-
1830 (1920s and Prohibition)
By that time, alcohol had become an established and integral part of everyday life; the Mayflower carried barrels of beer in its hold, John Adams began each day with a tankard of cider, even a young Abraham Lincoln sold whiskey by the barrel. It was considered better and safer than water and was consumed by many Americans without regard to age; by 1830, the average American over 15 drank the equivalent of 88 bottles of whiskey every year. -
1893 (1920s and Prohibition)
Some women took a more hardline approach. Kansan Carrie Nation physically attacked and destroyed saloons, viewed by temperance advocates as the preeminent symbol of the evils associated with alcohol. Hatred for the saloon, combined with the growing belief that alcohol consumption must not be tempered but prohibited, contributed to the formation of the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) in 1893. -
20th Century (1920s and Prohibition)
Despite the growing Prohibition movement, the number of saloons continued to increase, with around 300,000 across the country by the turn of the 20th century. -
Period: to
20th Century (1920s and Prohibition)
Breweries flourished, producing nearly 40 million barrels of beer per year as the 20th century dawned, a figure that – when taxed- constituted 70 percent of the federal government’s annual revenue. This financial dependence made brewers like Adolphus Busch, the “emperor of beer,” confident that national prohibition via a constitutional amendment would never occur. Events, both domestic and foreign, however, soon made the impossible possible. -
1913 (1920s and Prohibition)
In 1913, the 16th Amendment was ratified, granting the federal government the power to levy and collect taxes on incomes, legislation that had long been part of progressive reform, but had also been promoted by the Anti-Saloon League. By the time World War I broke out in Europe the following year, millions of Americans including industrialist Andrew Carnegie and educator Booker T. Washington supported Prohibition. -
1917 (1920s and Prohibition)
Following U.S. entry into the WWI in 1917, increased anti-German propaganda for the war effort led to popular hysteria against German Americans. This proved beneficial for the Anti-Saloon League and the Prohibition movement as most breweries were owned by German Americans,. That same year, Congress passed the 18th Amendment and it was ratified less than 13 months later. The fifth largest industry in the U.S. was now illegal, leaving prohibitionists elated. -
Jan 16, 1919 (1920s and Prohibition)
after nearly a century of activism, the Prohibition movement finally achieved its goal to rid American society of “the tyranny of drink.” Passed by Congress on Dec. 18, 1917 -
Jan 17, 1920 (1920s and Prohibition)
the 18th Amendment, prohibiting “the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors,” was ratified and would take effect at midnight on Jan. 17, 1920. -
1920 (1920s and Prohibition)
With the onset of Prohibition in 1920, supporters were confident of its success. The power of the federal government would relieve the country of the scourge of alcohol and alcoholism, creating a better version of society. Initially, their confidence reflected reality, as public drunkenness and alcohol consumption declined, and Americans willingly complied with the new law. -
1920 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
In 1920, with the war over and the demand for farm goods decreasing, the U.S. government with little warning announced that it was ending price supports. The farmers, however, continued to produce at near record levels creating surplus commodities that sent prices plummeting. Until then, land prices had been rising rapidly as farmers and non-farmers saw buying farms as a good investment. -
Period: to
1920's ( 1920s and Prohibition)
As alcohol-related crime and violence escalated throughout the 1920's, some Americans began to call for an end to Prohibition, calling the 18th Amendment a “terrible mistake” and a disaster that had “created contempt and disregard for the law all over the country.” -
1921 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
The post-war depression did not start with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. For the Midwest, it started in 1921, and farmers and the small towns that depended on the land were hit hard. -
Late 1920's / 1929 (1920s and Prohibition)
By the late 1920's, however, the battle for Prohibition’s repeal began. The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, established even while the 18th Amendment was in the ratification process, helped mobilize growing opposition to the law. One of its members, Pauline Sabin, founded a new women’s group, the Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform, in 1929. -
1929 (1920s and Prohibition)
A prominent Republican who initially supported the 18th Amendment, Sabin increasingly viewed the law as hypocritic and the main reason behind the country’s surge in crime and violence. Her organization challenged the notion that the WCTU represented the sentiments of all American women and reached out to women across the social and economic spectrum, lending respectability to those that supported repeal and out-campaigning the Prohibition advocates. -
1929 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
Several factors including a market crash started a period of economic downturn known as the Great Depression. -
Period: to
1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
As the effects of the Depression cascaded across the US economy, millions of people lost their jobs. By 1930 there were 4.3 million unemployed; by 1931, 8 million; and in 1932 the number had risen to 12 million. By early 1933, almost 13 million were out of work and the unemployment rate stood at an astonishing 25 percent. Those who managed to retain their jobs often took pay cuts of a third or more. -
1931 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
The middle of the nation is in the midst of the first of four major drought episodes that would occur over the course of the next decade. -
1920's and 1931 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
When the national economy went into decline in the late 1920s because of the Great Depression, agriculture was even more adversely affected. In addition, a record wheat crop in 1931 sent crop prices even lower. These lower prices meant that farmers needed to cultivate more acreage, including poorer farmlands, or change crop varieties to produce enough grain to meet their required equipment and farm payments. -
1932 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
Federal aid to the drought-affected states was first given in 1932, but the first funds marked specifically for drought relief were not released until the fall of 1933. -
Period: to
1933 - 1934 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
