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Ratification of the 18th Amendment
Nebraska becomes the 36th state to ratify the 18th Amendment, banning the sale and distribution of liquor. The Amendment, now ratified by 3/4 of all states, takes effect nationwide. The Volstead Act, which enforces the 18th Amendment, passes shortly after. -
Congress Overrides Veto on the Volstead Act
The Senate votes 65 to 20 to override President Woodrow Wilson's veto on the Volstead Act. The Volstead Act further defined the ban on "intoxicating liquors" in the 18th Amendment as anything containing more than 0.5% alcohol. The Volstead Act also gave the federal government the power to directly enforce Prohibition, creating a new "Prohibition Unit" of the Treasury. The Unit saw early success in reducing crime and bootlegging, but would soon prove inefficient at stopping alcohol production. -
Bootlegging Runs Rampant
Despite efforts by the federal and state governments, bootlegging, the illegal production of liquor, takes hold in cities all over the nation. Bootlegging becomes the birth of organized crime in America, and would lead to the rise of many notorious mobsters and street gangs. Many of these gangs were capable of paying off local law enforcement, either with cash made from sales or supplying them with some of their own liquor. -
Al Capone Takes Control of "Chicago Outfit"
Notorious Italian Mobster Al "Scarface" Capone takes power over Johnny Torrio's criminal syndicate in Chicago following Torrio's retirement. His criminal empire would become the most powerful and influential bootlegging and racketeering gang of the Prohibition Era, and are synonymous with Prohibition and American organized crime as a whole. At the height of the Chicago Outfit in 1927, Capone had an estimated net worth of $100 million. His drink of choice was reportedly Templeton Rye. -
St. Valentines Day Massacre
The epitome of gang violence in Chicago during Prohibition is largely considered to be the St. Valentines Day Massacre, where seven members of George "Bugs" Moran's gang, a rival gang of Al Capone, were lined up and gunned in a garage where Moran's bootlegging operations took place by men disguised as police officers, pretending to arrest the gang members. Though no official charges for the crime against Capone were made, its commonly accepted that his gang was behind the murders. -
Stock Market Crashes, Great Depression Begins
With the beginning of the Great Depression, over a quarter of the U.S. labor force was out of a job. Anti-Prohibitionists used this to their advantage, proposing that the legalization of the liquor industry would bring back thousands of legal jobs. This would also allow the government to begin taxing liquor again, as the government had lost over $11 billion in tax revenue over the course of Prohibition. The idea of a society pure from vice began to die with the onset of the Great Depression. -
Blaine Act is Proposed
Senator John J. Blaine introduces a resolution, informally known as the "Blaine Act", to add the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which would repeal the 18th and end Prohibition. -
Morris Sheppard Attempts a Filibuster, Blaine Act Passes House
Senator Morris Sheppard, author of the 18th Amendment, attempts to begin a filibuster to delay consideration of the Blaine Act. He goes unaided by his fellow democrats. The next day the Blaine Act would be passed by the House 69 to 27, 5 votes above the required 2/3. -
Senate Passes Blaine Act
The Blaine Act passes the Senate, 294-126. For the first time, rather than being sent on to state legislatures to be ratified, the Amendment was instead sent to state ratifying conventions. -
Ratification of the 21st Amendment
The 21st Amendment reaches its 3/4 requirement with the ratification by Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Utah, taking effect. The Amendment repealed the 18th, ending the Prohibition Era in the United States. You know Prohibition is unpopular when Mormons (Utah), who forbid alcohol, want to end it. -
Mississippi Ends Prohibition
Many states had maintained their own Prohibition via state temperance laws. Mississippi, the last dry state, repeals these laws in 1966, ending Prohibition in the United States for good.