Holy men who met their unholy ends
Republican Andrew Volstead from Minnesota is forever associated with the National Prohibition Act of 1919— otherwise known as the Volstead Act—and the ban on alcohol. The act was the enabling legislation for the federal enforcement of Prohibition, which began on January 17, 1920.
Police nationwide were on alert for lawbreakers. This photograph shows a local law enforcement officer guarding a wrecked automobile after it was stopped and its cargo of moonshine confiscated.
There were other exemptions to the Volstead Act. For example, religious use of wine and liquor for use by physicians for therapeutic purposes was allowed. It's estimated that from 1921 to 1930, doctors earned about US$40 million for whiskey prescriptions (pictured)—approximately $587,904,000 in 2020.
To literally cover their tracks, bootleggers took to wearing shoes made from cow hoofs in an attempt to evade customs officials. A set of human foot prints would be suspicious, but a wandering bovine?
In Prohibition-era New York, a card from a well-known speakeasy in good standing would permit entrance to almost any other. Pictured are membership cards to various illicit city drinking dens.
In the first six months of 1920 alone, the federal government opened 7,291 cases of Volstead Act violations. But as quickly as bottles of whiskey and beer in their thousands were destroyed (pictured), new stills were being built.
A policeman trying on a cow shoe used by a moonshiner in an attempt to avoid capture.
Speakeasies sprang up across the United States during the Prohibition era. Set behind closed doors and entered upon with a wink and a nudge, these illicit establishments remained for the most part under the federal radar. Though as this image clearly shows, some enterprising bar owners would blatantly advertise their services in broad daylight.
A woman with a sign on the back wheel of her car supporting the repeal. The Eighteenth Amendment was eventually repealed on December 5, 1933. After beer production resumed, thousands of workers found jobs in the industry again.
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A Prohibition official takes a Newark, New Jersey garage owner to task for advertising alcohol with the wrong kind of sign. Rather than hanging up the "Alcohol For Sale" banner, the owner is forced to display a sign that reads: "Completely denatured alcohol for radiator use." Denatured alcohol contains additives to make it poisonous and foul-smelling to discourage recreational drinking.
A group of women stand outside a house with signs inviting others to join their anti-Prohibition club.
Prohibition proved a major blow to the alcohol beverage industry. Pictured is an original bar sign from 1927, which reads: "Padlocked On Account of Prohibition."
However, customers still tried to smuggle alcohol into restaurants. As a warning, some eateries would put up signs like this one: "Patrons are cautioned against exposing bottles of flasks containing spirituous liquors while in this restaurant."
"Give Us Beer. Balance the Budget." By 1929, the message was clear. Not only did Americans want to drink legally again, but the taxes raised on the sale of alcoholic beverages would go some way to addressing the dire economic crisis crippling the country.
Bootlegging—the illegal manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol, or moonshine—became widespread. Pictured is a mountain still plant found in full operation in Tennessee.
Sheets of stamps issued by The Crusaders spelling out the message "Help End Prohibition."
Prohibition hit the working-class poor the hardest. While the more wealthy were able to stockpile alcohol for legal use at home before the introduction of the Volstead Act, those with little money enjoyed no such luxury. The solution? They made their own alcohol. Within a week after Prohibition came into effect, small portable stills were on sale throughout the country. Pictured: policemen destroying illegal whiskey stills.
One way of deterring moonshiners was to confiscate the equipment needed to manufacture alcohol. Revenue agents began raiding hardware stores (pictured) and seizing copper vessels, condensers, and piping, among other components.
This New York restaurant sign reads: "No Booze Sold Here. Booze Hounds Please Stay Out."
Mexican towns close to the US border welcomed Americans during the Prohibition era, where drink was cheap and plentiful. In this image, one street is made up almost entirely of 'cantinas,' or liquor stores.
Driving near the US-Mexican border during Prohibition could be a dangerous business for the innocent. Here a man poses next to his vehicle, which is clearly signed: "I'm not a Bootlegger. Don't shoot, I'll stop."
After the Volstead Act went into effect, over 1,500 federal Prohibition agents were tasked with enforcing the ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol. However, private ownership and consumption of wine and cider was not made illegal. Pictured: smuggled beer poured on a street in Washington, D.C.
Intended to benefit the common good, Prohibition in the United States banned the sale and use of most alcohol from 1920 to 1933.
Smugglers also used boats to transport their prohibited cargo. Known as rum-runners rather than bootleggers, these racketeers ferried cheap rum from the Caribbean to destinations like Florida and as far north as New Jersey.
While it was illegal to produce and imbibe moonshine within the borders of the United States, that wasn't the case in neighboring Canada and Mexico. Breweries and distilleries flourished in these countries, and smuggling was rife. On occasion, agents were able to mount liquor raids into Canada, as this photograph of an operation going down in Elk Lake, Ontario illustrates.
By the late 1920s, a wave of anti-Prohibition sentiment was sweeping across the nation. Several anti-Prohibition organizations, including the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, were openly voicing their opposition to the ban. Beer parades like this one in New York City were becoming a weekly occurrence.
Organized crime proliferated in the 1920s, with Al Capone achieving notoriety during the Prohibition era. The boss of the Chicago Outfit, Capone based his operation in Cicero, a Chicago suburb with "wet" sympathies. Accordingly, he was able to profit considerably from bootlegging and running illegal drinking and gambling dens, the so-called speakeasies.
An epidemic of alcoholism across the US in the 1st and early 20th centuries led to the establishment of the Temperance movement, designed to curb the consumption of alcoholism. The movement successfully pushed for National Prohibition through the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment.
The Eighteenth Amendment established the prohibition of "intoxicating liquors" in the United States. It was ratified on January 16, 1919.
Interestingly, once Prohibition came into force, the majority of US citizens—so-called "dry" advocates—obeyed it. But darker elements of society, including the Ku Klux Klan, turned the ban to their advantage, denouncing bootleggers and threatening private vigilante action against known offenders.
After a raid on a illegal distillery, brewery, or speakeasy, law enforcement agents would make a point of publicly pouring the illicit alcohol down drains, in full view of an often salacious press corp.
Raids on speakeasies were commonplace. Bottles would be seized and unsuspecting customers rounded up.
Over a hundred years ago in January 1920, the United States dried up. The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution effectively banned the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol. The country couldn't drink. Prohibition had arrived!
The 13-year nationwide constitutional ban on alcohol was one of the most contentious periods in US history. But the origins of Prohibition stretch back much further, fermented as it was back in the 19th century.
Browse this gallery and imbibe the fascinating story of how America abstained, but only because it had to.
Prohibition: America's era of abstinence
Today is Bootlegger’s Day in the US
LIFESTYLE Laws
Over a hundred years ago in January 1920, the United States dried up. The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution effectively banned the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol. The country couldn't drink. Prohibition had arrived!
The 13-year nationwide constitutional ban on alcohol was one of the most contentious periods in US history. But the origins of Prohibition stretch back much further, fermented as it was back in the 19th century.
Browse this gallery and imbibe the fascinating story of how America abstained, but only because it had to.