Question: Why, in your opinion, did the experiment of prohibition fail in the 1920s?
P.S: You should primarily use internet research for the discussion questions as the textbook often won\’t cover the questions in sufficient detail.
After this, respond to at least TWO other student posts in a meaningful way (a minimum of 50 words each). Please be sure to post IN YOUR OWN WORDS! It is not acceptable to copy/paste from the internet (or anywhere else!).
Two other student posts:
Student 1.
Prohibition was the WCTU and progressive parts experiment that passed into law and was later repealed because it caused more problems than it solved. It was originally
Initially the idea behind the banning of alcohol was to eliminate one of the ways political bosses won people over. Since dense areas of population resided in cities and with people came saloons and bars the correlation is easy to see.
Ultimately this did not prove an effective deterrent and it started new problems like speakeasies and organized crime. I believe that the difficulty the IRS and eventually the DOJ had enforcing the legislation and that it seemed to be enforced heavily in small rural towns and looser in large cities. Possibly because of temperance societies having a larger sway over smaller communities. Also contributing to its failure was that since it was a single issue that had a good push in the beginning , initially getting it added to the constitution, support waned afterward and it hurt the working class more than it did the upper class with the price of then illegal liquor much higher than it had been before prohibition had been enacted.
In addition to this while the illegal bootlegging industry was alive and well in those years that prohibition was enacted, the government didn\’t see any money from taxes on liquor that they had previously enjoyed. Also there were jobs that could be filled had there been a legal liquor industry. These, I believe were the main reasons prohibition failed in the few years it was active before being repealed.
Student 2.
The Prohibition era began January 19, 1920 in the United States. It was under the eighteenth amendment and prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating beverages. Enforcement of prohibition fell under the Volstead Act of which had many loopholes. Those in favor of prohibition believed that as saloons closed neighborhoods would improve with more money spent on clothing, home good items, and rent. Family life would be better, since drinking wouldn’t be in homes. They believed it would lead to less crime and corruption. The Entertainment industry believed more people would go to the movies, increasing their revenue (Lerner, 2011).
What was seen with prohibition was a decline in the entertainment business. Many restaurants had to close since they couldn’t stay open without the sales once made from alcohol. No improvements were seen in real estate. There was a rise in unemployment with the closing of breweries and saloons. Another negative impact brought on by prohibition was an estimated 11 billion lost in national tax revenue once seen from the sale of alcohol (Lerner, 2011).
Drinking didn’t stop with prohibition, it just changed. People found new ways to get alcohol whether they made it themselves, or found other ways to get it. Bootlegging was the illegal manufacturing and selling of alcohol. Speakeasies were also popular during prohibition, which were illegal establishments that sold alcohol (History.com, 2009). Organized crime was supplying the speakeasies, and smuggling alcohol across state lines. Territorial disputes took place often and resulted in violence and often homicides within the cities. Police couldn’t keep up with the crime rate, too many people were breaking the law that the jails overflowed. Former law abiding citizens were now being charged as criminals for their involvement with activities involving the illegal manufacture, sale or transportation of alcohol. Even police officers and government officials were caught bootlegging for monetary opportunities (Parkinson, 2012).
I believe that prohibition was doomed from the first day. An effective enforcement policy wasn’t taken into account during the planning process. The money that would be lost from the alcohol taxes was not taken into consideration. The program didn’t have sufficient funds to support the enforcement or to help those displaced from the closing of the breweries and saloons. The experiment of prohibition failed because of the combination of all these missing pieces from the initial planning process.