Prohibition: A Sociological View
Author(s): S. J. Mennell
Source: Journal of American Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Dec., 1969), pp. 159-175
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Association for American Studies
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Amer.
Stud.
3, 2,
159-175
Prohibition:
Printed
Britain
in Great
a Sociological
*59
View1
by S. J. MENNELL
University of Exeter
I
a fascinating
in American
has
episode
history which
a
attracted the attention of number of writers.2 This paper does not seek to
in history as well as in
evidence.
any new historical
present
Perhaps,
can
so the object
to
lead
loss
of
definition,
over-enlargement
photography,
Prohibition
was
is to assess what
evidence
is appropriate
in answering
various
questions
about Prohibition.
as an aberration
should we dismiss Prohibition
of no historical
we
are expressing
If we do,
but
consequence?
only our own viewpoint,
of
the
about
the
issue
in
the
alcohol
eyes of
saying nothing
importance
*
at
the
As
the American
time.
Richard
Hofstadter
has
The
written,
people
as a major
truth is that Prohibition
appeared to the men of the Twenties
First,
1 An
on 'America
read to the Colloquium
earlier draft of this paper was
in the 1920s'
on 8 February
at the University
I should
of Exeter
like to thank my
1969.
at Exeter,
Dr M. Hewitt,
Professor
G. D. Mitchell,
Mr M.
Shaw
colleagues
especially
as well as Mr C. A. Sheingold
and Mr J. Stanyer,
of Harvard
for their helpful
University,
criticisms.
2
Andrew
Prohibition:
and
Sinclair's
Era of Excess
Faber
historians,
(London:
Among
brilliant
is a particularly
of massive
also
evidence.
See
Faber,
presentation
1962)
:
H. Asbury,
Illusion:
An Informal History
The Great
of Prohibition
(Garden City, N.Y.
The Dry Decade
Doran,
(New York:
Doubleday
1950); C. Merz,
1931);
Doubleday,
and
the Progressive
Movement
Prohibition
igoo-20
J. H. Timberlake,
(Cambridge,
of useful
Mass.:
have been a number
studies
of individual
Harvard
U.P.,
1963). There
and Social
in Washington
N. H. Clark,
The Dry
Years:
Prohibition
States:
Change
The Prohibition
of Washington
Press,
University
1965); G. M. Ostrander,
(Seattle:
of California
Movement
in California
i848-i?33
University
Press,
(Berkeley:
1957);
in Alabama
Movement
The Prohibition
1702-1Q43
J. B. Sellers,
(Chapel Hill: University
inNorth
of North
Carolina
Prohibition
Press,
1715-1945
Carolina,
1943); D. J. Whitener,
a
of North
Carolina
has made
Press,
University
1945). One
sociologist
(Chapel Hill:
see J. R. Gusfield,
movement:
of the American
temperance
Symbolic
study
major
of Illinois
'Social
and Moral
Structure
Crusade
Press,
University
1963);
(Urbana:
of the Women's
American
A Study
Christian
Reform:
Union',
Temperance
Journal
of
and Changing
of the
'Status
Conflicts
221-32;
Ideologies
Sociology
(1955),
61(3)
D.
Pittman
and
C.
Movement'
American
Culture
(eds.), Society,
(in
Snyder
Temperance
'
Prohibition:
A Case Study
and Drinking
New York: Wiley,
Patterns,
1962). M. Nelson,
Behavioural
12 (2) (1968), 37-43,
cites some
of Societal Misguidance
',American
Scientist,
too late to be fully discussed
reached me
here.
This
article
Its
of the same literature.
'
drive of 1913?17
into the categories
of Etzioni's
chief aim is to fit the Prohibition
theory
concern
is
which
I do not find especially
Nelson's
of societal
illuminating.
guidance',
and is thus complementary
with
the organizational
aspects of the movement,
particularly
to mine.
held
ii Amer.
Stud.
3
i6o
S.J.Mennell
issue because it was amajor issue...n
in the 1920s rested
That Prohibition
not on an ordinary Congressional
on
an
to the
but
amendment
statute,
Federal Constitution,
which made
it part of the most basic and sacred law
of the land, should emphasize
the salience of the issue. To change the
Constitution
be passed with a two-thirds
requires that the amendment
and then ratified by the legislatures2
by both Houses of Congress,
majority
of three-quarters
of the States of the Union?by
36 out of the then 48
States. It is not easily done, and had previously
been achieved only seven
in 1791. This gives some
times since the adoption of the Bill of Rights
to
of the degree of popular support which had to be mobilised
manu
from
forbade
the
'the
18th
which
Amendment,
carry
January 1920
of intoxicating
the importa
facture, sale or transportation
liquors within,
States'. And
tion thereof into, or the exportation
thereof from the United
to reverse the decision by the
it indicates the support necessary
equally
indication
21 st Amendment
success
only
fourteen years later. The problem
of two popular movements,
antithetical
yet
a few
is to account
separated
for the
in time by
years.
of alcohol
How
then did it come about that suppression
was elevated to the status of a principle of the state equal to
to legislate
tion of powers or habeas corpus} The movement
had deep roots.3 In the years before the Civil War, many
midwestern
States had adopted Prohibition
laws. This was
consumption
that of separa
against liquor
and
northern
a consequence
of the churches in the 1840s and 1850s.
of the growing social consciousness
as
orators
famous
William
Such
anti-slavery
Lloyd Garrison also thundered
lost its strength in the Civil War,
against Demon Rum. But the movement
and most of the existing legislation was repealed. The liquor trade boomed
i860 and 1880, and drunkenness
became a major social problem.
to corrupt politicians
allied
themselves
and
Liquor
frequently
a centre of prostitution,
vice rings, the saloon becoming
crime and political
between
interests
graft.
The members
of the Protestant
churches
saw this situation
as a direct
to their values, and went
into politics to clean up government
challenge
were everywhere
and smash the liquor rings. The Methodists
prominent
1 R. Hof
to F.D.R.
The Age
From Bryan
stadter,
of Reform:
Knopf,
(New York:
1956),
p. 287.
2 Or
in three-quarters
of the States?the
for the 21st
by conventions
procedure
adopted
Amendment.
3
The Origins
J. A. Krout,
of Prohibition
(New York: Knopf,
1925), traces the temperance
movement
the
from early colonial
times to the first important
prohibition
legislation,
a leader of the Anti-Saloon
law of 1851. E. H. Cherrington,
takes the
Maine
League,
in his The Evolution
in the United
States
story to the 18th Amendment
of Prohibition
Ohio: American
Issue Press,
(Westerville,
1920). See briefly A. S. Link, American
Epoch
of nineteenth-century
summary
(New York: Knopf,
1955), pp. 36-7, on whose
prohibi
tion drives
I have drawn here.
