-
18th Amendment Ratified
On January 16, 1919, prohibition went into effect. The 18th Amendment banned the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol. Many groups had been pushing for prohibition for many decades, and their hard work finally paid off. -
Volstead Act
The Volstead Act, named after Andrew Volstead who wrote it, was made to provide the government what it needed to enforce prohibition. President Woodrow Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act, but his veto was overidden by Congress. -
George Remus
In 1920, former lawyer ,George Remus moved to Cinncinati to set up a pharmacy to gain legal access to liquor due to the fact that liquor could be sold for medicinal use during prohibition. He was involved in bootlegging, or the illegal selling or transporting of alcohol. Though he was eventually caught, George Remus was known around Cinncinati as the "King of the Bootleggers." -
Period: to
Organized Crime
Historians state that prohibtion created organized crime in America. The ban of alcohol gave mobs/gangs the opportunity to make money and grow. With all the money coming in, these mobs were able to hire lawyers, accountants, and anyone else needed to keep them out of trouble. Turf wars broke out between gangs and violence was rampaging in cities. 1,000 people were killed in New York alone due to mob clashes. -
Period: to
The Great Depression
In October of 1929 the Stock Market crashed causing many comapnies to shut down and hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs. During this time the government lost a lot of money because less people were working and there wasn't much income tax. So Americans were broke and so was their government. -
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is a prime example of organized crime and violence during prohibtion. On Febuary 14, 1929, 7 members of "Bugs" Moran's mob were gunned down against a wall by Capone's men posing as police officers. Moran and Capone were two rivals involved in a turf war throughout prohibition. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
During campaigning for the 1932 election, President Roosevelt ran on the platform of ending prohibiton. He even said once that legalizing just beer would raise "the federal revenue by serveral hundred million dollars." Many people were in support of him and legalizing alcohol again. He ended up beating President Wilson by a landslide. -
Cullen-Harrison Act
After President Roosevelt took officde, he passed the Cullen-Harrison Act. This gave citizens the right to drink low content beer and wine. Roosevelt did this while waiting for the 21st Amendemt to be passed -
21st Amendment Into Action
In December of 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. This amendment repealed the 18th amendment and legalized the production, sale, and transporation of alcohol. Citizens were excited to have alcohol again and the government was excited to gain tax revenue from alcohol sales. -
Period: to
Final States Lift Their Alcohol Bans
In 1966 the state of Mississippi lifted all of its prohibition era laws. Though the federal government lifted the ban on alcohol, states were still able to have laws banning it. Mississippi was the last of the states to do this. Though in 1987, Kansas finally lifted its ban on public bars. After that, production, sale, and transportation of alcohol was legal across the United States.