Prohibtion
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THE MORAL DILEMMA OF PROHIBITION
By TANNER WATSON
How did Prohibition expose the flaws of moral policy making?
During the 1920s, America took part in what President Herbert Hoover called “a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive” (Lerner 3). This experiment was none other than Prohibition, which outlawed the manufacturing, sale, and distribution of alcohol. However, even though this new experiment was created for benign and moral purposes, it did much more harm to America than when alcohol was legal. A fact like this led many to ask the question, how did Prohibition expose the flaws of moral policy making?
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Prohibition has one of the most innocent origins a political movement could have in the early twentieth century. Author Dominic Sandbrook, in the article “How Prohibition Backfired and Gave America an Era of Gangsters and Speakeasies,” presents the roots of Prohibition as that of a religious movement. The members of this movement believed that alcohol was the root of gambling, abuse, fights, and sexual immorality (Sandbrook 4). Of course, the only way to remove a weed is to remove the root.
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After the Eighteenth Amendment to the constitution of the United States of America took effect, there were immediate economic consequences. The article “Prohibition: Unintended Consequences,” by Michael Lerner, states that breweries, distilleries, and saloons were closed and caused thousands of Americans to lose their jobs. Due to the closing of these facilities, thousands of other Americans lost their jobs in occupations like “barrel makers, truckers, waiters, and other related trades” (Lerner 6).
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The effects of Prohibition were not just limited to the economical. As soon as the Eighteenth Amendment took affect, “criminals had recognized that Prohibition represented a marvellous business opportunity” (Sandbrook 9). Without intention, the law enacted to stop the spread of crime began one of the most corrupt and dangerous eras in American history.
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Both Sandbrook and Lerner are vocal on the subject of bootlegging in the Prohibition era. During the 1920s, Law enforcement became seriously corrupt by taking bribes to turn a blind eye to bootlegging (Lerner 13). More and more Americans began to break the law and take the manufacturing and distribution of alcohol into their own hands through the creation of speakeasies (Sandbrook 8). However, the biggest problem in the realm of bootlegging was the rising gangs.
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One of the biggest bootleggers of the 1920s was the infamous gangster Al Capone. Capone ran speakeasies all across Chicago and had vast amounts of cash he gave to charity, allowing him to gain good will with the public and keep the cops away. However, Capone was not the only gangster running liquor through Chicago, leading to one of the bloodiest gang massacres in history. In 1929 Capone organized the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, machine-gunning seven rival gangsters and their men (Sandbrook 11).
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Author F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the immorality found throughout the era of Prohibition in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Gatsby’s parties are full of rowdy and drunken behavior, as all the guests are served champagne “in glasses bigger than finger-bowls” (Fitzgerald 46). This is only one of many parties Gatsby has thrown, but it serves to inform the reader of the popularity and plentifulness of alcohol during Prohibition.
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Another instance in which Fitzgerald touches on the topic of Prohibition is when Gatsby’s guests spread gossip about how he came by his wealth. Tom puts forward the notion that Gatsby is a bootlegger, because “these newly rich people are just big bootleggers” (Fitzgerald 107). This notion is proven true by the end of the novel, and depicts just how profitable the bootlegging industry was for those willing to break the law.
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Even though the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed only more than a decade after passage, the amendment left its mark on America. Before Prohibition, states and the federal government relied on alcohol taxes for funding. However, both the state and the federal governments began to rely on income tax revenue to fund their budgets afterwards (Lerner 7). This effect lives on today.
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However, greatest effect of Prohibition was the simplest lesson of all. Do not let the solution be worse than the problem. America learned this lesson the hard way. Alcohol can ruin lives and can lead to awful evils, but banning it simply made the world a darker place and showed that moral policy making is not always good policy making (Lerner 16).
WORKS CITED
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 2018.
- Lerner, Michael. “Prohibition: Unintended Consequences.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 2011, www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/unintended-consequences/.
WORKS CITED
- Sandbrook, Dominic. “How Prohibition Backfired and Gave America an Era of Gangsters and Speakeasies.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 Aug. 2012, www.theguardian.com/film/2012/aug/26/lawless-prohibition-gangsters-speakeas....
