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Prohibition

Prohibition. The Roaring Twenties. Presentation created by Robert L. Martinez. http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/faces/prohibitionraidsm.jpg. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

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Prohibition

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  1. Prohibition The Roaring Twenties Presentation created by Robert L. Martinez http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/faces/prohibitionraidsm.jpg

  2. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre • On February 14, 1929, men posing in police uniforms raided the headquarters of Chicago’s Moran crime family. When the officers ordered the gangsters to raise their hands and line up against the wall, the gangsters thought nothing of it, just a routine police bust or shakedown. http://images15.fotki.com/v10/photos/4/42477/170646/isp26-vi.jpg

  3. As it turns out, these “police officers” were members of Al “Scarface” Capone’s rival gang in disguise. Capone’s men whipped out their guns and blasted away. Seven members of the Moran gang died in what soon become known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.

  4. Prohibition – Social Experiment • The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was one of many unexpected consequences of what President Herbert Hoover called “an experiment noble in purpose” – prohibition. President Herbert Hoover http://www.famedpeople.com/pictures/Herbert-Hoover.jpg

  5. Progressive reformers saw passage of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transport of alcoholic beverages, as a great victory. • They pointed to evidence that alcoholism caused crime, violence, and the breakup of families. http://www.historicaldocuments.com/ProhibitionStamp.jpg

  6. Drys, as backers of Prohibition were called, believed that stopping people from drinking would result in a healthier, happier society. http://www.celebrateboston.com/images/gallery/prohibition.jpg

  7. Many traditionalists were suspicious of immigrants. They associated beer drinking with immigrants of German descent and wine drinking with Italian immigrants. • Immigrants viewed prohibition as another example of nativist prejudice. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/italian-dockworkers.jpg

  8. In the beginning, the national consumption of alcohol did decline, from an annual average of 2.6 gallons per capita before the war to less than 1 gallon by the 1930s. • Fewer workers spent their wages at saloons, to the benefit of their families. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7277706@N06/421687283/

  9. Opponents of prohibition, called “wets,” were small in number at first. But as the law went into effect, their numbers grew. • Many modernists attacked prohibition as an attempt by the federal government to legislate morality. http://www.vintageskivvies.com/art/archives/adgallery/1920s/prohibition.jpg

  10. Massachusetts Senator David Walsh, rejected traditionalist arguments that drinking was sinful. He reminded drys that the first miracle performed by Jesus had been to turn water into wine. Were Jesus to perform this miracle in prohibition-era America, Walsh observed, “he would be jailed and possibly crucified again.” http://www.fbcfay.com/coloringbook/waterintowine.gif

  11. In October 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act to enforce the 18th Amendment. But the federal government never gave the enforcement agency, called the Prohibition Bureau, sufficient personnel, money, or supplies. Bootlegger busted by the cops. http://www.scvhistory.com/gif/ap0725.jpg

  12. Millions of Americans simply refused to stop drinking. Some learned how to brew their own “bathtub gin.” Others bought “bootleg” alcohol that was distilled illegally or smuggled into the United States from Canada. http://www.coldginproductions.com/images/1920sbathtubgin.jpg

  13. As thousands of bars and pubs were forced to close, they were replaced by nearly twice as many secret drinking clubs, called speakeasies. • The number of speakeasies in New York city alone was estimated at 32,000. http://teacherweb.com/MN/UniversityofMinnesota/NelsonProhibition/prohibition.jpg

  14. The growing demand for liquor created a golden opportunity for crooks like Al Capone. • Bootlegging is the production, transport, and sale of illegal alcohol, was a multibillion dollar business by the mid-1920s. http://www.rootsweb.com/~invigo/bootleg.jpg

  15. Chicago bootlegger Al Capone exhibited his wealth by driving around in a $30,000 Cadillac while flashing an 11 ½ carat diamond ring. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8406861@N05/1574122536/

  16. “When I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging,” “When my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, it’s called hospitality.”- Chicago gangster Al Capone http://www.aboveallart.com/images/AL%20CAPONE%2016%20X%2016.jpg.thumb_525x514.jpg

  17. To keep his profits flowing without government interference, Capone bribed politicians, judges, and police officers. • He also eliminated rival bootleggers. His thousand-member gang was blamed for hundreds of murders. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfonstr/425905007/

  18. End of Capone • Capone finally went to jail, not for bootlegging or murder, but for tax evasion. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8294136@N03/534860122/

  19. As lawlessness, violence, and corruption increased, support for prohibition dwindled. By the late 1920s, many Americans believed that prohibition had caused more harm than good. • In 1933, the states ratified the 21st Amendment, which repealed prohibition.

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