For or Against The Banning of Alcohol ? Why?

Filled several roles in many immigrant communities

Served inexpensive meals

Cashed paychecksMail Provided rooms for any

purpose from weddings to wakes, political meetings to union headquarters

VoteFind out who’s hiring

End drunkennessEliminate alcohol-related deaths (accidents at work)Stop domestic abuseDecrease crimeAbolish the saloonSafer roadsDifferent uses for moneyDecrease taxesEnd moral grandeur (feared alcohol was

undermining American culture and values)

End drunkenness Eliminate alcohol

related deaths Decrease crime Abolish the saloon Safer roads Different uses for

money Decrease taxes End moral

grandeur (feared alcohol was undermining American culture and values)

Reality:AT FIRST, saloons closed doors and arrests for drunkenness DECLINED

BUT in the aftermath of WW1, Americans were tired of make sacrifices – want to ENJOY LIFE (and didn’t consider drinking to be a sin BUT A NATURAL PART OF SOCIALIZING)

Claimed:Did not stop Americans drinking Turned law abiding citizens into criminalsCreated illegal networks (ex: Organized Crime) Violence Corruption of officials

BUT at midnight of January 16, 1920 IT HAPPENED

The 18th Amendment was put into effect and all:•Importing•Exporting•Transporting•Selling•Manufacturing

of intoxicating liquor was put to an

endWhat’s missing?

In reality…Prohibition simply

made the consumption of

alcohol more of a challenge and more

expensive

The rich had liquor delivered to their

homes and the poor drank beer which

was close to water, or spirits which were close to poison.

Established a Established a Prohibition BureauProhibition Bureau in the Treasury in the Treasury Dept. (enforce the Dept. (enforce the 1818thth Amendment) Amendment)

President Wilson President Wilson vetoedvetoed the Volstead the Volstead Act on Act on constitutional constitutional grounds. grounds.

His veto was His veto was overridden by overridden by Congress. Congress.

Special stamps were required for medicinal liquors under the Volstead Act.

Under Prohibition Under Prohibition Bureau (underfunded Bureau (underfunded and understaffed – and understaffed – 1,550 federal agents) 1,550 federal agents) had to: had to: Patrol 18,700 Patrol 18,700

miles of coastline miles of coastline and inland bordersand inland borders

Track down illegal Track down illegal stills (equipment stills (equipment for distilling for distilling liquor)liquor)

Monitor highways Monitor highways for truckloads of for truckloads of illegal alcoholillegal alcohol

Oversee all Oversee all industries that industries that legally used legally used alcohol alcohol (medicinal (medicinal and religious).and religious).

Detroit police discover a clandestine still

The black market The black market for alcohol was a for alcohol was a boon (benefit) for boon (benefit) for organized crimeorganized crime

Within the first hours of the Volstead Act taking effect there were already liquor robberies and hijackings.

And within the following month the first federal agents were arrested for liquor law corruption.

Thousands of phony prescriptions for liquor were issued by physicians who tried to make profit of this new law

Pharmacists were allowed to dispense whiskey by prescription for any number of ailments, ranging from anxiety to influenza. Bootleggers quickly discovered that running

a pharmacy was a perfect front for their trade.

So what is going to happen to the number of Pharmacists?

As a result, the number of registered pharmacists in New York State tripled during the Prohibition era.

Because Americans were also allowed to obtain wine for religious purposes, enrollments at churches and synagogues, and cities saw a large increase in the number of self-professed rabbis who could obtain wine for their congregations

ROSE

Songs of Prohibition

MoonshinerProhibition is a failureGoodbye Old BoozeThe Old Home Brew

Others…

Bert Williams 1919

Prohibitionists expected sales of clothing and household goods to skyrocket.

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.

None of it came to pass.

Restaurants failed, as they could no longer make a profit without legal liquor sales.

Theater revenues declined rather than increase, and few of the other economic benefits that had been predicted came to pass.

The closing of breweries, distilleries and saloons led to the elimination of thousands of jobs, and in turn thousands more jobs were eliminated for barrel makers, truckers, waiters, and other related trades.

Drinkers went underground to hidden saloons and nightclubs known as SPEAKEASIES (liquor sold illegally)

Found EVERYWHERETo be admitted, you needed PASSWORD (ex:

Joe sent me or Green Mill), special knock, or special card

Before Prohibition there were 15,000 bars in New York.

By 1926 there were 30,000 speakeasies!

As time went on, people grew bolder in getting around the lawEx:

Hardware Stores – sold cheap mills and books and magazines explaining how to distill liquor from apples, watermelon, and even potato peelings

Also had the emergence of the BOOTLEGGER (named for smuggler’s practice of carrying liquor in the legs of their boots

Spirit made secretly in home made stills

Several hundred people a year died from this during the 1920s

In 1929 it is estimated that 700 million gallons of beer were produced in American homesFamous Smuggler: William McCoy

Made fortune by bringing alcohol from West Indies & Canada

The enormous profits to be made attracted gangsters who started to take control of many cities.

They bribed the police, judges and politicians.

They controlled the speakeasies and the distilleries, and ruthlessly exterminated their rivals.

HijackingLocations of the warehouses with the liquor stock and equipment were kept very secretly How to solve this problem(of the goods of getting stolen during the transportation)?

Gunmen were hiredAs a side effect of prohibition, also the illegal gun-market arose to be a profitable business..

Arthur Flegenheimer

Former sheriff that became a freelance gunman for a number of Midwest bootleggers and racketeers.

Also a bootlegger himself and bank robber

Why would the politicians get involved with the gangsters?

Relationship between the UNDERWORLD and UPPERWORLD

• •In return, political figures offered little interference to underworld criminal activity.

*Bribery of police officials was common.

• Patterns of corruption-reform-corruption-reform mixed sham investigations with public hearings (public perception).

•Business interests promoted corruption and graft ( bribery)Business and political figures took money and personal services from underworld figures.

• Plus underworld helped them to get re-elected

The most famous of the gangsters of the 1920s was Al Capone (Southsiders

of Chicago)- By 1927 he was earning some $60 million a year from bootlegging.

- He had 700 men under his control.

- He was responsible for over 500 murders. ex: Killed Dion O’Banion and Hymie Weiss (Northsiders)

“Bugs” Moran swore vengeance against Capone –

But since Gangsters ran bootlegging industries and were turning huge profits…

they became rivals with other gangs, especially in big cities, leading to more violent crime.

On 14th February 1929, Capone’s men dressed as police officers murdered 7 members of a rival Northsiders gang (thought “Bugs” Moran was there)

This became known as the ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre’

Americans were shocked

Prohibition was unenforceable.

Many deaths occurred from bootleg liquor.

Political corruption increased.

Smuggling grew out of control.

During the Depression the potential jobs and tax revenue from the legalization of liquor increasingly attractive to struggling Americans.

Thus, in 1933, the noble Thus, in 1933, the noble experiment of experiment of Prohibition came to a Prohibition came to a close with the close with the ratification of the 21st ratification of the 21st AmendmentAmendment