PROHIBITION GOES INTO EFFECT
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the production, transportation and sale of 'intoxicating liquors' went into effect in the United States.
According to the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, consumption and abuse of intoxicating liquors were national problems that increased during the 19th century. Prohibition movements were led by groups like the Anti-Saloon League* and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union**.
As a result of the 18th Amendment, organized crime took over the liquor business and America was victimized by record crime, poverty and violence.
According to Dr. Jack S. Blocker Jr., alcohol consumption did not surpass pre-Prohibition levels in the U.S. until the 1970s. The Depression of the 1930s kept the consumption level at 1.5 gallons per capita. By the 1950s, it was up to 2 gallons and in the 1960s 2.4 gallons.
JFK+50 NOTE
Prohibition was in effect from 1920 to 1933. FDR signed a law legalizing 3.2% beer & the 18th amendment was repealed by the 21st amendment in 1933.
*Anti-Saloon League was founded in Oberlin, Ohio in 1893 by Howard Hyde Russell.
**WCTU was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874. It became one of the largest & most influential women's groups of the 19th century.
SOURCES
"Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation," by Jack S. Blocker, Jr., American Journal of Public Health February 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
"January 17, 1920: The Law that Dried the Nation, Prohibition in the U.S. and its Consequences," Roosevelt Institute for American Studies.
