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Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The WCTU was a religious organization that focused on the moral implications of drinking and noticed the effects that they had on families. The WCTU helped women become more involved in American politics. Not only did they campaign against alcohol but they also campaigned for labor laws, prison reform and suffrage. In 1879 Frances Willard made WCTU become the most influential women's group in the 1900s. The effort that this group put in also helped pass the 19th Amendment (Women's Rights.) -
The Anti-Saloon Legue
The Anti-Saloon League was a group that used statistics to fight the war against alcohol. They were founded in Ohio in 1893 and lasted until 1933. The Anti-Saloon League combined religion, propaganda, and political force to bring up the issues in elections. Which is one of the main reasons they were successful. -
President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover was the President at the time of the great depression, stock market crash, and during the Prohibition. Everyone hated him and blamed him for their problems. Herbert Hoover started the Prohibition as a "Nobel Experiment." Which caused a lot of chaos among the people. The term "hoover" was slang for anything they didn't like. They built a small city that was built for homeless people in the 1920s, called Hooverville. -
Radification of The 18th Amendment
In January of 1919 The 18th Amendment was ratified as an attempt to stop: abuse, unorganized crime, drunkenness, inefficiency, and addiction. Some women would get abused by their husbands if they drank and started to associate the alcohol with abuse and being drunk (drunkenness.) These men grew an addiction to alcohol, they would often show up to work drunk. -
Organized Crime
In the early 1920's Prohibition started a very large push towards organized crime, it gave mobs and gangsters an excuse to lash out against the new laws against alcohol. Mobsters made millions of dollars by bootlegging and running thousands of speakeasies. They were able to pay off police officers who would just "turn a blind eye." There were five Italian-American mobster families: Gambino, Genovese, Luchese, Bonnano, and Colombo; each family made millions of dollars doing organized crime. -
Speakeasies
Speakeasies were secret bars and clubs that illegally sold alcohol. It was a place where gangsters, the rich, the poor, lower and upper class to come together and socialize as one. Speakeasies were a continuous profits that seem to flourish bringing in large cash revenue. -
Prohibition
Prohibition was abolishing the sale, manufacturing, and transportation of liquor. Prohibition wasn't always successful though, people still (illegally) sold alcohol, it started organized crime, and it caused protesting. Prohibition permanently corrupted law enforcement, the courts, and politics. A total of 10,000 people died during prohibition after drinking alcohol that contained wood. Prohibition went into effect when the 18th amendment was started and lasted from 1920 to 1933. -
Working Men's Money
Many studies were done to see how much of the money men would get at work were going. The question asked was "How do you spend your spare cash(the money not used on essentials of life)". The results are as follows: Beer 23%, Wine and Whiskey 11%, Movies 24%, Tobacco 24%, Life insurance 11%, Church 6%, Miscellaneous 1%. A total of 34% of that money was spent on alcohol. -
Al Capone
Al Capone was a very famous mobster during prohibition. He owned speakeasies, brewed beer, gambled, distributed liquor, and was known for being violent. He made $100 million in revenue at the end of the 1920s. He took over many distilleries around the nation. He also seemed to be linked with organized crime, the biggest known one was the St. Valentines Day murder. -
St. Valentines Day Massacre
The St. Valentines day murder was a mass killing of gang rivals. The people killed were part of a Bootlegger gang, the men were also unarmed. The Massacre showed the intense rivalry over control of liquor trafficking during Prohibition. This massacre is said to be linked to Al Capone and was also said to start his downfall. -
21st Amendment
The 21st Amendment was the Amendment that repealed the 18th Amendment, bringing back alcohol. The 21st Amendment allowed the government to tax the beverage and bring in revenue off the product. This was great because it helped people get jobs during the Great Depression as well as bring more money into America.