Prohibition:
a Sociological
View
161
in alliance with other Protestant
groups such as the Southern
or
were
State prohibition.
aims
Their
'local
They pre
option'
Baptists.
a
wave
in the 1880s.
of
second
temperance
legislation
cipitated
:
are central to the story of prohibition
Two church-based
organisations
formed in 1874, and the Anti
Christian Temperance
the Women's
Union,
leaders,
Willard,
after
the
who
turn
was at
at Oberlin, Ohio,
in 1893.1 The WCTU
social concern, under its greatest leader, Frances
influenced by the Fabians
in England.2
But
strongly
founded
Saloon League,
first amovement
of broad
was
of
the
century
it became
more
monomanic,
as was
the Anti
united
the Methodists,
from its inception. The League
Saloon League
so effectively
and Congregationalists
that it had, in
Baptists, Presbyterians
more
than
other
It
led
the
third wave of
areas,
any
group.
many
power
can
be
reckoned
from
the
which
passing of State
legislation,
prohibition
in Georgia
in 1907. By 1917, two-thirds of the States had
prohibition
not
all
banned
laws
every kind of alcohol), and as much as
liquor
(though
of the USA
of the population
lived in dry counties.3 That
three-quarters
wide
its political
chose to concentrate
efforts at the State and
local level, where
its leverage could be greatest, contributed
greatly to its
a tactic which has
success. The League never sought to elect a President,
in American
been the doom of other social movements
It is no
history.
the movement
accident
in 1869, which was committed
national prohibition
its own
by direct political action, fielding
never
with
alliances
the
main
and unsullied
by
parties,
played
that the Prohibition
Party,
formed
to seeking
candidates
a major role in the advance of Prohibition.4
could not deprive people
But, of course, local or even State prohibition
'
'
wet
it
from
the neighbouring
entirely of alcohol, when they could import
areas. The implication was obvious, and, intoxicated with nothing stronger
in 1913 began the drive for
than its own success, the Anti-Saloon
League
The locus of the League's
its choice
power dictated
prohibition.
it
could
To obtain a Constitutional
amendment,
apply pressure
at the State level and on Congressmen
back in their districts.
As early as 1913, the 'dry' lobby in Congress passed the Webb-Kenyon
commerce
to forbid
Act, which used the Federal powers over inter-State
national
of means.
in dry ones. The 1916
in wet States to 'export' liquor to customers
in Congress,
and America's
put even more dry supporters
entry
to pass more anti
into the First World War gave them the opportunity
Act forbade its sale near military bases,
liquor legislation. The Conscription
dealers
elections
1 See E. H.
Ohio
History
League
of the Anti-Saloon
Cherrington,
(Westerville,
Issue Publishing
Co.,
1913).
2
. .'
and Changing
'Status Conflicts
J. R. Gusfield,
Ideologies.
{op. cit.), pp.
3
op. cit. p. 23.
Merz,
4 This
is emphasized
(personal
communication).
by Carl Sheingold
point
:American
111-12.
II-2
162
S.J.Mennell
to keep the fighting men sober. The Lever Act conserved grain
its use in brewing and distilling during the War. Late in
by prohibiting
and sent it to the States. In
1917, Congress
passed the 18th Amendment
state to ratify it; the 'wet' lobby had
1919, Nebraska was the thirty-sixth
hopefully
been confident that it could hold thirteen states?a
blocking quarter?but
it was overwhelmed
by the wave of idealism which swept the Amendment
forward to ratification.
in many
(That rural areas were over-represented
came into effect one year
State legislatures no doubt helped.) Prohibition
on 16 January 1920. By legal action, the United
States
later, at midnight
of dollars-worth
of private property in the brewing
had destroyed millions
and distilling
industries, without
compensation.
the Volstead
Act of 1919,
One further measure must be mentioned:
which was the Federal statute under which
the Constitutional
provisions
were
to be implemented.
in the Amend
It defined the term 'intoxicating'
ment as meaning
anything containing more than one half of one per cent
low enough to ban beer as well as wines and
proportion
proof alcohol?a
was
a
to
law
It
enforce a mildly
and
tough
phrased amendment,
spirits.
temperance
extremists,
triumph of the temperance
distinct from total abstinence.
lost all meaning
the final
represented
had
for whom
II
of Prohibition.
for the brief history and mechanics
But it tells
little about why all this came about. At the most superficial
level, an
in
the
brilliant
and
ruthless
of the
lies
tactics
organisation
explanation
to
Its
Professor
machinations
Peter
Anti-Saloon
League.
Odegard
inspired
So much
us
one of the earliest
and best studies of pressure group politics.1
It
were
in
of
whether
candidates
elections,
irrespective
they
supported dry
or Democrats,
to the disgust of the purist Prohibition
Republicans
Party.
both candidates were dry, it backed the drier, and, where both were
Where
a corrupt dry
it supported
the wetter. Not
it opposed
wet,
infrequently
write
led to a number of scandals. Odegard headed
against an honest wet, which
one chapter 'Money Changers
in the Temple'.
it had elected politicians,
the League kept an eye on them from
When
them for their transgressions
the public gallery, and if necessary punished
at
the
came
next
to
elections.
terrorize
there been
have been
it demonstrated
As
legislators
across
its power
the
country.
to unseat
It was
it
opponents,
observed
that,
had
a secret ballot
submitted
1 P. H.
Odegard,
Columbia
U.P.,
Pressure
1928).
in Congress,
the 18th Amendment
would never
were weary of being
to the States. But Congressmen
Politics:
The
Story
of
the Anti-Saloon
League
(New
York:
Prohibition:
a Sociological
View
163
and of the liquor issue dominating
their
politics, so they off-loaded
onto the States in the misguided
belief that they would never ratify
it in sufficient numbers.
Yet the very fact that the drys were able to wield such power in elections
is itself an indication
that tactics and organization
alone cannot explain
bullied,
burden
was an issue which
Prohibition
large
strongly motivated
to support it at the polls. The saloon was identified with sin; the
had achieved ideological dominance.1 How was this? What
prohibitionists
accounts for the mass appeal of Prohibition?
It ought to be recognized
that Prohibition,
like any major social move
their
success.
numbers
The personality
ment, appealed at several different levels simultaneously.2
of individuals,
the symbolic expression of group sentiments,
characteristics
to the strength
and rational consideration
of means and ends all contributed
of the movement.
All three are discussed below. To argue that any one of
or to neglect
them fully accounts for the appeals of Prohibition,
any of
All three factors would
them, does not much advance our understanding.
influence some individuals,
the relative weight varying from case to case.
