The impact of Prohibition
- Created by: mel.maharjan
- Created on: 15-12-14 19:07
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- The impact of Prohibition
- Illegal activities
- Liquor consumption did drop by 30% but many ordinary Americans turned into criminals
- Found ways around the law
- Brewed 'moonshine' and 'bathtub gin'
- 'Bootlegging' - especially from the West Indies (e.g. the Bahamas)
- Smuggled across the Canadian and Mexican borders
- 18,700 miles of coastline and land boarders
- Stole medicinal alcohol or communion wine
- Visited 'speakeasies' (e.g. in 1925 there were 100,000 in New York City alone)
- Carried alcohol in hollowed out canes or false books
- Hard for federal government to enforce Prohibition in every state, especially where temperance movement was weak (i.e. Maryland)
- Also led to organised crime - by the end of the 1920s it was a big business
- Organised crime
- Organised, illegal activities by gangs
- Gangs took over closed distilleries and many bought their product
- Advancements in technology in the 1920s made them more efficient
- Used sub-machine guns for warfare
- Used cars for transportation and quick getaways
- Gangs in different territories became rivals over drink trade, protection, drugs, gambling, and prostitution
- Gang warfare emerged (e.g. St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, Al Capone murdered 6 members of rival Irish gang led by Bugs Moran)
- Crime seen as a problem caused by immigrants
- Al Capone became a notorious gang leader operating mainly in Chicago
- In 1927, he 'earned' $27 mil a year
- Only convicted of tax evasion in 1931 and was sentenced to 11 years in jail - released in 1937
- The fight against organised crime
- A Bureau of Prohibition was established to enforce the Act
- Prohibition agents work for the federal government and alongside local police
- Eliot Ness and his men gained a reputation for being honest at a time when many local police were being bribed
- Known as 'The Untouchables'
- Eliot Ness and his men gained a reputation for being honest at a time when many local police were being bribed
- Federal government constantly refused to provide sufficient funds
- 3,000 agents to cover the whole country and only paid $2,500 a year
- Anti-Saloon League stated that $5 mil needed to enforce Prohibition but department only got $2 mil
- Left many police vulnerable to bribery
- The end of Prohibition
- By 1930s support for Prohibition was declining
- Was turning ordinary citizens into criminals and brought fear of gangs and crime
- Progressives were strong supporters but Progressive movement had declined
- Democrats were divided and they wanted to be united
- 1929 - President Hoover established the Wickersham Commission to investigate the issue
- Admitted that Prohibition couldn't be enforced even though they supported it
- Prohibition ended in 1933 - FDR
- By 1933, some were known as 'moists' as they'd rather have moderation of the law rather then outright repeal
- 21st Amendment passed in March 1933 and it repealed the 18th
- Beer Act allowed the sale of 3.2% alcohol
- FDR also able to use tax from alcohol to help pay for the New Deal
- 1935 - formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- J Edgar Hoover was its director
- By 1930s support for Prohibition was declining
- Illegal activities
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