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. 2006 Feb;96(2):233-43.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.065409. Epub 2005 Dec 27.

Did prohibition really work? Alcohol prohibition as a public health innovation

Jack S Blocker Jr  1
Affiliations

Did prohibition really work? Alcohol prohibition as a public health innovation

Jack S Blocker Jr. Am J Public Health. 2006 Feb.

Abstract

The conventional view that National Prohibition failed rests upon an historically flimsy base. The successful campaign to enact National Prohibition was the fruit of a century-long temperance campaign, experience of which led prohibitionists to conclude that a nationwide ban on alcohol was the most promising of the many strategies tried thus far. A sharp rise in consumption during the early 20th century seemed to confirm the bankruptcy of alternative alcohol-control programs. The stringent prohibition imposed by the Volstead Act, however, represented a more drastic action than many Americans expected. Nevertheless, National Prohibition succeeded both in lowering consumption and in retaining political support until the onset of the Great Depression altered voters' priorities. Repeal resulted more from this contextual shift than from characteristics of the innovation itself.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bone Dry Forever! This sign on a St Louis street at Prohibition’s onset illustrates the widely held belief that the liquor ban would be permanent. Source. Missouri Historical Society, image SNDC 7-08-0022.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Seized distilling equipment early in the Prohibition Era reflects the artisanal scale to which the production of beverage alcohol was reduced. Source. Chicago Historical Society, image DN-0072348.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The Federal Prohibition Bureau, led by Roy Haines (left), was chronically underfunded by Congress and harrassed by officials of the Anti-Saloon League, such as O. G. Christgau (right). Source. Chicago Historical Society, image DN-0079835.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Prohibition fostered increasing consumption of nonalcoholic beverages, such as fruit juices and carbonated drinks, the latter symbolized by this A&W Root Beer stand in Madison, Wisc, in 1931. Source. Wisconsin Historical Society, Image 18489.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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