Their weighting might be systematically
and unequally distributed
through
different
strata of the movement,
but
to suggest precisely how.
it would
be conjectural,
on present
evidence,
One opponent
it as an example
formulae:
prompted
of Prohibition,
of Iowa, scoffed at
Vollmer
Congressman
'
of the great American
belief in the magic
superstition,
Be it resolved
and Be it enacted'.3
Similar
have
thoughts
as
about
of
the
Prohibition
speculation
'magical
psychology
'
and wish-fulfilment.
Andrew
Sinclair speculates
thinking
along Freudian
Freud's
assertion
that
'man's
lines,4 presumably
judgements
inspired by
of value follow directly his wishes for happiness?that
accordingly
they are
an attempt to support his illusions with arguments
'.5He stresses the morbid
in sexual and racial fears, and illustrates his point
base of Prohibition
in one case at least, that of Mrs Carrie Nation,
the eccentric
convincingly
in
decade
of
toured
the
the
first
the
States
who
century smashing up
lady
saloons with her axe.6 Prohibition
provided many people with a simple
ideology
which
explained
all the world's
complexities.7
This
analysis
is
1
A. Sinclair,
op. cit.: ch. 3 and
' passim.
2 Cf. E.
of Psychological
Interaction
and Sociological
Factors
in
Frenkel-Brunswik,
Science Review,
American
Political
Political
Behaviour',
46 (1) (1952), 44-65.
3 A.
op. cit. p. 174.
Sinclair,
4 Ibid. ch. 2. For an even more
see A. M. Lee,
of Prohibition,
orthodox
psychoanalysis
of the new Prohibition
American
of Social Reform;
An Analysis
Drive',
'Techniques
9 (1) (1944),
Review,
65-77.
Sociological
5
and Its Discontents
S. Freud,
Civilisation
(New York: W. W. Norton,
1962), p. 92.
6 A.
Carrie Nation
See also H. Asbury,
Sinclair,
(New York:
Knopf,
op. cit. pp. 74?7.
7
1929).
op. cit. pp.
Lee,
74-5.
164
S.y.Mennell
congruent
with what we now know
about
the association
of 'authoritarian
are usually
and 'intolerance of ambiguity'.1
But sociologists
personalities'
reluctant to accept mass neurosis as an explanation
of social and political
on the scale of Prohibition.
movements
However
useful psychological
studies may be in accounting for the motivation
of perhaps a large minority of
the most
supporters,2 this is not the stuff of which Constitutional
are
amendments
made. This
is not to deny the existence
of 'projective
but it still has to be explained why neuroses
should have found
politics',3
committed
to examine
in protest against alcohol. It is still necessary
their expression
the rational foundations of a temperance movement
that was able to involve
is rationalization.4
many well-balanced
people. Not all rationality
For many people the Prohibition
drive was a rational expression of their
religious beliefs.
(This is to say nothing about the religious values them
are assumed
to have had an absolute quality. That
selves, which
is, in
Weberian
terms, support stemming directly from religious conviction was
wertrational
action.)5 We have already seen the part played by the evan
in the Anti-Saloon
It appears as a typical mani
League.
gelical churches
of
the ascetic,
outlook
of these denominations.
festation
self-denying
it is true that the less evangelical churches, such as the Lutherans
Although
were
to Prohibition,
lukewarm
and Protestant
relatively
Episcopalians,
and that the Catholics
some
support
was
Social
eventually
drawn from
the core of the repeal movement,
the
significantly,
quarters.6 Most
to
the
and
affinities
with
left-wing
formed
these
Gospel movement,
politically
in England, also condemned
alcohol. Walter Rauschen
Christian
Socialists
busch, its most famous leader, called alcohol 'a spirit born of hell'.
was also rational in the fuller
But, for many more people, Prohibition
sense of Zweckrationalit?t.1
For them, Prohibition
appeared naturally con
1
et al., The Authoritarian
Harper,
Personality
1950);
(New York:
'
as an Emotional
of Ambiguity
and Perceptual
Intolerance
The
18 (1) (1949),
Personality
Variable',
Journal
108-43; M. Rokeach,
of Personality,
i960). Also compare Hofstadter
{op. cit.
Open and Closed Mind
(New York: Basic Books,
on 'History
as Conspiracy'
of populism.
in the folklore
pp. 70-81)
2
are suggestive?for
of temperance
leaders
V. Dabney's
example
study of
Biographies
the single-minded
Cannon,
Bishop
Dry Messiah
(New York: Knopf,
1949).
3 The
term
in D. Bell
is used by Richard
'Pseudo-Conservatism
Revisited',
Hofstadter,
Anchor,
(ed.), The Radical
Right
1964), p. 100.
(New York: Doubleday
4 I
of American
assertion
Classification
specifically
disagree with Lee Benson's
('A Tentative
in W.
and History:
and A. Boskoff
J. Cahnmann
Behaviour',
Voting
(eds.), Sociology
and
and Research,
New
York:
rational
Free Press,
Theory
1964) that the categories
and
'have
value
connotations
that make
non-rational
them necessarily
subjective
sense:
I use the terms in their strict Weberian
that is,
limit their usefulness'.
drastically
a quality
as it appears from
of the means-end
the perspective
they denote
relationship
of
of Prohibition.
the actor?in
this case, the supporter
5
Max Weber,
and Society
Bedminster
Press,
Economy
(3 vols.)
(New York:
1968): vol. 1,
6
pp. 24-6.
op. cit. pp. 30-2.
Timberlake,
7
loc. cit.
Weber,
See T. W. Adorno
E. Frenkel-Brunswik,
a Sociological
Prohibition:
sonant
View
165
movement
in the first two
other goals of the Progressive
the Progressive movement
of the century. Hofstadter
characterizes
with
decades
as:
. . .that
broader
criticism
toward
impulse
after
when
1900,
conspicuous
already
was
and redirected
by the growing
enlarged
Its general
for social
and
economic
reform...
a
of
type
believed
great
economic
individualism
and
and
the
corrupt
to bring back a kind of morality
been
was
theme
political
to have existed earlier in America
corporation
so
that was
change
everywhere
stream
of agrarian
discontent
of middle-class
enthusiasm
people
and
forceful
the
and
by the
restoration
that
with
restore
widely
and to have been destroyed
machine;
political
was
that
democracy
to
effort
the
and civic purity that was also believed
to have
lost.1
then,
Progressivism,
for William
support
a movement
was
Jennings
much
Bryan,
broader
than
the
populist
more
and much
than
enduring
candidates?Bull
Mooser
support for independent Progressive
presidential
Roosevelt
in 1912 and 'Fighting Bob' LaFollette
in 1924. It
Theodore
common
'never really existed as a recognizable
with
organization
goals
to achieve
and a political machinery
them'.2 Nevertheless,
the
geared
roots of Progressivism
also nurtured
the Prohibition
diverse
campaign.3
The
came
immediately under
In the words
corruption.
saloons
and of moral
saloon
The
offensive
the
smells,
..
law.
place
The
'the
was
of
a
public
and
as centres
of Herbert
stench.
