A young woman demonstrates one of the means used to conceal alcohol—hiding it
in containers strapped to one’s legs.
In the city, lonely migrants from the country often ached
for home. Throughout the 1920s, Americans found them-
selves caught between rural and urban cultures—a tug that
pitted what seemed to be a safe, small-town world of close
ties, hard work, and strict morals against a big-city world of
anonymous crowds, moneymakers, and pleasure seekers.
THE PROHIBITION EXPERIMENT
One vigorous clash
between small-town and big-city Americans began in
earnest in January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment
went into effect. This amendment launched the era known
as Prohibition, during which the manufacture, sale, and
transportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited.
Reformers had long considered liquor a prime cause of
corruption. They thought that too much drinking led to
crime, wife and child abuse, accidents on the job, and other
serious social problems. Support for Prohibition came largely
from the rural South and West, areas with large populations
of native-born Protestants. The church-affiliated Anti-Saloon
League had led the drive to pass the Prohibition amendment.
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which consid-
ered drinking a sin, had helped push the measure through.
At first, saloons closed their doors, and arrests for
drunkenness declined. But in the aftermath of World War I,
many Americans were tired of making sacrifices; they want-
ed to enjoy life. Most immigrant groups did not consider
drinking a sin but a natural part of socializing, and they
resented government meddling.
Eventually, Prohibition’s fate was sealed by the government, which failed to
budget enough money to enforce the law. The Volstead Act established a
Prohibition Bureau in the Treasury Department in 1919, but the agency was
underfunded. The job of enforcement involved patrolling 18,700 miles
of coastline as well as inland borders, tracking down illegal stills (equip-
ment for distilling liquor), monitoring highways for truckloads of
illegal alcohol, and overseeing all the industries that legally used
alcohol to be sure none was siphoned off for illegal purposes. The
task fell to approximately 1,500 poorly paid federal agents and
local police—clearly an impossible job.
SPEAKEASIES AND BOOTLEGGERS
To obtain liquor ille-
gally, drinkers went underground to hidden saloons and
nightclubs known as speakeasies—so called because when
inside, one spoke quietly, or “easily,” to avoid detection.
Speakeasies could be found everywhere—in penthouses, cel-
lars, office buildings, rooming houses, tenements, hardware
stores, and tearooms. To be admitted to a speakeasy, one had to
present a card or use a password. Inside, one would find a mix of
fashionable middle-class and upper-middle-class men and
women.
Before long, people grew bolder in getting around the law.
They learned to distill alcohol and built their own stills. Since alco-
hol was allowed for medicinal and religious purposes, prescriptions
642 C
HAPTER 21
TO PROHIBIT
ALCOHOL OR NOT?
The question of whether to out-
law alcohol divided Americans.
Many believed the government
should make alcohol illegal to
protect the public, while others
believed it was a personal deci-
sion, and not morally wrong.
1. Examine the pros and cons of
each position. Which do you
agree with? What other fac-
tors, if any, do you think
would influence your position?
2. If you had been a legislator
asked to vote for the
Eighteenth Amendment, what
would you have said? Explain.
3. What happens when the gov-
ernment legislates moral val-
ues? Give contemporary
examples to support your
answer.
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