Why was prohibition bound to fail?

From 1919 when the amendment was passed to about 1928, prohibition seemed to be quite popular and was working well. At this time, politicians who supported prohibition were known as ‘dry’ politicians. Politicians who wanted prohibition repealed were known as ‘wet’ politicians. To show the popularity of the law, a famous election in 1928, saw the Republican politician Herbert Hoover who was a ‘dry’ politician beat Franklin Roosevelt, a ‘wet’ Democratic politician, to the presidency. In 1929, one of the biggest events in the USA’s history occurred, the Wall Street crash. This sent American residents and businesses into bankruptcy. It also brought great depression to the country. Depressed people all over wanted a drink. The gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran seized upon this great business venture opportunity. Capone had an income of $100 million from alcohol trade, labour rackets and illegal gambling. As the situation of the Wall Street crash began becoming worse, people began looking towards the money the federal government were using to enforce prohibition. Everyone was now looking for a solution to salvage the American economy. It seemed inevitable that the government were wasting all this money on upholding prohibition, when it could be used to try and rebuild the American economy back to what it was. The Wall Street crash brought bankruptcy, unemployment, starvation and homelessness. The federal government was now thinking of a solution. This solution was going to come out of the repealing prohibition. They had a thought that the American economy could not only save money from it, but also exploit it and make great profit in the process. If the USA repealed prohibition, it could make money from alcohol trade, advertising, transport, packaging, tax, commercialisation, breweries/distilleries and public bars. This would also create thousand of jobs and lower the rate of unemployment all over the country. This seemed to be a great solution to solve a lot of the problems.

The government finally gave up, and in 1933 Franklin Roosevelt won the election, successfully repealing prohibition. The final reason that they repealed prohibition was down to the economic situation. Something drastic had to be done to salvage the economy before the USA would fall apart. As it began to lose support, the federal government realised that it was going nowhere so the law had to be scrapped.

From the start, prohibition was a law, which wasn’t set in stone. There was always going to be opposition, which were part of the reason it finally failed. From about 1978, the end did seem inevitable. Only strict religious people and people in rural areas supported the amendment. When the Wall Street crash occurred and their businesses went bankrupt, they thought differently about the situation. From the start, the law no support from people in cities. 1929 was the event, which put the ‘final nail in the coffin’ for prohibition. The Wall Street crash put pay to anyone’s queries about keeping the law.

Whatever anyone says about the bad of alcohol, it couldn’t change the minds of American citizens who just wanted a drink. It never had huge support just a minority who were ‘anti-alcohol.’  When gangsters came about, it showed up the bad effects which prohibition brought. It brought great crime to the country and all around general social unrest throughout communities all over the country. Homes and families were broken up and the amount of gangster rivalry grew immensely. Prohibition was bound to fail, it has become one of the biggest parts of American history, and highlighted as a federal government mistake. It cost the USA very much but was sorted out in the end. After it all happened, a few years later, films were made about the incident. Two of the most famous are ‘The untouchables’ and ‘Buggsy Malone.’ They both highlight the violence between gangster rivalry caused by prohibition in the 1920s-20s.