..
both
poor
a gross
club',
tactical
repeatedly
the saloons which
were
immigrant
error in seeking
ignoring
wiser
a
and
dingy
sanitary
flyblown
appalling
and the politicians.
the police,
the courts
. .the backbone
of prostitution.4
violence.
man's
of political
Asbury:
dirty,
facilities.
to defend
advice
place
of
It
ignored
the breeding
It was
corrupted
crime
and
reforming
Saloons
political
blight
a
mirrors
brewers made
large
and
attack
the saloon
to
set
as
about
they controlled.
centres
of political
corruption
To
the peasant
populations.
particularly
immigrant
in areas with
from
an alien
culture,
. . .
tended
politics
as
welfare
general
his
meeting
this reason,
personal
he gave
a means
to be
not
it was
to the middle-class
to get
needs,
and
his loyalty
of
him
vote
and
the
principles
high moral
a means
but
of
rather
progressives,
favours
and protection.
For
relief,
jobs,
to the local boss who
satisfied
often
these
realizing
needs.5
1
The Age of Reform
Hofstadter,
{op. cit.), p. 5.
2 A. S.
to the Progressive
in the
Movement
'What Happened
Link,
Historical
Review,
833-51.
64 (1959),
3
in Californian
reform movement
history with one exception?that
Every
Prohibition.
G. M. Ostrander,
men's
op. cit.
Party?supported
4
The Great
Illusion
Asbury,
{op. cit.), p. 114.
5
. . {op. cit.), p. 117.
Prohibition.
Timberlake,
1920's?',
American
of the Working
166
S.J.Mennell
bargain was usually struck in the saloons.1 Middle-class
Progressives
as one of many reforms to democratize
government
supported Prohibition
and to curb Big Business. But they also sought to democratize
government
the
in order to improve the lot of the lower classes and to Americanize
This
immigrants.2
also supported Prohibition.
It is generally empha
evidence
were
in the evidence
that temperance
selective
they
propagandists
as conclusive.
were
Yet
and that tentative findings
used,
represented
scientific opinion seemed to be against John Barleycorn. Many old myths
and medicinal
effects of alcohol on the body had
about the beneficial
a number of studies claimed to
been
More
exploded.
seriously,
recently
Scientific
sized
and moral
that inebriety in parents was a cause of physical, mental
of
the
in
Then
the
in
children.3
century,
early years
again,
degeneracy
alcohol was labelled a
and eugenic theories were prevalent;
evolutionary
'racial poison'. Alcohol was also said to facilitate the spread of venereal
even in such serious sociological
disease. Writers
journals as the American
show
seem to have accepted
all this as serious scientific
of Sociology
Journal
recent
such theories have now been largely discarded,
evidence.4 Because
a
as
have tended
historians
jto portray temperance
process
propaganda
out in a
has pointed
But as T. S. Kuhn
almost entirely of distortion.5
different
context:
If.
. .out-of-date
the
same
to scientific
sorts
are
beliefs
to be
and
of methods
If, on
knowledge.
called
for
held
the
other
then myths
myths,
sorts of
the same
hand,
science has included bodies of belief quite
theories
Out-of-date
today...
discarded.6
been
In
the
hibition.
that
1 That
the
same
liquor
there
sense,
Economic
theory
industry
was
are not
were
they
to be
incompatible with
in principle
also
are
good
unscientific
economic
at this date could be used
in some
sense
can
'unproductive'.7
be
reasons
produced
that now
called
science,
by
lead
then
the ones we hold
because
arguments
to support
they
for
have
Pro
the view
Furthermore,
and that he
Al Smith had begun his career in a saloon affiliated with Tammany
Hall,
and moved
to defend
horrified
the saloon,
many
respectable
people,
genuinely
sought
and his
in 1928, for reasons other than his religion
them to vote against him for President
'
in the
on the Role
Churches
of the Protestant
A Footnote
accent.
See R. M. Miller,
of 1928', Church History,
Election
145-59.
25 (1956),
2 See
op. cit. p. 128.
Timberlake,
8 Ibid.
was drummed
into schoolchildren
sort of evidence
by the McGuffey
p. 44. This
in personal
readers
hygiene.
'
4 For a
see G. E. Howard,
and
Alcohol
case for Prohibition
from a sociologist,
passionate
American
in Social Causation',
A Study
Crime:
24 (1918), 61-80.
Journal
of Sociology,
5 For
A. Sinclair,
op. cit. ch. 3.
example,
6 T. S.
of Chicago
Revolutions
The Structure
University
(Chicago:
of Scientific
Kuhn,
Press,
1962), pp. 2-3.
'
'
7 That
of Money
of Quantity
temperance
fame, was a leading
Theory
Irving Fisher,
in perspective.
serves to put the economics
of the period
spokesman,
Prohibition:
a Sociological
employers
thought, with some reason, that drinking
both inefficient and dangerous.1 They were supported
union
leaders,
who,
saw
moreover,
that
the worker
View
167
their workers
made
in this view by many
sought
to
from
escape
and poverty by getting drunk rather than by getting organized.
his misery
These were some of the plausible and rational considerations
which gave
to explain
drive its content. Yet it is almost as misleading
the prohibition
the coming of Prohibition
the
of
cold
unemotional
solely by
operation
reason as by individual psychology.
A third source of strength was that
an emotionally
became
charged
can scarcely be seen as a mere
for many
groups.
