DIVISIONS

Primary Sources, America in Class® from the National Humanities CenterBecoming Modern: America in the 1920s, Primary Sources, America in Class® from the National Humanities Center Thousands gather in Madison Square Garden, New York City, to hear radio broadcast of President Harding


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After decades of vehement debate, the "Noble Experiment" of Prohibition commenced on January 17, 1920, one year after the 18th Amendment had been ratified by the states. The debate did not end at that point, of course; it switched to the issues of efficacy, unforeseen consequences, popular support, and repeal. The division between wets and drys remained a staple of political campaigns, Sunday sermons, film melodramas, and media headlines. It wouldn't end until the repeal of Prohibition with the 21 st Amendment in 1933.

Discussion Questions

"Five Years of Prohibition and Its Results"___
  1. Overall, what were the main issues addressed in the Prohibition debate by 1925?
  2. What evidence was presented to declare Prohibition a success or failure?
  3. What were the main arguments for and against repeal of the 18 th Amendment or modification of the Volstead Act, the federal law that implemented Prohibition?
  4. What modifications to the Volstead Act were recommended by John Philip Hill, the U.S. judge quoted by Samuel H. Church, and others?
  5. How did Prohibition supporters respond to these recommendations? Why?
  6. How did both sides cite individual states' experiences with Prohibition to support their arguments?
  7. Compare the arguments for and against repeal or modification by the two physicians (Dana and Kelly), the two businessmen (Bourne and Scott), and the two labor representatives (Holland and Cooper).
  8. Compare the arguments presented by the spokesmen for the Anti-Saloon League of America (Wayne Wheeler) and the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (William Stayton). How did each characterize the position of the other? How did each emphasize statistics in his argument? Why?
  9. How might the discrepancy in drunkenness statistics cited by pro- and anti-repeal advocates be explained?
  10. How did Prohibition advocates argue that increased lawlessness and drinking among young women were caused by factors other than Prohibition?
  11. How did they address the increase in bootlegging, illegal saloons, and government corruption during Prohibition?
  12. What positions of Prohibition advocates did "workingmen" find objectionable? Why?
  13. Conduct research to identify arguments that entered the Prohibition debate after 1925, especially during the 1928 presidential campaign and the nation's transition into economic depression after 1929. (See the post-1925 political cartoons and consult the Supplemental Sites below.)
  14. How would Prohibition supporters have responded to these statements made in 1925 by pro-repeal spokesmen?
  15. - "Five years have rolled by, and many think that Prohibition has had its chance."
Henry Bourne Joy Samuel H. Church Henry Samuel Priest Rep. John Philip Hill Rev. Walter Morgan Gov. Gifford Pinchot James J. Britt Dr. Howard Kelly Political Cartoons____
  1. What arguments for and against Prohibition are presented in the cartoons?
  2. What benefits, harm, and unforeseen consequences of Prohibition are represented?
  3. How is "the public" depicted in the cartoons? the ardent wets and drys?
  4. What perspectives are expressed in the cartoons published in Kansas and Nebraska? in Chicago? in New York City? Why?
  5. Complete the cartoon analysis chart for this theme DIVISIONS to study the cartoonists' viewpoints and the visual devices they used to convey them.
Hopper, The Bootleggers ____
  1. What is happening in The Bootleggers? What is depicted on the canvas? What is suggested? How?
  2. What are the three men thinking at the moment? What will occur in the next twenty minutes?
  3. What is Hopper's apparent comment on the situation these men have placed themselves in? on the predicament the nation has placed itself in?
  4. Compare The Bootleggers with other Hopper works from the 1920s, including Night Shadows (1921), Sunday (1926), and From Williamsburg Bridge (1928). How does Bootleggers resemble and differ from these woks?
Newsreels____
  1. How did British Pathé News present U.S. Prohibition to its audience? Why?
  2. Considering the wet-dry debate in the early 1930s, how might U.S. sound newsreels have presented the same incidents?
________________
  1. Complete the chart below using the primary resources in this section, including the political cartoons, painting, and newsreels.

PRO-REPEAL ARGUMENT EVIDENCE PRESENTED REBUTTAL
from Prohibition supporters
Crime, corruption, and contempt for the law have increased under Prohibition.
Drinking and drunkenness have increased under Prohibition throughout the nation (not just in the northeast).
Law enforcement agencies has been unable or unwilling to enforce Prohibition.
Alcohol abuse cannot be solved by legislation alone.

Framing Questions

Printing

"Five Years of Prohibition and Its Results"
Political cartoons
Cartoon analysis chart
Hopper, The Bootleggers
Newsreels
TOTAL
11 pp.
9 pp.
2 pp.
View online.
View online.
22 pp.

Supplemental Sites

Edward Hopper, overview (Metropolitan Museum of Art)


Images:
– Destruction of an illicit still, Miami, Florida, photograph, 1925. Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida, Image RC03392. Digital image courtesy of the Florida Memory Project.
– New York City Deputy Police Commissioner John A. Leach, right, watching agents pour liquor into sewer following a raid, photograph, 1921(?) (detail). Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, LC-USZ62-123257.
– Anti-Prohibition car ("Stamp Out Prohibition"), photograph by Sanborn Studio ca. 1930 (detail). Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware, 75.434. Reproduced by permission.
– Carey Orr, "Bullet Proof," political cartoon, Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1926 (detail). Reproduced by permission of the Chicago Tribune; digital image courtesy of ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
– Article headlines, The Washington Post, Jan. 16, 1925 ("Prohibition 5 Years Old"), May 22, 1927 ("Test on Prohibition"). Permission request in process; digital images courtesy of ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

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Becoming Modern: America in the 1920s
PRIMARY SOURCES, America in Class®
America in Class® from the National Humanities Center
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