Danny+Sullivan+Prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition's original purpose was to stop or reduce drinking in America by shutting down businesses that sold and made liquor. The leaders of the prohibition movement were alarmed at the drinking behavior of Americans, and they were concerned that there was a culture of drink among some sectors of the population that was spreading. The prohibition leaders thought that, in about 30 years, we would live in a sober nation. Prohibition worked in the sense that during the prohibition years, the consumption rate of alcoholic beverages dramatically declined but did not cease as there were people who smuggled in alcoholic beverages and some who just disregarded the law and drank anyway. One historical figure from the prohibition era was William H. Anderson. Known as the "Dry Warrior" he used tactics such as false rumors, forged documents, character attacks, and intimidation to become one of the most successful lobbyists of the Anti-Saloon League.

Some other lobbyists were Earl Dodge, a long time leader of the prohibition party who was a candidate for it's presidency during the time of 1984-2004, Mary Hunt, a woman who apparently had changed the world of education with her campaign for coercive temperance education or institutionalized prohibitionist propaganda, and much more.

But with a law comes the people who break the law. Some gangs and gangsters were actually overjoyed that prohibition was added to the constitution for the sake of breaking the law and being bad while doing easy business. Two examples would be Al Capone and Johnny Torrio. For them, prohibition came as an answered prayer. They had always striven to routinize crime into regular business. Now the fools had obliged them by declaring a regular business criminal! Johnny taught Al and lots of others everything about making crime into business. They must have been part of the reason Prohibition was repealed! Torrio died of a heart attack when he was 75 and Capone also died of a heart attack but had a disease that slowly killed him until then. Below are pictures of Al Capone (Left) and Johnny Torrio (Right)

Although prohibition didn't last very long, it did have a distinct role in history. The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) was revived in 1920 to defend prohibition. There was also the St. Valentines Day Massacre event which was the mass murder of many individuals that resulted from rivalry among bootleggers. Many people still argue about whether prohibition was a good thing for the United States or not, and both sides had a purpose to stand up for what they believe in, but prohibition is a piece of history that will never be forgotten.