Prohibition
of the clash of
expression
seems to be a fairly distinct
economic
interests. The temperance movement
'
'
'
case of what Hofstadter2
as opposed to interest
status politics
has called
is derived from Weber's
discussion
of stratifica
(This dichotomy
polities'.
a
to
is
the
and
useful
antidote
often
subconscious
tion,3
quasi-Marxism
to political
which tends to underlie the attribution of economic motivation
Prohibition
symbol
as 'most important'
or the definition
of those issues which
movements,
affect the allocation of resources. But the distinction
is not entirely satis
'
'
as
out
himself
has
in
Hofstadter
his
later
factory,
pointed
essay.4 Interest
'
'
involve economic
interests ; status politics
involve non-economic
politics
'
'
that
interests. Hofstadter
culture
suggests
politics may be a better term
I approve of this particularly
than 'status polities'.
because of its connota
tion of the influence of subcultures. For, as S. P. Hays has justly remarked:
Groups
'
limited
are
act
not
from
perspectives
bounded
by their
'self-interest'
', from
own
[at
conceptions
experience
and
least, not
of their
therefore
but
from
always!?S.J.M.]
and
themselves
which
society
directly
related
to
it.5
in the sociology of knowledge.)6
is a problem
Prohibition
so
to
not
maintain
and
much
their
seeking
improve
as
status
in
their
in
the
in
the
distribu
order,
place
society
position
or prestige,
and of political
of wealth
but of honour
power.7
of course,
supporters were
This,
economic
tion not
1
a little cynically,
it has been
that some of the biggest
contributors
suggested
Perhaps
saw the issue as a diversion
to temperance
such as the Rockefellers,
from issues
funds,
more
to the control
of economic
and political
power
(Lee, op. cit. p. 68).
strategic
to the repeal movement,
could be adduced
for contributing
which
the same motive
Later,
one in explaining
if far from decisive,
the reverse of Prohibi
makes
this factor a useful,
tion.
2 R.
in D. Bell
'The Pseudo-Conservative
Hofstadter,
Revolt',
(ed.), op. cit. pp. 43 if.
3
Weber,
op. cit. vol. in, pp. 926-39.
4
Revisited'
'Pseudo-Conservatism
Hofstadter,
{op. cit.), pp. 98-9.
5 S. P.
for American
Political
The
of
Social Analysis
'New Possibilities
History:
Hays,
:
and History
and R. Hofstadter
Methods
in S. M. Lipset
Political
Life',
(eds.), Sociology
Basic Books,
1968), p. 201.
(New York:
6
at length
in P. T. Berger
The Social
and T. Luckmann,
is developed
point
Hays'
Allen
Construction
Lane,
1967).
of Reality
(London:
7
loc. cit.
Weber,
168
S. J. Mennell
became a symbolic expression of their struggle : thus Gusfield
it a 'symbolic crusade'.1
was a middle-class
obsession.
The American
Protestant
Temperance
can
middle-class
of
thrift
and
self-denial
be
taken as a
complex
industry,
Prohibition
has called
as a symbol of it. Lower-class
and temperance
life was equally
alcohol
and
drunkenness.
typified by high
consumption
Drinking
frequent
became a symbol of a negative
reference group for middle-class
people.3
is therefore seen as a middle-class
Prohibition
of their superi
expression
datum,2
approval of their life-style into the law of the land.
has even more frequently
been seen as an expression
of a
anti-urban
at
of
the
of
the
rural,
reaction,
disgust
clean-living
countryside
to
the corruption
and immorality
of the city.4 There
is little evidence
never
Most
of
this.
the
States
which
had
laws
before
Prohibition
support
ority?building
Prohibition
1920 were
at least 60% of the population
in urban areas?like
and Illinois. But these were also the
California, New York, Massachusetts
less than half of the population was of old American, Anglo
States where
those with
to the Protestant
churches.5 Then
stock, and less than half belonged
in strongly Prohibitionist
much
States (for example inWashington),6
Saxon
again,
for
support
the movement
since even the evangelical
came
from
Protestant
areas.
urban
churches
This
is not
unexpected,
had many members
in urban
areas.7
In fact, as Timberlake
There
was
abstemious
anything
movement
1
in the nature
little
their
than
inherent
for
total
urban
in city
abstinence
has pointed
of
country
counterparts.
life to prevent
and
out:
life
to make
rural
. .
on the
Nor,
urban
Protestants
any more
was
there
hand,
a
from
supporting
Protestants
other
Prohibition.8
in
involved
Crusade
fact that some of the groupings
{op. cit.). The
Symbolic
some confusion
were
economic
nonetheless
has created
(see
recognizably
the
and Sinclair
Hofstadter
tend to emphasize
Nelson,
op. cit. p. 38) and disagreement.
while
cultural
Timberlake
and Gusfield
in response
of rural-urban
conflict,
aspect
as indi
are involved,
base of the movement.
Both aspects
the middle-class
emphasize
defined
economic
characteristics
cated below. But a grouping
may
chiefly by its common
as may a status-group.
of common
and pursue
have symbols
identity
symbolic
goals
just
'
'
false-consciousness
does not much
advance
the argument.
To
label this
Gusfield,
the issue
2
op. cit. pp. 102-3.
Crusade,
Gusfield,
Symbolic
3
see R. K. Merton,
Social
and Social
Structure
On reference
groups,
Theory
(Glencoe,
a three
Lee Benson
advances
111.: Free Press,
1967), pp. 225-386.
{op. cit. pp. 417-21)
of political
of political
fold analytic
distinction
between
the pursuit
fulfilment
goals,
to reference
to be applicable
if useful
in this
roles and orientation
groups, which
ought
to
case. But the latter pair are two kinds of reference
group orientation,
corresponding
between
reference
and comparative
the difference
normative
groups
membership
we are concerned
here
is at one and
reference
The
type of action with which
groups.
of a political
of membership
the expression
the same time pursuit
goal (of a status kind),
reference
and of non-membership
in a negative
reference
in a normative
group,
group.
4
A. Sinclair,
op. cit. ch. 1 and passim.
6
5
Ibid. p. 118.
Clark,
op. cit. p. 114.
8
7
Ibid. p. 30.
op. cit. p. 29.
Timberlake,
Prohibition:
a Sociological
View
169
was uniquely
to those who actually
appeal
the
but
that, associated with
America,
to
sections
of
of
the
it
virtuous
Jeffersonian
image
appealed
countryside,1
as well. The best conclusion
seems to be Clark's:
the urban population
So it was not that Prohibition's
lived
in rural
and
small-town
. . .the conflict
one of rural values
was
*
'
become
the city
potent
symbols
urban
against
of the two ways
and
and
values,
of life.2
'the
country'
in seeing a conflict between
and 'society'
Hays,
'community'
as the unifying
of
theme
the social history of the late nineteenth
and
Samuel
values
this view.3 As he recognizes,
these
centuries,
supports
are
terms
far
from
with
identifiable
Toennies-inspired
city and
simply
as
in
In
adherents
of
Prohibition,
country.
Progressivism,
'community'
rejected the innovations stemming from 'above', in the new 'society' levels
early
of
twentieth
organization.
a 'minor corollary
Clark discovered
'4
inWashington's
thesis
strong support
The
the
was
West
progressive
iniquities
a
safety
movement
for
valve
the
Jackson Turner
and prohibition.
frustations
of poverty
determination
their
expressed
they had left behind
of the Frederick
for progressivism
. .
and
to
immobility.
avoid
the
social
them.5
of the image of rural virtue was the Volstead Act.