However, even with government help, many farmers could not maintain their operations and were forced to leave their land. Some voluntarily deeded their farms to creditors, others faced foreclosure by banks, and still others had to leave temporarily to search for work to provide for their families. In fact, at the peak of farm transfers in 1933–34, nearly 1 in 10 farms changed possession, with half of those being involuntary (from a combination of the depression and drought). -
1933 / The End (1920s and Prohibition)
For 13 years, the United States was officially “dry,” but from its very inception, the law was controversial and difficult to enforce, and its effect on the country’s problems with alcohol was debatable. In 1933, Prohibition came to end with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, the first and only time in American history where ratification of a constitutional amendment signaled the repeal of another. -
1935 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
The term "Dust Bowl" was coined when an AP reporter, Robert Geiger, used it to describe the drought-affected south central United States in the aftermath of horrific dust storms. -
1937 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
A bulletin by the Works Progress Administration reported that 21% of all rural families in the Great Plains were receiving federal emergency relief -
1930's and 1937 (Great Depression and Dust Bowl)
When drought began in the early 1930s, it worsened these poor economic conditions. The depression and drought hit farmers on the Great Plains the hardest. Many of these farmers were forced to seek government assistance. A 1937 bulletin by the Works Progress Administration reported that 21% of all rural families in the Great Plains were receiving federal emergency relief -
1939 / The End of The Great Depression
On the surface, World War II seems to mark the end of the Great Depression. During the war, more than 12 million Americans were sent into the military, and a similar number toiled in defense-related jobs. Those war jobs seemingly took care of the 17 million unemployed in 1939. Most historians have therefore cited the massive spending during wartime as the event that ended the Great Depression. -
1941 / The End of the Dust Bowl
Most areas of the country were returned to receiving near-normal rainfalls. The outbreak of World War II also helped to improve the economic situation. -
1960's (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
The AAPB holds notable audio and video from the civil rights movement, which reached the peak of its activism in the mid 1960s. Commentary from Rosa Parks, audio from members of the Congress of Racial Equality and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, interviews with members of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and radio programs describing stay-outs vividly show the organized resistance to discrimination and the use of protest during the civil rights movement. -
Period: to
1960 - 1968 (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
The growth of the New Left and student radicalism began in the early 1960's and reached its height during 1968. This new political movement sprouted protests on college campuses from the East Coast to the West Coast on issues including the Vietnam War, free speech, the environment, and racism. Including student groups like Students for a Democratic Society and the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley, the New Left rallied for the “common struggle with the liberation movements of the world.” -
Period: to
1960 - 1971 ( 1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
The role of the news media in the antiwar movement increased both antiwar sentiment and hostility towards antiwar activists. As investigative journalists began digging into the official version of the US war effort, they began to uncover the truth of conditions in Southeast Asia.Graphic images of death and destruction displayed on the nightly news turned the American public ever more sharply against the war. At the same time, news media coverage was frequently hostile to the activists themselves -
Period: to
1960 - 1970 (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
The Red Power Movement and the Chicano Movement also fought against racism and sought to renew ethnic pride during the turbulent decades of the 1960s and 1970s. The Red Power movement was an inter-tribal movement by Americans Indians that fought for self-determination, sovereignty, and better reservation conditions during the late 1960s and the 1970s -
1964 (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
The student movement arose at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964, when students involved in civil rights activism chafed at the university’s sudden attempt to prevent them from organizing politically on campus. The Free Speech Movement arose to challenge the university’s restrictions on political speech and assembly. -
mid 1960's (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
During the mid-1960s, a new strategy and philosophy to improve black lives grew out of the civil rights movement. The Black Power Movement, espoused by organizations like SNCC and the Black Panther Party, began to advocate and rally in favor of black pride, black liberation, and revolutionary determinism. -
1965 (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
As the US involvement in the Vietnam War intensified, so did antiwar sentiment. Especially after 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson dramatically escalated the US troop presence and bombing campaigns in Vietnam, the war became the focal point for student political activism. -
1965 (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
Student groups held protests and demonstrations, burned draft cards, and chanted slogans like “Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Massive US spending on the war effort contributed to skyrocketing deficits and deteriorating economic conditions at home, which turned more segments of the American public, including religious groups, civil rights organizations, and eventually even some Vietnam veterans, against the war. -
1965 (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
Although antiwar activism constrained the president’s ability to further escalate the war effort after 1965, it also lent credence to the conservative portrayal of a chaotic society desperately in need of “law and order.” In 1968, Richard Nixon successfully campaigned for the presidency on the basis of such rhetoric, which implied a harsh approach to dealing with antiwar activists and other challengers of the status quo. -
1971 (1960s and public protests (Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam)
In 1971, the New York Times broke the story of the Pentagon Papers, a Department of Defense report that concluded that the Johnson and Nixon administrations had systematically lied to the American people and Congress about the extent of US involvement in the Vietnam war. Together with the Watergate scandal, which involved Nixon’s authorization of the illegal wiretapping of his political enemies, the Pentagon Papers undermined the trust of the American people in its president and government.