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Volstead Act
The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, is passed on October 28, 1919. -
Dead body found in Chicago speak easy
By 1929 gang violence is on the rise in nearly every city in the United States. -
18th Amendment
The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition. -
Period: to
18th to 21st Amendments
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"Scofflaw"
In 1924, four years after Prohibition was first imposed, the Boston Herald offered $200 to the reader who came up with a brand-new word for someone who flagrantly ignored the edict and drank liquor that had been illegally made or illegally sold. Twenty-five thousand responded. Two readers split the prize. Each had come up with the same word – “scofflaw.” -
Purple Gang Trial
In 1928, the Purple Gang of Detroit, Michigan goes to trial for bootlegging and hijacking. -
Stock Market crash
October 1929 -
Valentine's Day Massacre
On February 14, 1929, Al Capone has seven of Bugs Moran's men murdered in Chicago, the so-called "Valentine's Day Massacre." -
Prohibition in Finland ended
Many other countries experimented with prohibition. Finland, for instance, adopted prohibition in 1919 and repealed it in 1931, and the United States adopted it in 1919 and repealed it in 1933. -
Scarface
In 1932 Warner Brothers released Howard Hawks’s film Scarface: The Shame of Nation, which was based loosely on Capone’s rise as a crime boss. -
Roosevelt defeats Hoover to become president!
In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated the incumbent President Herbert Hoover, who once called Prohibition "the great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose." Some say FDR celebrated the repeal of Prohibition by enjoying a dirty martini, his preferred drink.