Peculiarly
symptomatic
the
of the urban worker,
While
beer
and whiskey
it specifically
banning
the home production
of light wine and cider in the countryside.
exempted
if apple
As Alben
Barkley enquired,
'
how about corn juice ? '6
and grape
juice
juice were
legal,
linked with the middle-class,
rural Protestant
Finally,
symbolism was a
and anti-Negro
In
streak of nativism
the
South, Prohibition
prejudice.
was seen as one way of keeping the Negro
in
sober and
his place, it being
understood
that the law would
not be enforced
against Whites. Will Rogers
and
steadfast to prohibition
predicted
'Mississippi
as long as the voters can stagger to the polls'.7 Equally, drink was identified
with the immigrant populations?wine
with the Italians, beer with Germans
that
?and
this
enhanced
will
the
nativism
hold
faithful
of many
Progressives.
1 See M.
:Harvard
and L. White,
The Intellectual
the City
Mass.
Versus
U.P.,
(Cambridge,
1962), passim.
2
op. cit. p. 114; emphasis
Clark,
supplied.
3
the Community-Society
in W. N.
'Political
Parties
and
S. P. Hays,
Continuum',
and W. D. Burnham
Chambers
Oxford
(New York:
(eds.), The American
Party Systems
U.P.,
4 See
S.
York:
5
Clark,
7
Quoted
1967).
and R. Hofstadter
M. Lipset
Basic Books,
1968).
viii.
op. cit. p.
in Miller,
op. cit.
(eds.),
Turner
6 A.
and
Sinclair,
the Sociology
op. cit. p.
of the Frontier
190.
(New
170
S. J. Mennell
III
are set out, it is still unlikely that the
passed had it not been for the War,
which
in
centralized
made
it urgent to save food,
authority
Washington,
and discredited
German.
That
Prohibition
seemed to have been
things
all the appeals of Prohibition
When
18th Amendment
would have been
'put over' during war-time was to feed resentment
during the 1920s. Yet
it is remarkable that a movement
with such deep roots should have been
direction. What
strong one in the opposite
supplanted
by an equally
to change its appeal, and why did people change their minds?
happened
for the demise of voters and legislators who backed the
allowing
18th Amendment
in 1917-19, there remains to be explained a large move
ment
in
of opinion by the time of the drive for the 21st Amendment
Even
1928-33.
in social structure,
it is as well
examining
changes
profound
new
to
the
of
consider
facts
which
might persuade people to
simply
impact
on
to
their
the
issue.
Some
be prepared
change
opinions
people would
more
minds
than
others.
The
of
their
readily
theory
cognitive
change
to the success of
dissonance1
suggests that people with a high commitment
Before
the
those who had led or actively
supported
particularly
to
most
the
reluctant
18th
would
be
the
for
Amendment,
change
campaign
to adverse
their opinions.
The
less active would
offer less resistance
Prohibition,
evidence.
Those
of
who were willing
to reconsider
the issue rationally in the
the hoped-for
them with
its actual
consequences,
light
comparing
to make them change their
benefits, might gradually collect the evidence
were
and un
minds.2 For the actual consequences
largely unanticipated
to a
intended.3 And a course of action which
appears a rational means
of incomplete knowledge
desired end when viewed from a social perspective
come
new
to
is available to the
non-rational
when
information
may
appear
actor.
One
of the very
1 L.
A
Festinger,
For an excellent
'The
Concepts
few prominent
figures who
had prophetic
insight was
& Co.,
Dissonance
Theory
1957).
of Cognitive
(New York: Row, Peterson
see R. B. Zajonc,
survey of this idea and other
theories,
'consistency'
of Balance,
and Dissonance',
Public
Opinion
Quarterly,
Congruity
24 (2) (i960),
280-96.
2 After
came
to virtually
discount
the rational
the early voting
studies,
sociologists
an
voter
of democratic
his mind
seemed
who
independent
changed
theory. Anyone
on the margin
of the political
But more
careful
has
process.
apathetic
analysis
being
indicated
the error of this view. See H. Daudt,
The Floating
Voter and the Floating
Vote
et al., The American
Voter (New York:
(Leiden: H. Stenfert Kroese,
1961). A. Campbell
amore
accurate view (though not toDaudt's
also provides
entire
Wiley,
i960), pp. 256-65,
came long after the Prohibition
studies
of course, but
The
voting
period,
satisfaction).
I feel justified
in assuming
of voters did change
that significant
numbers
their minds.
3 See
R. K. Merton,
'The Unanticipated
of Purposive
Social
Action',
Consequences
1 (1936),
American
Review,
894-904.
Sociological
a Sociological
Prohibition:
William
ex-President
had been
.
.. The
of
who
Taft,
the
of manufacturing
members
alcohol,
of the
the
.national
the..
a condition.
will
administration
will
Elections
beer
and
be
continuously
variation
produce
go out of the
be transferred
will
will
in the
tempted
the rigid
of the liquor law, as they do now in prohibition
will
enforcement
in spots all over the United
strongly
turn on
not
will
the majority
of federal
officers
numbers
large
of the law. There will be loose administration
and
and
liquor
community,
communities
where
law-abiding
In the
class...
quasi-criminal
a Federal
law's
with
restrictions,
sympathize
It will
be needed
its enforcement...
for
to
the Amendment
before
declared,
171
ratified:
business
hands
Howard
View
to acquiesce
or
languid
States,
in such
execution
states.1
Ironically, Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under Presi
of
dent Harding,
and in spite of these views he became a strong upholder
a
case
most
of role-conflict.
For
He suffered
Prohibition.
people, the
plain
movement
of opinion was in the opposite direction.
Little need be said beyond
that Taft's prophecy was fulfilled in every
detail.
was
Enforcement
mid-West
it had
where
effective
the support
only in those areas of the South and
of public opinion. States with large
New York, New
Jersey, Maryland,
to com
against. And, by refusing
immigrant
populations?including
Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin?were
promise even to the extent of permitting
light beer, the Anti-Saloon
League
of
the
Volstead
Act
much
became more fashion
respect. Drinking
deprived
was met from many
able than ever before. Demand
sources?smuggling
from Canada
liquor. Thirsts
and
'Rum Row',
'needled' beer, bathtub gin and bootleg
were quenched by criminal gangs who were at the same time
was
turnover
whose
entrepreneurs,
large-scale
large
to
enough
buy
the
of the police. Courts became clogged with liquor cases, but
co-operation
were reluctant
was
to impose harsh penalties. A jury in San Francisco
in a liquor case.2 There
itself put on trial for drinking up the evidence
a situation which has been described
as 'patterned evasion of
developed
norms'.3
this
What
entailed
was
best
perhaps
captured
by Al Capone
himself:
I make my money
who
customers,
number
a public
by supplying
hundreds
of
the
best
demand.
people
If I break the law, my
in Chicago,
are
as
guilty
I am. The only difference between us is that I sell and they buy. Everybody
me
a racketeer.
