There’s an iconic Simpsons episode from season eight that sees the town of Springfield re-implement a long lost ordinance bringing Prohibition back into effect, much to the chagrin of Homer, Moe the bartender and 99 per cent of the population.
After various capers that include Homer becoming the primary bootlegger known as ‘The Beer Baron,’ Springfield repeals Prohibition, at which time Mayor Quimby asks how long it would take him to flood the town with booze again. Homer declines the offer, saying he’s out of the business. Enter Springfield’s token mafia crime syndicate leader Fat Tony, who promptly ensures the mayor, “Four minutes.”
This quick turnaround was probably on a similar timeline to what actually happened in the United States following the Volstead Act coming into effect on Jan. 17, 1920. For the next decade and a half, America would officially be a ‘dry’ country, before the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was repealed, giving way to the 21st Amendment and the return of legal, government-regulated liquor below the 49th parallel. Of course I included quotations around the ‘dry’ label, because the U.S. would be anything but over those 13 years.
I find it to be one of the great modern historical ironies that a federal law outlawing liquor production, manufacturing and consumption actually directly contributed to the U.S. becoming ‘wetter’ than all hell, likely more so than before Prohibition was even introduced. As the old adage goes, the more you tell someone they can’t do something, the more that something becomes more appealing. With booze unattainable through relatively legal means, it sparked the rise of the bootlegger, the speakeasy, and organized crime throughout the Roaring Twenties and into the first few years of the Great Depression.
Pre-existing social issues such as domestic violence, alcoholism and even child abandonment, and the subsequent rise of the temperance movement (promoting moderation or complete abstinence from alcohol) contributed to the Volstead Act being introduced in the first place, but it quickly became evident that most Americans were thirsty, and were going to remain thirsty. And they would quench that thirst by any means necessary.
Outside of larger urban areas like New York and Chicago in the early goings of Prohibition, one of the best ways to get a nip was to pay a visit to the family doctor. After all the American breweries and distilleries were shut down, a good portion of that idle cache of booze was reserved for medical professionals, who could issue prescriptions of whiskey, gin and other spirits for patients with certain conditions – whether they were legitimate or fabricated. According to one online source, the Walgreens pharmacy chain expanded from only 20 stores to over 500 nationwide during the 1920s, mostly due to medicinal alcohol sales.
Americans who weren’t satisfied with going through ‘formal’ chains of obtaining a bottle through their doctor and still craved the social atmosphere of a saloon-type environment instead turned to the speakeasy, the gin joint, or my personal favourite, ‘the blind pig’ – whatever that last one is in reference to. Perhaps eluding to the fact that one could lose their sight after consuming some of the bathtub swill that was in circulation.
Urban restaurants also typically had a ready supply of illegal liquor and wine on hand for their patrons’ sipping pleasure. These establishments were often prone to raids by federal Prohibition agents, but greasing the palms of underpaid local law enforcement or other government officials was an easy way for operators to receive tips on when their door was going to be kicked in, giving them ample advance opportunity to dispose of their stock ahead of time. Or at least relocate it for a couple hours before bringing it back in for the evening rush.
That said, penalties were often just a slap on the wrist, usually amounting to small fines and rarely jail time. The court system became so bogged down with Volstead Act-related cases that judges often adopted an assembly line approach to violators without even hearing the details; they issued a fine and moved on to the next in the interest of brevity.
Prohibition agents soon realized that they were fighting a losing battle, and the ones that didn’t readily accept bribes to profit from the circumstances instead turned their focus on those who were directly supplying speakeasy operators with their illegal liquor. Mafia outfits in Chicago, New York, Boston, Atlantic City and Florida accessed the rum-rich countries of the Caribbean and the whiskey-soaked provinces of Canada to obtain their booze, which they in turn sold at outrageous markups (this was after a small army of support staff had cut said booze to make it go even further). A couple industrious and bold individuals even bribed their way into directly accessing the massive afore-mentioned liquor storage facilities mostly reserved for medicinal purposes.
Notorious Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone apparently was raking in around $60 million a year in illegal liquor profits towards the end of the 1920s. Old Al’s antics would eventually catch up with him when he was indicted for federal income tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Capone never regained his organized crime stature following his release, and died of complications from various health ailments in 1947.
The Volstead Act was amended slightly on April 7, 1933 – 90 years ago tomorrow – to permit the production of ‘milder’ beer, up to 3.2 per cent alcohol. After signing that legislation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt apparently quipped, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” April 7 is now known as National Beer Day in the U.S.
That alteration of a national law that was first introduced 13 years prior marked the beginning of the end of Prohibition. America simply had bigger fish to fry as the Great Depression dragged into its fourth year, and one quarter of its able-bodied population was out of work and on the bread lines.
The 18th Amendment would be repealed on Dec. 5, 1933, and ‘The Noble Experiment’ came to an unceremonious end with the ratification of the 21st Amendment. Beer, wine and liquor regained its full legal status, and most Americans no doubt celebrated with a long overdue drink. After all, it had been 13 years since their last, right? Right…
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you back here in a fortnight.
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This is a bi-weekly opinion column; for question or comment contact Dan McNee at dmcnee@midwesternnewspapers.com.
