In 1920, the taverns ran dry. The Eighteenth Amendment, also called the Volstead Act, was passed by the U.S. Congress and the amendment was ratified by three-quarters of the nation’s states, despite a veto from President Woodrow Wilson, (bless his heart). It was never illegal to “consume” alcohol during Prohibition, you just couldn’t make it, sell it or ship it.
Alcohol was condemned as the root of all evil. Many churches required their members to sign an abstinence pledge. Alcohol was the cause of the high crime rate, domestic violence, and child abandonment.
When the 1920s came roaring in, women could vote for the first time, and with that new-found power came freedom. Women bobbed their hair, smoked cigarettes, and danced the Charleston in short fringed skirts. Speakeasies operated in the back rooms of upstanding establishments and, by knowing the correct password or that special knock on the door, one could gain entry into an exciting world where it was considered chic to defy the law.
Due to the increased demand for alcohol, the price skyrocketed. To meet this new demand, bootleggers became major suppliers and distillers. Moonshiners became millionaires. Organized crime, led by Al Capone in Chicago, bribed political leaders as well as entire police departments. Mobsters like Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel became famous, or, rather, infamous. It was not alcohol, but the lack of alcohol, that caused an increase in crime.
Gambling has been around since 1665, when settlers in Jamestown held a lottery to raise funds to support their colony. In 1776, Continental Congress organized a lottery to help finance the Revolutionary War.
In 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was shot while playing poker. He held all aces and eights, which became known as the dead man’s hand. However, gambling was acknowledged as acceptable entertainment in many states. But, in the 1920s, gambling became illegal, along with alcohol, and mobsters quickly expanded their operations to include casinos and gambling halls.
Book banning is nothing new. In 1873, Anthony Comstock (the Comstock Act) prevented pamphlets about contraception from being sent through the mail. In the 1920s, many authors wanted to have their books “banned in Boston” because they knew it would increase sales. Hitler not only banned books, but cosmetics as well. The Aryan ideal was a modestly dressed woman wearing no makeup and no jewelry.
Today, friends meet at their favorite watering hole to watch ”the game.” Forty-five states now offer government-operated lotteries and all but six states have casinos, many tribal. Books that were banned and burned remain on the best-seller list, while the “banners” continue to try to “take away.”
The United States still suffers from a high crime rate, domestic violence, and child abandonment. History tells us that none of these problems were solved by taking away freedoms that people had openly enjoyed since the first colonists arrived in the New World.
In 1933, the 21st Amendment turned the regulation of liquor laws back to the states. Two states (North and South Carolina) rejected the 21st Amendment preferring to remain “dry,” while Mississippi kept its Prohibition laws for another thirty years.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt amended the Volstead Act to allow people to have a beer or two while they waited for the 21st Amendment to be ratified – and the first team of Budweiser Clydesdales rewarded him with a ceremonial case of beer.
There are two kinds of people in the world. The ones who give and the ones who take it away. History has proven that “taking away” rights doesn’t always work out as expected.