When
my
It was
patrons
a businessman.
I call myself
serve
it on a silver
tray
a situation
of institutionalized
1
in Asbury,
The Great
Quoted
3 R. M. Williams
Jr., American
Gusfield,
Symbolic
Crusade,
When
in Lake
I sell
Shore
liquor
Drive,
as
calls
it's bootlegging.
it's hospitality.4
hypocrisy.
2 A.
Illusion,
op. cit. p. 155.
York:
Society
Knopf,
(New
4
A.
op. cit. pp. 111-17.
Sinclair,
op. cit. p.
pp.
372-96;
i960),
Sinclair,
op. cit. p.
231.
cf.
240.
172
S.J.Memiell
to the popular mood. Andrew
Sinclair
labelled it
Congress
responded
to
'the Amphibious
It voted appropriations
Congress'.
quite inadequate
the enforcement
of the Volstead Act. The drys acquiesced,
because they
were
was. But, in fact,
reluctant to admit how unsuccessful
Prohibition
striking a more realistic pose than it had when it passed the
of
it had failed to strike the necessary
Then,
equilibrium
at rigorous enforcement, which really only began under
consent.1 Attempts
President Hoover, merely alienated public opinion further. The translation
of a misdemeanour
into a cardinal sin forced many to examine their ideo
was
Congress
Volstead
Act.
Those who were willing, were able to coolly assess
logical fundamentals.
costs against benefits, especially
the consequences
of Prohibition,
weighing
after the report of the Wickersham
made
the facts available
Commission
to
everyone.
everyone was
Thus Wayne
B. Wheeler
But not
very fact that the law is difficult to enforce
The
for
so detached;
commitment
of the Anti-Saloon
League
distorted
perception.
said:
is the clearest proof of the need
its existence.2
corruption was seen merely as an excuse for the failure of Prohibition.
late as 1931, Upton Sinclair wrote The Wet Parade?a
'dry' propaganda
novel, including a Prohibition
agent hero who is killed. It closes with the
And
As
:
slogan
PROHIBITION HAS NOT FAILED!
PROHIBITION HAS NOT BEEN TRIED!
TRY
IT.3
Sinclair was one of the most
left-wing of the pre-War muckrakers,
Upton
to
is particularly
Prohibition
and his continuing
commitment
striking. For
'
'
he alleges that itwas always the little fellow who was hit by enforcement,
never the big liquor rings, and he fully recognizes
cost of
the enormous
He says that itwould cost $i million a day, and compares
to the actual expenditure
in caustic references to President Coolidge's
this
'
five
enforcement.
cent
per
enforcement
to Prohibition.
committed
broader
changes
The
inadequacy
obvious
1
Merz,
2 Ibid.
when
we
So
policy'.4
But
large
numbers
of Americans
remained
was
their position
being undermined
of Prohibition
itself.
by
than the consequences
of
personality-centred
try to account
explanations
for the rapid reverse
is
particularly
in Prohibition
senti
132-3.
op. cit. pp.
the defences
with
failure of the millenarian
group studied
185. Compare
against
et al., When
Fails
of Minnesota
University
by L. Festinger
Prophecy
(Minneapolis:
Press,
1956).
3
The Wet Parade
T. Werner
Upton
Laurie,
Sinclair,
(London,
1931), p. 449.
4 Ibid.
p. 292.
p.
Prohibition:
a Sociological
View
173
can scarcely argue that personalities
changed abruptly unless we
did
the
Nor
argue tautologically.
change
religious arguments for Prohibition
of the Protestant
the
influence
much.
However,
very
religion itself was in
decline during this period. Robert Handy
has spoken of a 'religious de
ment;
we
which
pression'
some
began
in the mid-1920s,
antedating
the economic
one
by
years.1
were being undermined
But the rational justifications
for Prohibition
in
the 1920s. As we have seen, the main social and political arguments were
and corruption were made worse. Scientific
being refuted?crime
support
for temperance
dwindled
research
too, with more accurate physiological
and the discrediting
of eugenic theories.2 When
the Depression
came, a
restored
waste.
justify
not
liquor and brewing
industry seemed a source of employment,
versions
of
economic
became
to
available
(Early
Keynesian
theory
Bad
the
more
workers'
than
liquor
this.)
impaired
efficiency
good.
to account
Difficult
for fully, yet nonetheless
in the
real, there was
against reform, idealism and the Progressive
temper.
The change of mood was demonstrated
after the war with the
immediately
reaction against the Versailles
Cabot Lodge's
successful
Treaty, Henry
of
America's
in
the
of
and the
blocking
Nations,
League
'
' participation
return of normalcy
under Warren Harding.
it was seen in the
Internally
trial.
repression associated with the Red scare and the Sacco and Vanzetti
The elements of a Progressive
coalition remained during the Twenties?
and the remnant of radicals
farmers, organized
labour, urban Democrats
and Social Gospellers?but
were
disunited
and lacked leadership
they
the collapse of Wilson's
between
coalition and the building
of Franklin
Roosevelt's.3
Prohibition
itself stood as a divisive
issue, and also as the very
of excessive
embodiment
zeal. Prohibition,
in Hofstadter's
reforming
'
a
was
means
the
which
of
the
phrase,
by
reforming energies
country were
transmuted
into mere peevishness'.4
The general discredit
of reform was
'
expressed by Mayor
Jimmy Walker, who defined a reformer as a guy who
Twenties
floated
The
a reaction
through
defectors
a sewer
in a glass-bottomed
boat'.5
from
and Prohibition
included
Progressivism
large
numbers
of the urban middle-class.
was a symbol of the
If Prohibition
middle-class
effort to assert and retain their social prestige, one reason for
their defection was a greater sense of
security of status. Big Business, Big
Labour
and Big Finance no longer seemed about to crush them in their
1 R.
T. Handy,
'The American
3-16.
(i960),
2 A.
op. cit. pp. 423-30.
Sinclair,
4
The Age of Reform,
Hofstadter,
5
A. Sinclair,
op. cit. p. 361.
Religious
Depression
3
Link,
op. cit. p. 290.
1925-35',
Church
'What Happened.
History,
. .', op. cit.
