How Did Prohibition Misguided

Prohibition: A misguided experiment Prohibition as we know was a failed experiment by the government in America. Prohibition lasted thirteen years from 1920-1933. The negative effects over those years obviously outweighed the positive effects, leading to the ratification of the 21st amendment which made the sale and consumption along with the production alcohol legal once more. Prohibition was pushed upon local and state governments by organizations such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. Groups like these pushed for the illegalization of alcohol until it was brought to national attention which evolved into the eighteenth amendment in 1920 that made the sale, production, and consumption of alcohol illegal.
Once prohibition was made law, illegal organizations such as gangs began to form because of the financial opportunity these organizations saw. “America had experienced a gradual decline in the rate of serious crimes over much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. That trend was unintentionally reversed by the efforts of the Prohibition movement. The homicide rate increased to 10 per 100,000 population during the 1920s, a 78 percent increase over the pre-Prohibition period.” (Thornton 1991) As one can see that the serious crime rates such as homicides declined over the late 19th century and early 20th century, but prohibition brought new opportunities to make money and control the illegal industry. Prohibition brought new light to the “mob” aspect of crime. Mob leaders such as Al Capone undeservingly became famous during the prohibition era with the operations of running alcohol across state lines, known as bootlegging and the opening of speakeasies which were the same as a bar of today but operated
The 18th amendment, which made the consumption, production, and sale of alcohol illegal lasted almost fourteen years. “Prohibition, failing fully to enforce sobriety and costing billions, rapidly lost popular support in the early 1930s.”(History) The amendment was then repealed and the 21st amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933. Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for presidency in 1932, and one of his main campaigning points was to repeal prohibition. Many organizations such as the Crusaders, Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, and Women’s Moderation were leaders in the repealing of the amendment, the Women’s Moderation group was a game changer for the public eye since all-women organizations were the leaders in amending prohibition in the early 20th