1. What is Prohibition?

2. Background
Ever since the 1800s, some regarded drinking as a social evil.
They wanted to ban [prohibit] alcohol; this, they regarded as a social reform.
In 1920, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) won their years of struggle.
Congress added the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Congress banned the manufacture [making], sales, possession, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
From then on, Elliot Ness and his Untouchables (federal agents) hunted down bootleggers.

3. Bootleggers
Since there were no more bars, people went to speakeasies (illegal bars) and drank bootleg (illegal) liquor.
Bootlegging began to make headlines.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a novel in which his hero made a fortune from bootlegging.
The Great Gatsby was a tragedy: The hero is murdered at the end - but not by bootleggers!

4. Albert Capone
Al Capone was head of the Chicago mob, which controlled the bootleg liquor industry.
The submachine gun is first sold at a national gun show.
It became the weapon of choice for bootlegging gangsters.
Al Capone was finally put in federal prison - but not for murder. He was convicted of income tax evasion.

5. Prohibition lasted 13 years!
Prohibition was one of the most flouted laws in American history.
It was repealed in 1933.