January 16, 1919: Prohibition Is Ratified

 

January 16, 1919: The 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is ratified, prohibiting the production, sale, purchase, transport and possession of alcoholic beverages in America. In exactly one year, January 16, 1920, Prohibition takes effect.

America's self-appointed moral arbiters had gotten Prohibition ratified because they saw alcohol as evil, but also because they saw it as something those other people enjoy. You know, the immigrants. The foreigners. The Catholics.

Of course, the 1st Amendments guarantee of freedom of religion led to exceptions for sacramental wine. And, as with certain drugs, doctors could still use alcohol in medical procedures, and even proscribe it to patients, although this was heavily regulated.

Billy Sunday, a former major league pitcher who had become America's foremost evangelist, wrote, "The rain of tears is over. The slums will soon be a memory. We will turn out prisons into factories, our jails into storehouses and corn cribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile, children will laugh, hell will be for rent."

Billy Sunday

He actually believed all of that. The only thing missing was the proclamation of America as a "new Jerusalem." None of it came to pass. He added, "If any State fails to ratify the amendment the star in the flag that represents it should be draped in mourning."

Will Rogers, the Western-themed entertainer and newspaper columnist, knew: "Prohibition is like Communism: It's a great idea, but it won't work."

Will Rogers

As it turned out, Rogers was right, and Sunday was wrong: Banning liquor and drinking was the worst thing that the American federal government could have done. There was already organized crime in America, but Prohibition launched it headlong into American life, as Mob bosses like Al Capone were happy to supply the people with the drinks they craved. Prohibition became the most-broken law in American history.

Al Capone. His business card read,

"Second Hand Furniture Dealer."

With the Great Depression underway by late 1929, people needed a drink more than ever. And so, the desire to keep Prohibition began to fade away. Being "Dry" was a winning stance in the Presidential election of 1920 for Warren Harding, in 1924 for Calvin Coolidge, and in 1928 for Herbert Hoover. In 1932, the Depression meant that Hoover was going to lose to Franklin Roosevelt, anyway. But being "Dry" hurt Hoover on top of that. FDR was "Wet," and that made him all the more popular.

Did making booze legal again stop organized crime? Far from it. The Mob moved on to other things, like gambling, and illegal drugs.

The 18th Amendment was so unpopular that, on December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment. After 14 years, Prohibition was ended. It remains the only Amendment to the Constitution that has been repealed.

In 1956, a little more than 22 years after the repeal, with memories of the era still fresh, an episode of The Honeymooners showed Ralph Kramden (played by Jackie Gleason) worried about having to go to the IRS office the next morning, fearing he may have inadvertently filed an incorrect tax return. His best friend and upstairs neighbor, Ed Norton (Art Carney), tells him to "stand on the 18th Amendment."

Ralph: "You mean, stand on the 5th Amendment. The 18th Amendment was for Prohibition."

Ed: "That's just what I mean: Say you were drunk when you made out your taxes!"

In 2011, 78 years after the repeal, with every major player in the drama having died, some of old age, Ken Burns premiered his documentary Prohibition on PBS. He broke it into 3 parts, stretching over 5 1/2 hours: "A Nation of Drunkards," "A Nation of Scofflaws," and "A Nation of Hypocrites." 

On January 16, 2022, a little over 88 years after the repeal, there are still several bars in this country whose signs proudly proclaim "Since 1933" or "Est. 1933" (for "established"). Others managed to stay in business from 1920 to 1933 as simple restaurants or tea rooms -- some selling booze in secret. These were called "speakeasies," "beer flats," "blind pigs" and "blind tigers." From 2011 when I first visited it until 2019 when it closed due to high rent, my favorite bar in New York was named The Blind Pig.

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January 16, 1919 was a Thursday. It was the off-season for baseball. The NFL and the NBA had not yet been founded. And there was only 1 NHL game played: The Montreal Canadiens beat the original version of the Ottawa Senators, 10-6 at Dey's Arena in Ottawa.