Ronald Wheele 1 - Notes PDF

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Ronald Wheeler HST 299 Rough Draft Uncle Sam, Please let me Drink

Prohibition is defined as a law against making or selling liquor. The law was in place in the United States between 1920 to1933. Was Prohibition in America a failure that robbed its citizens of their right to make or purchase liquor? Prohibition did more harm than good, crime and corruption increased moral issues amongst the races, and economical problems spun out of control during this period. First, crime was big business during the Prohibition era because millions of Americans either were hooked on liquor or they desired to have every now and then. So your big city and small city gangsters made sure that liquor would be available at you local saloons, speakeasies, or some back room gambling house. These organized criminals made millions and protected their interest with violence. Second, from the millions made thru this lucrative business the criminals paid our city, state, and federal government officials to turn away when liquor is shipped in or sold in their areas. The law enforcement agencies were also on the criminal’s payroll and for big money too. Third, during this time many races were either moving to the big cities or coming in from other countries. With not a lot of money, they took resident in the cities slum areas or ghettos. Health was a big concern during this time and many died because of various diseases. Lastly, many Americans lost everything they owned during the stock market crash in 1929, which leads to the Great

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Depression of the 1930’s in America. Instead of protecting its citizens against the problems of the country, the government takes the citizens right sell or purchase liquor. I’m going to show you how the United States government made a mistake supporting this law rather then supporting its citizens with better living and working conditions especially in your big cities. The idea of Prohibition starts back in the early 1800’s when the temperance movement was gaining support. The temperance movement wanted to ban all alcoholic drinks including beer, wine, and hard liquor. They saw alcohol as a source of social problems including violence, crime, and poverty. These groups which a lot of women organized saw their families erode because of alcohol use. Men would wake up in the morning and start their day off with a drink, take break from work only to drink again, then come home in the evening to drink some more. This was a routine to thousands of men each day in this country. After awhile families were abused and eventually damaged because of alcohol. The Anti-Saloon League (ASL) in 1893 and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1874 were the biggest and strongest groups in America. Before the WCTU and ASL came about, some states had tried to enact prohibition laws. Depending on where you lived during the middle to late 19th century, local prohibition flourished on and off in some states. The ASL founded in Oberlin, Ohio in 1893 was organized to fight Prohibition. In 1909 there was one saloon for every three hundred people in the United States. There were more saloons then schools, libraries,

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hospitals, theatres, parks and churches. Big cities naturally had more saloons, for example Chicago had more saloons then the entire South. The WCTU founded in 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio to fight alcohol abuse in women and children. They promoted legislation using educational, social, and political means to get the word across to the people. Both of these groups used one another to promote Prohibition in the United States. The WCTU was after women’s rights also and ASL helped them achieve success like the right to vote. The Volstead Act of the National Prohibition Enforcement Act had been passed on October 28th , 1919. It was enacted to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment which went into effect on January 16th, 1920. The Volstead Act superceded existing legislation in 33 states. The Volstead Act stated “no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, or furnish any intoxicating liquor as any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol by volume.* The Federal government wanted the states to enforce the laws with Prohibition but the states did not have the resource to do it. The Volstead Act was originally vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson on both constitutional and ethical grounds but overridden by Congress on the same day, October 28th, 1919.* Citizens in United States during Prohibition were still drinking especially in the big cities. The need to have alcohol was filled by the criminal element or organized crime groups across America. The groups supplied alcohol to the people thru illegal clubs or speakeasies, store fronts, delivery vehicles, foot messengers and medical offices.* During the 1920’s there were over 30,000 illegal clubs in New York City that supplied alcohol. When one club was closed, two more would open the next day. The organized crime groups made millions selling and transporting liquor across America.

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It’s funny to speak of medical offices using liquor to cure their patients, but when Prohibition was in force many doctors wrote prescriptions for alcohol for their patients with medical conditions. The United States Justice Department could not handle the new cases of Prohibition related acts. Their just wasn’t enough Federal agents to handle all the cases involving Prohibition. Some of the agents were not properly trained to handle Prohibition scofflaws. They would shoot innocent people and destroy citizen’s homes and property. In the court rooms many cases would be thrown out because Prohibition cases would quadruple the normal cases for the day. The violence was on the rise with the introduction of the “Tommy Gun” being used by gangsters. This machine gun could shoot hundreds of bullets in a matter or seconds. All the top criminal gangsters were using these guns to wipe out their enemies. Their were hundreds of murders in the streets of Chicago and New York City. During Prohibition in Chicago, over 800 murders were related to Prohibition. Let’s take a look at Chicago; Chicago began changing for the worse with arrival of Al Capone form New York. Al Capone took over leadership in the Chicago “Outfit” in 1920. Capone had fled New York after being involved in two murders there. He had a great criminal mind and he knew he could get rich organizing a bootlegging operation in Chicago.* Capone coordinated the importation of alcohol from different location and from Canada.* He operated many breweries and distilleries in and around the Chicagoland area. Capone devised a system to distribute his alcohol with truck drivers, salespeople, and speakeasies.* It is estimated that Al Capone made over $60,000,000 million dollars in 1927 alone during prohibition. During this time over 60% of the Chicago Police Department

