Kansas City
(and the greater midwest)
Between the Wars: 1914-1945
Beer, Booze, and Bootlegging: Effects Prohibition had on the Family Life
Temperance Movement
Before prohibition as the 18th amendment was passed into legislation it started as an idea from people in the United States. These people who were most commonly religiously affiliated to some degree saw alcohol as the factor that was generating negative impacts on the home life. Common beliefs were that if you spent money and time on going to bars, and consuming alcohol that in turn your home life was neglected. This caused issues of un-supported children and spouses leading too a popularization of the movement into the late 1910s.
18th Amendment and Origins
With the passing of the 18th amendment in 1919, taking effect in 1920, the United States established a national law that banned alcohol sales, creation, consumption, and ownership for all peoples. At the start it was popular and seemed to be working effectively, and transitioning smoothly. Bars were closed and alcohol distributors closed shop all in compliance with the new law
What the 18th Tried To Do vs. What it Actually Did
The goal of prohibition was not just to ultimately end the sales and consumption of alcohol. In reference to the beginning of the time it did just that. However there was a shift in the United States that was being seen, which was the lack of popular support, and the establishments of illegal ways to buy alcohol. One account of a man named Mr. Callano who ran illegal alcohol depicts his view on prohibition as he said "That was during Prohibition and all the boys was running booze. My brothers, the older ones, had a gang bootlegging. They had a bunch of big old Packards and Caddies. I went in with 'em and we made plenty dough. There was dough in that racket all right, and it was fun to bring it in. Times was good then, everybody had money, everybody was spending it."("Only Sucker Work." Library Of Congress. January 1, 1940) clearly the real attitude towards the law switched in popular opinion as the ones running the illegal alcohol thought it was fine and they had people who were willing to buy it from them.
Home Life
One of the original reasons for putting prohibition into effect as the 18th Amendment was to hopefully improve the lives of ordinary citizens, specifically that of housewives and mothers, as well as the children they were responsible for. Leading up into prohibition and during this time women were predominately reliant on men to be the financial providers of the home. Temperance movements general ideas were if bars and alcohol were shut down, then men would have no other options but to come home and take care of the kids they had and use the finical monies they spent on alcohol for means of the family. Temperance movements even went so far as to create lavish propaganda pamphlets which described drunk fathers as the issue for anything wrong in the family even as far as the death of loved ones. However prohibition simply did not fix these issues. In Andrew Sinclair's book Era of Excess: A Social History of the Prohibition Movement, it clearly shows examples that the movement did not work. Sinclair talks of underground bars, and pubs where men could drink, gamble, and even other female companionship. These were often worse environments to be in then bars, and Sinclair highlights in his book that in some cases prices went up around two to ten times.
Lasting Impacts
Overall prohibition did not effectively set out to do what it proclaimed it would. Instead of relieving society of the issues that alcohol seemed to provide, by making it illegal it seemed to only intensify them. For the Kansas City and the greater Mid-West were just as affected by this as other parts in the country (See our page on Pendergast and Power). This along with cities like Chicago and its mob affiliations and their connection to the illegal alcohol as well as court cases in Oklahoma over the Catholic Church's ability to continue to use ceremonial wine show that this area was not only affected but very important in the story of prohibition. Put as the 21st amendment was placed into affect, the 18th was nullified, allowing for the nation to step out of prohibition and legalize alcohol again.
Sources:
Asbridge, Mark, and Swarna Weerasinghe. "Homicide in Chicago from 1890 to 1930:
Prohibition and its impact on alcohol- and non-alcohol-related homicides." Addiction 104, no. 3 (March 2009): 355-364. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost .
Baron, Peter C. "What Some Great Catholic Leaders Think of Liquor and Prohibition."
Alcohol, Temperance, and Prohibtion. January 1, 1918.
"Only Sucker Work." Library Of Congress. January 1, 1940.
Sinclair, Andrew. Era of Excess: A Social History of the Prohibition Movement. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
"To the Women of Massachusetts -- Daughters of the Constitution." Brown University Library, Center for Digital Scholarship.http://library.brown.edu/cds/catalog/catalog.php?verb=render&id=1097074935890625&vew=pageturner&pageno=2.
"18th Amendment." LII / Legal Information Institute.
