1 00:00:06,819 --> 00:00:13,382 On January 17, 1920, six armed men robbed a Chicago freight train. 2 00:00:13,382 --> 00:00:15,756 But it wasn’t money they were after. 3 00:00:15,756 --> 00:00:18,996 Less than one hour after spirits had become illegal 4 00:00:18,996 --> 00:00:20,433 throughout the United States, 5 00:00:20,433 --> 00:00:24,788 the robbers made off with thousands of dollars worth of whiskey. 6 00:00:24,788 --> 00:00:30,038 It was a first taste of the unintended consequences of Prohibition. 7 00:00:30,038 --> 00:00:34,979 The nationwide ban on the production and sale of alcohol in the United States 8 00:00:34,979 --> 00:00:37,669 came on the heels of a similar ban in Russia 9 00:00:37,669 --> 00:00:41,199 that started as a wartime measure during World War I. 10 00:00:41,199 --> 00:00:43,989 But the view in the Western world of alcohol 11 00:00:43,989 --> 00:00:48,370 as a primary cause of social ills was much older. 12 00:00:48,370 --> 00:00:51,870 It first gained traction during the Industrial Revolution 13 00:00:51,870 --> 00:00:54,750 as new populations of workers poured into cities 14 00:00:54,750 --> 00:00:57,710 and men gathered in saloons to drink. 15 00:00:57,710 --> 00:01:01,855 By the 19th century, anti-drinking groups called temperance movements 16 00:01:01,855 --> 00:01:05,735 began to appear in the United States and parts of Europe. 17 00:01:05,735 --> 00:01:09,385 Temperance groups believed that alcohol was the fundamental driver 18 00:01:09,385 --> 00:01:12,575 behind problems like poverty and domestic violence, 19 00:01:12,575 --> 00:01:15,515 and set out to convince governments of this. 20 00:01:15,515 --> 00:01:18,205 While some simply advocated moderate drinking, 21 00:01:18,205 --> 00:01:22,205 many believed alcohol should be banned entirely. 22 00:01:22,205 --> 00:01:25,695 These movements drew support from broad sectors of society. 23 00:01:25,695 --> 00:01:29,275 Women’s organizations were active participants from the beginning, 24 00:01:29,275 --> 00:01:34,179 arguing that alcohol made men neglect their families and abuse their wives. 25 00:01:34,179 --> 00:01:36,679 Religious authorities, especially Protestants, 26 00:01:36,679 --> 00:01:40,289 denounced alcohol as leading to temptation and sin. 27 00:01:40,289 --> 00:01:43,659 Progressive labor activists believed alcohol consumption 28 00:01:43,659 --> 00:01:46,589 harmed workers’ ability to organize. 29 00:01:46,589 --> 00:01:50,029 Governments weren’t strangers to the idea of prohibition, either. 30 00:01:50,029 --> 00:01:53,799 In the United States and Canada, white settlers introduced hard liquors 31 00:01:53,799 --> 00:01:56,179 like rum to Native communities, 32 00:01:56,179 --> 00:01:59,209 then blamed alcohol for disrupting these communities— 33 00:01:59,209 --> 00:02:03,306 though there were many other destructive aspects of their interactions. 34 00:02:03,306 --> 00:02:07,136 The American and Canadian governments banned the sale of alcohol 35 00:02:07,136 --> 00:02:10,711 to Native populations and on reservation land. 36 00:02:10,711 --> 00:02:13,742 American temperance movements gained their first victories 37 00:02:13,742 --> 00:02:15,822 at the state and local levels, 38 00:02:15,822 --> 00:02:20,089 with Maine and several other states banning the sale and production of liquor 39 00:02:20,089 --> 00:02:22,109 in the 1850s. 40 00:02:22,109 --> 00:02:26,109 In 1919 the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution 41 00:02:26,109 --> 00:02:29,439 banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation 42 00:02:29,439 --> 00:02:32,249 of all alcoholic beverages. 43 00:02:32,249 --> 00:02:35,899 The amendment took effect a year later under the Volstead Act. 44 00:02:35,899 --> 00:02:39,039 Since the act did not ban personal consumption, 45 00:02:39,039 --> 00:02:43,443 wealthy people took the opportunity to stock up while restaurants and bars 46 00:02:43,443 --> 00:02:46,183 rushed to sell their remaining supply. 47 00:02:46,183 --> 00:02:51,614 Workers lost their jobs as distilleries, breweries, and wineries closed down. 48 00:02:51,614 --> 00:02:56,423 Meanwhile, organized crime groups rushed to meet the demand for alcohol, 49 00:02:56,423 --> 00:03:00,482 establishing a lucrative black market in producing, smuggling, 50 00:03:00,482 --> 00:03:02,982 and selling illicit liquor. 51 00:03:02,982 --> 00:03:06,022 Often they worked side-by side with corrupt policemen 52 00:03:06,022 --> 00:03:07,412 and government officials, 53 00:03:07,412 --> 00:03:12,174 even bombing the 1928 primary election for Illinois state attorney 54 00:03:12,174 --> 00:03:16,347 in support of a particular political faction. 55 00:03:16,347 --> 00:03:20,381 Tens of thousands of illegal bars, known as "speakeasies," 56 00:03:20,381 --> 00:03:22,021 began serving alcohol. 57 00:03:22,021 --> 00:03:25,861 They ranged from dingy basement bars to elaborate dance-halls. 58 00:03:25,861 --> 00:03:29,511 People could also make alcohol at home for their own consumption, 59 00:03:29,511 --> 00:03:34,966 or obtain it legally with a doctor’s prescription or for religious purposes. 60 00:03:34,966 --> 00:03:38,080 To prevent industrial alcohol from being consumed, 61 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:42,207 the government required manufacturers to add harmful chemicals, 62 00:03:42,207 --> 00:03:46,195 leading to thousands of poisoning deaths. 63 00:03:46,195 --> 00:03:49,885 We don’t know exactly how much people were drinking during Prohibition 64 00:03:49,885 --> 00:03:53,195 because illegal alcohol wasn’t regulated or taxed. 65 00:03:53,195 --> 00:03:54,878 But by the late 1920s, 66 00:03:54,878 --> 00:03:58,618 it was clear that Prohibition had not brought the social improvements 67 00:03:58,618 --> 00:03:59,818 it had promised. 68 00:03:59,818 --> 00:04:04,022 Instead it contributed to political corruption and organized crime 69 00:04:04,022 --> 00:04:06,875 and was flouted by millions of citizens. 70 00:04:06,875 --> 00:04:12,707 At one raid on an Detroit beer hall, the local sheriff, mayor and a congressman 71 00:04:12,707 --> 00:04:14,637 were arrested for drinking. 72 00:04:14,637 --> 00:04:17,637 With the start of the Great Depression in 1929, 73 00:04:17,637 --> 00:04:21,637 the government sorely needed the tax revenue from alcohol sales, 74 00:04:21,637 --> 00:04:25,497 and believed that lifting Prohibition would stimulate the economy. 75 00:04:25,497 --> 00:04:30,950 In 1933, Congress passed the 21st Amendment repealing the 18th— 76 00:04:30,950 --> 00:04:34,800 the only amendment to be fully repealed. 77 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:36,480 Members of the temperance movements 78 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,140 believed that alcohol was the root of society’s problems, 79 00:04:40,140 --> 00:04:42,630 but the reality is more complicated. 80 00:04:42,630 --> 00:04:45,220 And while banning it completely didn’t work, 81 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:50,161 the health and social impacts of alcohol remain concerns today.