Prohibition and American Life: A Social History of Alcohol

Allen Pietrobon
Allen Pietrobon
Trinity Washington University

Dr. Allen Pietrobon is an Assistant Professor of Global Affairs at Trinity Washington University. He specializes in 20th-Century American history and U.S. Foreign Policy,โ€ฏfocusing on nuclear weapons policies and Cold War diplomacy.โ€ฏSince 2011, he has also served as an Assistant Director of Research at the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University.

 

Overview

The prohibition of alcohol in 1920 was supposed to have solved, once and for all, some of Americaโ€™s most pressingย social issues, everything from alcoholism to childhood malnutrition to domestic violence. Instead, it sparked one of the most vibrant (and rebellious) periods in modern American history. Far from solving problems, Prohibition created new ones and radically changed American society, culture, and morality along the way.

What role had alcohol played in American life before 1920? How had it become such a problem that the U.S. Congress banned all โ€œintoxicating beveragesโ€? Why did the ban fail so spectacularly?

Attempts to circumvent (or profit from) Prohibition gave crime new meaning. Its unpopularity pushed a variety of Americansโ€”from teenage girls to judges to the president himselfโ€”to defy the law. It provoked a twelve-year gangwar that made Al Capone into a household name.ย It liberated women and sparked a sexual revolution. Jazz turned from an underground expression of the African American experience into the soundtrack of a new generation.

In this presentation weโ€™ll take a wild ride through American history to see how alcohol shaped American society.

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