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 * D. Analysis (500-650 words)** Tips]

Before Prohibition started on January 1920, there were several pro-prohibition groups. The idea of prohibition was first started in the U.S. in the 1850s, and it was only in the 1970s that the organizations such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. (1) The majority of cartoons before Prohibition were in its favor, such as the cartoon, ‘His Master’s Voice’ (2), a barrel of rum represents the saloon and its power over people’s lives is shown by the speaker attached to the barrel. The man faced dog represents a politician which illustrates the corruption of Chicago politicians in this era. This cartoon is very useful primary source because they tend to show the public opinion at that particular period, but cartoons tend to exaggerate issues and to be persuasive. This cartoon is trying to persuade its viewers that prohibition is the way to defeat corrupt politicians in Chicago, but this is false because a new form of corruption began, the bootleggers.

The most famous bootlegger in Chicago was Al Capone, and in the film ‘The Untouchables’ (3), his cruelty and arrogance is very clear, “People are gonna drink! You know that, I know that, we all know that, and all I do is act on that. And all this talk of bootlegging - what is bootlegging?”. The limitation of films are that usually simplify the bigger problem, but in ‘The Untouchables’, the storyline amplified the problems in Chicago and also made up several scenes which did not exist, for example the scene where Eliot Ness (4) throws Frank Nitti (5) off a building. The movie ‘The Untouchables’ was inspired by the book ‘The Untouchables’ (6) written by Eliot Ness an eye-witness of the corruption and bootlegging crimes of Chicago. Using this book would provide more Historical facts about this era than the movie which was made to entertain rather than inform. The book Studs Lonigan: trilogy’ by James T. Ferrell (7) is another great book to understand how growing in this era for low class men was about, even though the novel was inspired by Ferrell’s personal life, a Historian needs to be aware that the is fictional.

There are several campaigns that opposed Prohibition, including the ‘No Beer, No Work’ movement which started in 1919. Many posters (8), pins (9) , and even a song was written to unify the movement. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that cartoons and songs are used purely for propaganda, so they are made with the purpose of persuasion, so it is not necessarily true that everyone was unsatisfied with the Prohibition law. The ‘No Beer, No Work’ song states, “’No beer, no work’ will be my battle cry. ‘No beer, no work’ when I am feeling dry. I never could like lemonade… for beer is all I'll buy’. (10) The movement aimed to start a national strike, but failed when the strike did not take place and the 18th Amendment took place. (11) Although this source is draws upon the Prohibition opposition, there is very little information about the movement because it was not successful. It is important to bear in mind that “History is written by the winners” (12), so the amount of sources available of anti-Prohibition is very limited. In contrast, there are numerous sources from the end of the Prohibition era such as the ‘Repealing National Prohibition’ (13) and ‘Small laws are pieced together into huge tyrannies’ (13). The main reason prohibition failed was because there were not enough people to enforce it, //“//// nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced” // (14) //. There were only 4,500 G-men // (15) // to enforce a law over 100 million U.S. citizens. //In addition, bootleggers earned fortunes by selling illegally countermanded alcohol so they had the means to bribe officers. (16)

Word Count: 630


 * References: **

(1) Ian Tyrell (Professor of History at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), 2010, Word Press, 29 August 2011, []

(2)Taylor Hales, Nikolas Kazmers, 2004, ‘His Master’s Voice’ (cartoon), University of Michigan, 22 August 2011, [|http://www.umich.edu/~eng217/student_projects/nkazmers/prohibition1.html]

(3) The Untouchables, 1987, motion picture, Paramount Pictures, Directed by Brian De Palma, Starring Robert De Niro and Keven Costner

(4) Eliot Ness: Prohibition Agent of the U.S. Treasury Department

(5) Frank Nitti: Member of Al Capone’s Gang, also known as “The Enforcer”

(6) Eliot Ness, Oscar Fraley, 1957, The Untouchables, Buccaneer Books, Cutchogue, New York

(7) Eliot Ness, Oscar Fraley, 1957, The Untouchables, Buccaneer Books, Cutchogue, New York

(8) Author Unknown, 2011, ‘No Beer, No work’ (cartoon/poster), The Authentic History Center, 29 August 2011, []

(9) Frank, 2011, photograph, 27 August 2011, []

(10) Quote from song ‘NO BEER, NO WORK’, Music and Lyrics by Sammy Edwards, 1919,

(11) Author Unknown, 2011, 123HelpMe, 28 August 2011, []

(12) Quote attributed to Winston Churchill, but of unknown origin.

(13) Paul Reisberg, 2007, Repealing National Prohibition’ and ‘Small laws are pieced together into huge tyrannies’ (cartoons),Wellesley Collage, 25 August 20011, []

(14) Quote by Albert Einstein, 1921

(15) G-men: FBI agents that enforced Prohibition

(16) Steven Mintz, 2011, the Department of History and the College of Education at the University of Houston, August 15th, 2011, []