The Prohibition Era in the United States Quotes

“In a decade that would become known as the Roaring Twenties, a “Jazz Age” glamorized in the works of authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, the modern club was born. Five years into prohibition, there were between 30,000 and 100,000 speakeasy clubs in operation in New York City alone, and it was already evident that the dream of a dry America had crumbled. Put simply, the population´s demand for alcohol had superseded the need for sobriety. Another”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“the same time, gangsters seized on what they saw as the perfect sales opportunity. “The business of manufacturing alcohol, liquor and beer will go out of the hands of law-abiding members of the community, and will be transferred to the…criminal class,” warned Yale professor William Taft, the former president who soon would be appointed as Chief of the Supreme Court.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“There was also a deliberate exploitation of prejudiced mentalities among their listeners by revivalist preachers such as Billy Sunday. Above all, there was a feeling that Prohibition was a winning global crusade, and that those first on the wagon would be first in the promised land.” (Sinclair, 1962).”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“In 1913, the Anti-Saloon League attempted a constitutional amendment prohibiting liquor, but the movement didn't gain momentum until World War I, thanks to America's anti-German hysteria and the amount of beer imported from Germany.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“The support many Progressives lent to Prohibition reflected that naiveté, and though the Progressive Movement began to dissipate during World War I, Prohibition can be seen as Progressivism’s last gasp. The temperance movement was driven by the conviction that not only did alcohol destroy physical and mental health when it came to regular consumption, it also destroyed the moral compasses of those who drank it. In the same vein, it was believed that moderate consumption eventually led to compulsive use and ultimately addiction.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“In the 18th century, a new awareness of the problem emerged and people, especially women, "occasionally banded together to try to persuade, cajole or force other Americans to quit drinking. Such temperance movements were cyclical, much like religious revivals, and they usually appealed to evangelical, middle-class, native-born Protestants” (Phillips, 2005). It”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“In the first decade of the 20th century, drinking rates actually increased. The advertising of alcohol in the early 20th century was sophisticated and was aimed primarily at the upper classes.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“nobody was ever convicted for the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre,” the most famous gangland hit in American history. That said, Capone’s involvement is unquestioned, and it is widely believed that the 4 gunmen were McGurn, John Scalise, Albert Anselmi, and Frank Rio, the bodyguard who had saved Capone from Moran’s assassination attempt in 1926.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“Capone once famously said, “All I do is to supply a public demand…somebody had to throw some liquor on that thirst. Why not me?”  He brilliantly coordinated the importation of liquor from all across America while in charge of the operation of hundreds of distilleries. To do so, he had his own distribution system, which involved hiring delivery drivers, salespeople, and of course, armed bodyguards—his own “miniature army” riding beside his bullet-proof limousine—to protect his investments. Capone ingeniously bought immunity by paying off politicians, law enforcement agents, and even the Mayor of Chicago, William H. Thompson, whom he helped with thousands of dollars and votes enough to win the seat.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“Thunder Road” became a codename for particular routes everyone knew through the main thoroughfares. Numerous drivers ended up risking their lives for a truckload of whiskey. Ike Costner, one of the original mobsters alongside Al Capone, became one of the biggest moonshine distributors in Tennessee, having perfected his moonshining skills in a government-run distillery before Prohibition started. Criminal”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“According to Levi and Heller, "by the 1920s Cuba had become a haven for revelers escaping American Prohibition against alcohol, horse racing, boxing, gambling and other activities. Cuba was freedom personified, close enough for easy access, yet beyond the reach of American authorities." (Levi and Heller, 2002). The”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“Such was the case for the Mexican city of Tijuana, called "Satan's playground" in those years due to the scandalous behavior that was supposedly taking place there. For the first time in history, the main task of American border guards was not to stop Mexican immigrants but to impede Americans on their way to Mexico in search of the forbidden pleasures of alcohol, prostitution, gambling, and drugs. Surveillance”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“Americans—those who liked or needed alcohol—had the same desire to drink and were still able, and the country´s criminals grew prosperous due to the amount of money in the trade of illegal alcohol manufacture, import, and sale. “Intended to create a nation of hardworking, sober, responsible citizens, Prohibition instead quickly transformed a nation of basically law-abiding citizens into a nation of lawbreakers.” (Phillips, 2005).”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“The reign of tears is over,” proclaimed evangelist Billy Sunday in Virginia, during a mock funeral for John Barelycorn, a fictional character and the personification of whisky and beer. “The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile, and the children will laugh. Hell will be forever for rent.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“The United States had one year to prepare for Prohibition from its ratification on January 16, 1919, and in those 12 months, many people, mostly the wealthy, built basements and attics in their houses to store as much alcohol as they could. Even President Wilson the cellars of the White House. The Act did not prohibit the consumption of beverages held at home before day one of Prohibition,”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“In The New York Times, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of the famous cereals) wrote that “the liquor interests are conspirators against the public welfare” since its production used “more fuel than all schools and churches combined.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“Thus, in the early 1900s, a new generation of crusading journalists known as “muckrakers” campaigned to expose the social ills and abuses of power produced by unchecked capitalism. Their exposes resulted in reforms including child labor laws, the creation of the Food and Drug Administration, and the breaking up of the Standard Oil Company. Progressivism was less a movement than a set of ideals embraced by politicians from both major parties. Teddy Roosevelt, who took over the Presidency in 1901 after William McKinley’s assassination and was reelected in a landslide in 1904, was one of the most”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“The earliest offensive started in 1789, when the first American Temperance Society opened in Connecticut.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“In 1830, a historic level of 7.5 gallons of absolute alcohol per adult was reached, nearly three times the current average consumption. In 1860, there were 1,140 distilleries in the United States, producing more than 88 million gallons of liquor for 15 million American adults[ii]—an average of 5.8 liters per adult per year.”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“In the 18th century, cheap, unregulated spirits flooded the market, resulting in more individuals turning to alcoholism. The wave of new immigrants—groups like the Irish and the Germans whose drinking habits were very different from Anglo-Saxon American Protestants—was a great influence. The new settlers brought, for example, the habit of socializing in saloons after a day's work to gamble, talk politics, strengthen group identity, or simply to enjoy a good fight. In”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal

“On the other hand, for just as long, others have warned about its dangers. "Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness," wrote Seneca the Younger. In the 19th century, a collection of proverbs, entitled Reveries of a Paragrapher (1897), warned, "Almost anything can be preserved in alcohol, except health, happiness, and money." Needless”
― Charles River Editors, The Prohibition Era in the United States: The History and Legacy of America’s Ban on Alcohol and Its Repeal