Prohibition failed because there was lack of public support. The people of America wanted alcohol because some people were addicted and could not stop. Some people wanted it because it created employment for the country because when the saloons closed so many people lost their jobs.
The illegal alcohol made at home called ‘moonshine’ was very dangerous because at manufacture the conditions around the still were very unhygienic and caused germs to get in which caused diseases for the drinker. Deaths from alcohol poisoning went up from ninety-eight in nineteen twenty to seven hundred and sixty in nineteen twenty-six.
It was hoped that Prohibition would eliminate corruption in society but instead; Prohibition itself became a major source of corruption. Everyone from major politicians to the cop on the beat took bribes from bootleggers (or gangsters), moonshiners, crime bosses, and owners of speakeasies. Bootleggers were people who smuggled the alcohol and sold them to the speakeasies. It comes from the idea of workers on ships stealing liquor by smuggling them in their bootlegs. The speakeasies were secret illegal saloons which were located in unknown places such as the back door of a garage. To enter you must give a secret password such as a secret knock in order to enter. The two main people who supplied the speakeasies with alcohol were the bootleggers (gangsters) and the moonshiners. Moonshiners are the people who manufacture moonshine at home using their stills.
Many of the major politicians were against Prohibition or bribed by gangsters, so they did not take things seriously for, instance in, you can ask a cop for where the nearest speakeasy is and he will tell you where to go.
The biggest bootlegger and gangster at the time was the Italian Al Capone known as “Scar Face.” He became rich and powerful mainly because of Prohibition. He was so powerful that he was in charge of different ethnic groups – Italians, Poles, Jews and Blacks. His control was based in Chicago. This man was a key player in the failure of Prohibition, mainly because of his control of nearly everyone. He got control by bribing officials such as the police and judges. He became even more powerful when he paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to get his friend, Big Bill Thompson elected mayor of Chicago. Al was a popular man because he combined violence and charity. Al Capone set up parties with alcohol and famous entertainers. He brought wealth and excitement to Chicago. He was extremely popular because “Time” magazine put him on the front cover, this was not a bribe and the “Time” knew that if he was on the front then people would buy the magazine to know about him. Al Capone called himself a businessman but not a gangster because he provided what the people wanted. He was involved in extreme violence such as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre.
The government lost so much money enforcing this new law which was broken. If the government puts in more money they would still fail because of the bribes and Americas too long border to patrol. If alcohol was legal the government would then be able to tax it, for instance tax the making, transporting and selling. But who benefited from Prohibition where the gangsters. Mainly the gangs “bootlegged” (smuggled) the alcohol through America’s long border. It was smuggled in from Canada, Mexico and Caribbean. Therefore the gangs made huge profit and they took advantage of the Prohibition so I think that the gangs wanted the Prohibition to continue – Al Capone made sixty million a year from alcohol selling.
Prohibition gave rise to a dramatic increase in the size and power of other government agencies as well. Between nineteen twenty and nineteen thirty employments at the Customs Service increased forty-five percent, and the service's annual budget increased a hundred and twenty-three percent. Personnel of the Coast Guard increased a hundred and eighty-eight percent during the nineteen twenties, and its budget increased more than five hundred percent between nineteen fifteen and nineteen thirty-two. So it created employment, but the people employed where also bribed by gangsters. There were too few federal agents who were doing their job properly. Many were bribed by the gangs. Not all stills were found by the authorities. Alcohol was too easy to manufacture.
Criminal gang’s activity and power increased during the period of Prohibition. In total the gangsters made two billion dollars a year from it. There were big fights between gangs to fight for who supplies the alcohol to the speakeasies, one thing they did was hijacking each other’s booze supply and murder the opposition. Gang murders increased and between nineteen twenty-six and nineteen twenty-seven there were a hundred and thirty murders in Chicago and which no one was ever convicted.
The level of corruption in the country was at its highest. This was not in only Prohibition agents but also with judges and local and state government officials. They were bribed highly so they took the money because some who fought back got murdered. Corruption even extended to the federal government where as thirty percent of them were against Prohibition.
One of the main reasons why Prohibition ended was because of the St. Valentine Massacre. This was one of the biggest gang fights ever whereas Al Capone’s men killed seven gangsters. This was the turning point. People saw that Prohibition was causing so much gang violence and people wanted to give up the ‘noble experiment’.
Some women went out in the streets protesting for the end of Prohibition the same as the women who went up to pass Prohibition. The case was changed because of the Great Depression because if you legalize alcohol it can create employment and prosperity. President Roosevelt legalized alcohol on December fifth, nineteen thirty-three after thirteen years of Prohibition.
Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve and supplanted other ways of addressing them. The only beneficiaries of Prohibition were bootleggers and the crime bosses. When Prohibition was abolished in nineteen thirty-three, crime dramatically went down, including organized crime, and corruption. Jobs were created, and new voluntary efforts, such as alcoholics anonymous, which were created in nineteen thirty-four, succeeded in helping alcoholics.
Prohibition was also used in several other countries such as Finland in nineteen nineteen with minimal results. Society needs to open their eyes and not let history repeat itself. Prohibition is obviously not the way.
