Prohibition Failed and Gave Rise to Gangsters

On Saturday, 17 January 1920, the Manchester Guardian reported with mild incredulity on one of the most extraordinary experiments in modern democratic history. "One minute after midnight tonight," the story began, "America will become an entirely arid desert as far as alcoholics are concerned, any drinkable containing more than half of 1 per cent alcohol being forbidden." In fact, the Volstead Act – which prohibited the sale of "intoxicating liquors" – had come into operation at midnight the day before. But the authorities had granted drinkers one last day, one last session at the bar, before the iron shutters of Prohibition came down.