There were three special factors. The Temperance movement had been a response to what was seen as a major problem in the country, that of male alcoholism. By 1920, it had been around in some form for at least 100 years. As male alcoholism was a threat to the family, the Temperance movement had largely been a part of the women's movement. But that diluted some of the effect. Women like Susan B. Anthony campaigned for votes for women, freedom for slaves, a ban on alcohol, and their followers tended to want other progressive reforms, like better working conditions. As a result, any politician who addressed most of their concerns, showed himself to be progressive, would gain their votes. Prohibiting alcohol seemed a difficult task, and since they could gain progressive votes by supporting other things in the progressive platform, prohibition got relatively little political traction.

There was, however a burst of energy in the later 1890's, and along with wider popular support for prohibition , Wayne Wheeler became the leader of the Anti-saloon League. Wheeler was an impressive campaigner. Suddenly, there were demonstrations, rallies, long processions of young women dressed in white, often organized by local churches ( many Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists) . Politicians discovered that Wheeler didn't care about any other issue: if they didn't sign on to Prohibition, toe the line on what the ASL wanted, Wheeler would get out the vote for their opponent in the next election. Wheeler had invented one-issue advocacy, and it was immensely effective.

If the temperance forces were energetic and organized, with a clear moral message, the opposition was not. Individuals tried- H.L. Mencken denounced it from his place in the Baltimore Sun-. But though brewers, distillers, Catholics, Lutherans and Jews were against prohibition, there was no party, no club or organization to make their arguments to the politicians, certainly none that could match the pressure of Wayne Wheeler and the ASL.

The restrictions on alcohol sales during WWI finally presented the opportunity: mechanisms for controlling alcohol were in place- why not just use them to ban it? Within a short time, it was banned.

If there had been a poll taken of how many people actually supported prohibition, it would have shown it to be unpopular. And so, when it went into effect , almost immediately it was widely subverted. Instead of banning alcohol, Prohibition seemed to create a fashion for drinking it. Instead of shameful, drunks became loveable, humorous- something that continued for decades ( watch one of the Thin Man movies, and you will see constant drinking and drunk jokes). It had been unacceptable for proper women to be seen in bars and saloons: suddenly, it was the thing to do. As money flowed to bootleggers and gangsters, crime rose. In the face of this failure the ASL and Wayne Wheeler began to advocate for increased unrealistic penalties- even wanted to put poison into all sources of ethanol, in order to kill anyone who tried to drink it. This created an opportunity for the opponents to be able to simply say Prohibition wasn't working- instead of having to argue for Demon Rum. With the onset of the Great Depression, they could also claim Prohibition was a burden on the working man, and a restriction on what might be a profitable business as well. And it was repealed.

Okrent: Last Call

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