America: prohibition and gangsterism

Why was Prohibition introduced?

In rural areas of the USA in the nineteenth century, there was a strong temperance movement. Members of temperance movements agreed not to drink alcohol and campaigned to get others to give up alcohol.

They were devout Christians and wanted to stop the damage alcohol did to family life.

What were the two main movements for prohibition?

The Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union were the two main movements in the nineteenth century.

They were so strong in some rural areas they persuaded their state governments to prohibit the sale of alcohol within the state.

How did the Prohibition campaign grow?

It became a national campaign and acquired very powerful supporters.

Leading industrialists backed the movement, believing that workers would be more reliable if they didn’t drink and politicians backed it because it got them votes in rural areas.

By 1916, 21 states had banned saloons.

What were the supporters of Prohibition called and what did they argue?

They were known as ‘dries’.

They claimed that ‘3000 infants are smothered yearly in bed by drunken parents.’

Drinkers were accused of being unpatriotic cowards, as most of the big breweries were run by German immigrants portrayed as the enemy.

They claimed that Bolshevism thrived on drink and alcohol led to lawlessness in the cities, especially in immigrant countries.

When was Prohibition introduced officially?

In 1917 they proposed the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

This ‘prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors’.

It became law in 1920, known as the Volstead act.

What were the successes of Prohibition?

Levels of alcohol consumption decreased by 30% in the early 1920’s.

It gained widespread approval in some states, particularly in the Midwest and rural areas, but it was not popular in urban states.

Prohibition arrests

The Government ran information campaigns and Prohibition agents arrested offenders.

Isadore Einstein and his deputy Moe Smith made 4392 arrests in a low key manner by entering speakeasies and ordering drinks, before funneling it down a flask for evidence.

What were bootleggers during Prohibition?

They were the suppliers of illegal alcohol.

About 2/3rds of illegal alcohol came from Canada, as the border was impossible to patrol.

Others brought alcohol in by sea. One example was Captain McCoy, who specialized in Scotch whisky.

What were stills during Prohibition?

Illegal stills (distilleries) sprang up all over to make their own illegal whisky called ‘moonshine’.

They were major fire hazards and the alcohol produced was frequently poisonous.

Over 280,000 stills were seized, but it is unknown how many weren’t.

What were speakeasies during Prohibition?

Most Americans went to speakeasies for alcohol.

By 1925 there were more cities in American cities than saloons in 1919.

Speakeasies were supplied by bootleggers. Al Capone made $60 million a year from his bootlegging and speakeasies.

Corruption during Prohibition

Many law enforcement officers were involved with liquor trade.

Big breweries stayed in business throughout the Prohibition era by bribing local government officials.

In some cities, police officers directed people to speakeasies.

When arrests were made, it was difficult to get convictions because more senior officers or judges were in the pay of the criminals.

One in twelve Prohibitions agents were dismissed for corruption.

Where did gangsters come from?

Poorer backgrounds within the Jewish, Polish, Irish and Italian communities.

They were poorly educated but clever and ruthless.

They fought to control the liquor trade and prostitution, gambling, and protection rackets.

They used new technology like the Thompson sub-machine gun which was powerful but easily hidden.

How many Gangster related deaths were in Chicago?

130 in 1926 and 1927 but not one arrest.

Fear and bribery made law enforcement ineffective

What did Al Capone do?

He built up a network of corrupt officials among Chicago’s police, local government workers, judges, lawyers, and Prohibition agents and Chicago’s mayor William Hale Thompson.

He was well known for giving generous tips to waiters and shop girls, and spend $30,000 on a soup kitchen for the unemployed.

By 1929 he destroyed the power of other Chicago gangs, committing at least 300 murders.

What event led to the end of Prohibition?

In 1929 Al Capone’s men murdered seven of his rival Bugsy Moran’s gang using a false police car and two gangsters in police uniform.

This was known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre.

It seemed that Prohibition had failed. It made the USA lawless, police corrupt, and gangsters rich.

When the Wall Street Crash was followed by the Depression, there were economic arguments for getting rid of it.

Legalising alcohol would create jobs, raise tax revenue, and free up resources tied up in enforcing Prohibition.

It was repealed in 1933