The 18th Amendment was proposed in 1917 and ratified in 1919, and with it came the dawn of Prohibition, a most curious and unruly era in our history. Simply put: in 1919 the country had a ridiculous moment and banned booze. Buying and selling liquor was made illegal, and chaos ensued.
Particularly in coastal areas like Martha's Vineyard and Long Island Sound that had long coast lines, sneaky creeks, and secret harbors, transporting liquor of all varieties from beer to fine whisky was a cinch. There were plenty of customers—wealthy and poor individuals to the speakeasies of New York City. It was a cat-and-mouse game with high stakes, shady characters, and an air of irresistible recklessness. And booze, of course.
What makes Prohibition so interesting is it’s an example of how seemingly good-intentioned zealots managed to impose their values on the majority with adverse consequences; Prohibition, unintentionally, led to the rise of organized crime.
Strangely, the 18th Amendment did not prevent the consumption of alcohol, just buying, selling, and making it. Private clubs and homes could serve alcohol as long as they were already in possession of it before Prohibition went into effect. The Harvard Club and the New York Yacht Club on 44th Street had huge stockpiles of liquor that they served to their members for most of Prohibition. I’m sure it helped that members of these two clubs in particular were some of the most powerful men in the country.
The Women’s Temperance Society arose out of the real need to protect families from the “scourge of drunkenness.” Unlike the family farm, work in factories took individuals away from home and hearth. The hours were long, the money not terrific, and, I imagine, the experience mind-numbing.
Pay Day also meant Pub Day and often wages were left at the bar rather than brought home. Because of this, women were, in large measure, supportive of Prohibition, as were factory owners and Progressives. These three groups, unlikely bedfellows for sure, felt that more government control was necessary to promote prosperity and reestablish the moral order in people’s lives.
The big problem was that it didn’t work, despite the pretty pledge cards and fervent rallies.
I am not exactly sure what one did with this card but clearly signing a pledge was a big deal.
Not everyone was on board from the beginning. The 18th amendment was ratified by 46 states. The two hold-outs were Rhode Island and Connecticut, both of which developed reputations of being great places to live as a rumrunner as, when caught, judicial leniency was virtually guaranteed.
Fishermen with excellent local knowledge and awesome boat-handling skills discovered that they could actually make money and lots of it. In some cases, fishermen would bring back two hauls, booze on the bottom and fish on the top.
In an oral history from the Vineyard, a woman recounted that one day, her husband came home and handed her ten brand-new 10-dollar bills. She went to the grocery store for the first time in a while to buy more than just the very basics. The money also meant her son didn’t have to go hunting after school for rabbits and squirrels. Life was better. She did not ask where the money came from.
Prohibition came to an end December 5, 1933, with the passage of the 21st Amendment repealing the government's involvement and returning the issue to the state legislature, where most states developed their own laws around alcohol. Mississippi, for example, did not ratify the 21st Amendment and Prohibition was not repealed in that state until 1966.
Prohibition was not a good idea on many fronts, primarily because it was an idea that fell along religious and class fault lines. The members of the Temperance Movement had a religious enthusiasm for resetting the social order which, on a good day, was questionable and complicated.
As a nation, we are adverse to a one-size-fits-all mentality. During Prohibition, wealthy and influential people who liked to drink continued to do so without much impunity. Hard-scrabble folks and fishermen had an opportunity to make money, but not without considerable peril. Finally, organized crime gained a foothold, not only on the ground but in the psyche of the American imagination.
In the end, after all the hoopla, most folks just wanted a beer.
-Bird Jones