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was working for organized crime. They helped make sure nothing interfered with illegal business and Prohibition thrived in Chicago. Money buying power helped the gangsters move into legitimate business and force out the people running those businesses with violence. Prohibition was a period of time accompanied by “the greatest crime ever attained by a nation”.* With Capone‘s money flowing thru every courthouse and police station, this made him untouchable for a few decades. No judge or jury would ever convict him of a crime, if they wanted to stay alive. In New York, the organized crime was run by the five families of New York City. Five Families, five boroughs they were called the Commission and the leader of the group Lucky Luciano. The Commission would meet tot discuss business affairs and then vote like a board of directors in real company. They even had group of murders called Murder’s Inc. that would handle all the killings for the Commission. When the Commission votes on a person to be killed or whacked, the Murder’s Inc. group would handle the contract. The Commission also controlled the local government and had public officials on their payroll. The Commission also made millions selling and distributing alcohol during Prohibition and expanding into other criminal enterprises because of their political and police protection. Prohibition allowed the criminal element to flourish and make money off the common person who just wanted to drink of alcohol. Organized crime always supported the Presidential candidate who supported Prohibition to keep their businesses going. Because of Prohibition, organized crime became a force to be reckoned with and their activities in legitimate businesses made law enforcement’s jobs more difficult. By not having enough trained agents to combat Prohibition across the nation, states just could

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not stop the rise of criminals in the United States. The United States government shares the blame also, because they could have been ready to take on more cases or supported the state and local government better. The immigrants who came to America before and during the Prohibition period could not understand the United States would have drinking laws. Millions of immigrants came to America to get way from dictatorship rule to have more human rights. They opposed Prohibition by taking illegal jobs like bootlegging. The Negroes who were migrating North to find better opportunities also began working in illegal jobs to support their families. The Italians, Irish, and Jews in New York City were fighting each other at first, than began working together for a common goal, making more money using Prohibition. In Chicago, Al Capone just wiped out all the competition, the Irish gangs, the Polish gangs, and the Jewish gangs. The Outfit was the only gang in Chicago to reap the rewards of running a city alone. The immigrants live in run down tenements or ghetto’s and disease was everywhere. During the early 1900’s to 1920’s, millions of immigrants came to America in search of better living conditions and better jobs. They lived in the big cities along the Eastern seaboard and some even went west to Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit looking for a better opportunity. Some turned to the underworld (crime) to support their families while the majority found work in factories or other businesses. This is also a time where the United States government would not pass a law against lynching. Blacks were being lynched at an enormous rate in the South and North also. They also could not vote in most states and were treated like second class citizens everywhere. The government could have been working to have better civil rights for the Blacks in this country then

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taking rights away thru Prohibition. White women gained rights by helping the Protestant males pass a Prohibition law and in turn gain the right to vote in America. With both happening in 1920, the women gain the right to vote and America having a no drinking ban. The Great Depression comes at the end of 1929 with the stock market crash in New York City. The government goes bankrupt and millions of Americans are having bad times. Many more people turn to alcohol to ease their pain of losing everything. In Chicago, Al Capone sets up soup kitchens to feed thousands each day. Businesses begin to layoff thousands of people to keep their companies running. In the end, was Prohibition worth it or could the government went a different route to aid people with alcohol issues. The United States government loses billions on taxes on liquor during Prohibition and also loses millions housing all the criminal in jail during Prohibition. It was a mistake from the beginning and a mistake when it ended. Rights belong in the hand of the people, so Uncle Sam can I have my drink now!

Prohibition is an awful flop. We Like it. It can’t stop what it’s meant to stop. We like it. It’s left a trail of graft and slime, It’s filled our land with vice and crime, It don’t prohibit worth a dime, Nevertheless we’re for it.*

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I have to add my endnotes and bibliography later.

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