Thread by @TruueDiscipline

Brief thread of excerpts I found interesting from this book: amazon.com/Prohibition-Co…

The religious revival caused a decline in drinking in the first half of the 19th century, many middle class jobs were restricted to those who were dry

The alcohol issue was heavily linked to immigration, Republican party avoided talking about to avoid ostracizing those voters

Rockefeller and Ford opposed alcohol:

Indian reservations were dry until 1953:

The Atlanta race riot helped the dry cause:

In the 1840s close to 40% of federal revenue came from alcohol tax:

Suspicion of organized German activity during WW1 and its connection to alcohol helped the dry cause

Drys exploited narrative of sacrifice during war to get Americans to ban alcohol

One source of alcohol was industrial alcohol, but govt mandated toxic chemicals be added to prevent personal consumption. Many tried to remove these chemicals with deadly results

Breaking liquor law lead to breaking racial taboo in Harlem

By the late 20s Americans were fed up with prohibition:

Prohibition got rid of the raunchy male saloon culture for good and decreased per capital alcohol consumption for a long time:

While German and Irish immigration caused an increase in drinking in the 19th century, non European immigration likely caused a decrease in culture of alcohol consumption in the late 20th century and 21st century

This paper argues that prohibition was somewhat successful in reducing negative consequences of alcohol: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

Also argues that prohibition failed because of the changing economic context in the early 1930s:

Seems like the idea that "we tried prohibition and it failed" that libertarians always repeat today lacks the full context