Prohibition

"The Time is Now" : PBS mini-documentary on the advent of the Prohibition:

https://www.pbs.org/video/prohibition-roots-of-prohibition-the-time-is-now/

Background: By the first decade of the 20th century, the Anti-Saloon League had gained momentum and was able to persuade several state legislatures to ban alcohol. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was passed, creating the federal income tax and reducing the government’s dependency on revenue from the tax on alcohol. The Anti-Saloon League took its message to Washington, D.C., in the first public demonstration held in the nation’s capital, asking for a constitutional amendment banning alcohol.

Key Points:

• Before World War I, President Woodrow Wilson’s Democratic Party was split on the issue of alcohol and Prohibition, but two of his more prominent cabinet members took Prohibition stands.
  
  

• After the United States declared war on Germany, the Wilson administration’s anti- German propaganda set off a wave of hysteria against Germany and anything German.
  
  

• The anti-German sentiment boosted the Anti-Saloon League’s efforts to win adoption of a Prohibition amendment.
  
  

• The German brewery-saloon industry was considered a threat to national security, as many people linked beer to treason.

Discussion Questions:

1. Why was there a great effort on the part of the American government to build up hatred for all things German during World War I? What are the possible costs and benefits of such an effort?
   
   

2. How was the Anti-Saloon league able to depict the brewing of beer and the lobbying group that supported it as possibly dangerous to the war effort?
   
   

3. How was the Anti-Saloon League able to get legislation passed to curb the production of beer? How was the success of this effort an indication that a Prohibition amendment could be passed?

TIMELINE HERE