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US Prohibition at 100: The Failed Attempt to Ban Alcohol

Kenneth Schwartz

   The coronavirus pandemic lockdowns forced many bars and nightclubs
   across the United States to stand empty with their doors locked and
   chairs upside down on tables.

   One hundred years ago, taverns in the U.S. were also locked down and
   desolate when the Volstead Act, better known as Prohibition, in 1920
   became the law of the land, making it a crime to manufacture, sell or
   transport alcohol.

   The drive to outlaw demon rum in the U.S. began in the 1850s.
   Churchwomen howled that whiskey was turning men into drunkards and
   barflies. Drink leads to violence and poverty and destroys families,
   they said.

   Temperance movements, anti-saloon leagues and ladies storming into
   taverns to destroy bottles of whiskey grew from being an annoyance for
   the bartender into a legitimate political movement.

   "Prohibition was largely driven by a feeling among certain portions of
   the population, although no evidence that it was ever nearly a
   majority, that alcohol was a bad thing and should be eradicated from
   American life," said Daniel Okrent, The New York Times best-selling
   author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

   Okrent said brewers and distillers campaigned hard to defeat
   anti-alcohol politicians, popularly known as "drys," even to the point
   of rigging elections. But, he said, the two industries were actually
   bitter enemies.

   "The brewers say distillers are the ones who should be stopped
   distributing whiskey '¦ beer, they said, was healthy. It was liquid
   bread. The distillers despised the brewers for making that separation.
   So, they really could not coordinate their activities together," Okrent
   said.

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