29
(1)
174
S.y.Mennell
1920s saw the dawn of managerial
capitalism and of 'high mass
No
the
middle
class.
the
of
age
longer vulnerable,
consumption',1
vice. The
. . .their
they
new
were
set
temper
building
of business
high wages,
was
and
dynamic,
expansive
a business
a new America,
values?mass
full employment
the entire
virtually
and many
preachers
magazines,
was
in good
hands.2
destiny
important,
and
production
and welfare
country
and
(at
least
professors)
confident.
supremely
civilization
based
consumption,
capitalism.
knew
They
a whole
upon
and
short hours
And what was more
journalists,
writers
acknowledged
that
the
in popular
nation's
the
One of the biggest blows to the dry
So what further need of Prohibition?
cause was
of middle-class
the appearance
people
(and?unthinkable?
for the repeal of the 18th Amend
in the movement
middle-class
women)
ment.
rural
virtuous
symbol of temperance,
prestigious
and
like Sherwood Anderson
Its prestige declined when writers
after all. The nation
revealed that it was not so virtuous
Sinclair Lewis
cam
as manifested
in the anti-Evolution
laughed at its religious bigotry
'
'
at
was
the
activities
it
and
trial
;
disgusted
paign and in the Scopes monkey
was
rural self-satisfaction
More
of the Ku-Klux-Klan.3
fundamentally,
What
of that other
America?
it to urban culture.
by the car and the radio, which exposed
were
of Prohibition
foundations
rural America was shrinking. The
undermined
everywhere.
being
to
the effort required by the wets
came surprisingly
quickly;
Repeal
over
near
in
that
to
out
nowhere
be
turned
put
carry the 21st Amendment
really began
many years by the drys for the 18th. The wet counter-attack
the wet
the 1928 Presidential
election, when Al Smith,
seriously with
candidate
of New York, was the Democratic
Roman Catholic Governor
undermined
And
did not set his sights as high
against Herbert Hoover. At this stage, Smith
drastic change in the Volstead
but wanted
as repeal of the Amendment,
was the major
Act. Even so, the lines of battle were drawn; Prohibition
won.
What Smith's
and the drys
issue of the campaign.4 In 1928, Hoover
1W. W.
2
Link,
3 R. M.
Growth
The Stages
U.P.,
i960).
(Cambridge
Rostow,
of Economie
. .', op. cit. p. 843.
'What Happened.
'
Churches
and the
the Protestant
between
on the Relationship
A Note
Miller,
out
22 (3) (1956),
Revived
points
335-68. Miller
History,
KKK',
of Southern
Journal
to the Klan within
the Protestant
churches.
that there was very considerable
opposition
4 Prohibition
for religious
been seen as a veil for the real issues, especially
has traditionally
of the view that religion
can be cited in support
references
But the following
prejudice.
of the
'A Measurement
and N. S. Talbot,
was not decisive
in 1928: W. F. Ogburn
R. M.
8 (1929),
of 1928', Social
Election
Factors
in the Presidential
176-83;
Forces,
'
. . ' {op. cit.), and more
on the Role of the Protestant
Churches.
A Footnote
fully
Miller,
of
and Social
Issues i?iq-iq3q
in his American
Protestantism
(Chapel Hill: University
for President?'
'A Catholic
Carolina
North
(in Odegard
Press,
1958); P. H. Odegard,
S. M.
Oceana
and Politics
Publications,
i960), pp. 162-7);
(New York:
(ed.), Religion
and
on Bigotry
in Voting',
Statistics
'Some
30 (i960),
286-90;
Commentary,
Lipset,
Prohibition:
a Sociological
View
175
for Roosevelt's
rebuilding oc
campaign achieved was to lay the foundations
a Progressive
with support for Prohibition.1
coalition unencumbered
The
for
next year, the formation of the Women's
National
Pro
Organization
led by rich and prominent
the new
hibition Reform,
ladies, demonstrated
elections showed
of the wet case. In 1930, the Congressional
respectability
the increasing strength of the wet movement.
set up the Wickersham
Commission
Shortly after his election, Hoover
of law in the USA.
Its report was a death
to investigate
the enforcement
knell
to Prohibition.
their
conclusion
(Actually,
so
was
its signatories
a non
obviously
sequitur
supported
from
but
Prohibition,
the
evidence
pre
that people drew their own and opposite conclusions.)
Yet, just as
would
the 18th Amendment
probably not have been carried had it not
to the Depression.
been for the First World War, so the 21st owed much
to
would
work
To restore the brewing
thousands,
and, to
industry
give
sented
back in legitimate hands it could raise millions
of
gether with distilling,
dollars in taxation to offset the Federal budget deficit. And so it was. In
a straight
and President
1932 the Democrats
adopted
repeal plank,
took a little longer,
Roosevelt
legalized beer. The Amendment
immediately
but not much?it
'noble
was
experiment'
ratified by the 36th State on 5 December
came
to
an
1933. The
end.
usually appears inevitable in retrospect. To show anything as a
History
social processes makes
it seem even more predestined.2
of
massive
facet
a
came
was
such
and went in a coincidence
Prohibition
of
facet, and yet it
multiple
circumstances.
in the American
Past and Present'
and Politics
(in R. Lee and M. E. Marty
'Religion
Oxford
and Social Conflict
U.P.,
(New York:
1964), pp. 69-126).
(eds.), Religion
were
at the level of bigotry;
even in 1932, many
In any case, not all the arguments
of
as a last hope of defending
voted
for Hoover
the radical Social Gospellers
Prohibition.
The Protestant
Search
Realism
See D. B. Meyer,
i?i?-i?4i
for Social
(Berkeley:
of California
Press,
i960).
University
'
1 See
et al., op. cit., for a discussion
of maintaining
Campbell
on Key's
idea of the 'critical
election'
based
elections,
'
'
'
'
and realigning
', deviating
of
(V. O. Key,
Jr., 'A Theory
and 'Secular
Critical
and
17 (1955),
Elections',
of Politics,
Journal
3-18,
Realignment
The
ibid. 21 (1959), 492-510).
in New
the Party System',
at
1928 election was,
England
to the great realigning
election
of 1932, when prohibition
was only one
least, a preliminary
'
see
.
. ',
in the general flux. (On this last point,
element
American
Protestantism.
Miller,
op. cit. pp. 119-20.)
2 Cf.
of Social
in England,
'The Development
Policy
J. H. Goldthorpe,
1800-1914',
: International
D.C.
Transactions
Congress
of Sociology
of the 5th World
(Washington
Sociological
Association,
1964),
vol.
4, pp.
41-6.
12 Amer.
Stud.
3