Prohibition

Watch Episode One Online Now »
Watch Episode Two Online Now »
Episode Three: Tuesday October 4th @ 8pm 

A new three-part, six-hour documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, set in the era of bathtub gin, bootleggers and speakeasies, tells the true story of the rise, rule and fall of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It was called the Noble Experiment, but it was in fact one of America’s most notorious civic failures, an object lesson in the challenge of legislating human behavior.

“Alcoholism has been a devastating human problem for hundreds of years, but prohibiting the sale and manufacture of alcohol did not solve it,” said Burns. “The entire history of the Constitution had been about extending liberties and freedom, until Prohibition. Its impact on our society was profound and widespread. It transformed our politics, our relationship with the government, our justice system, and our most intimate relationships.”

“We know now, of course, that Prohibition didn’t work,” said Novick. “But at the time, it really did seem like a good idea to a lot of people, who saw the Constitution as the moral foundation of American society. The unintended consequences of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act are stunning to contemplate, and make Prohibition an utterly relevant, cautionary tale about the dangers of believing there can ever be a quick fix for complex social problems.”

Prohibition begins with the story of America’s growing concern about alcohol abuse in the 19th century. Saloons and taverns flourished with the growing availability of hard liquor, and with them, a culture of men that neglected and abused their wives and children in favor of liquor. Families were being destroyed, and many feared that the American social fabric would disintegrate.

Women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard and Carry Nation first demanded temperance, then outright Prohibition. The hugely powerful Anti-Saloon League took up the mantle in the late 19th century, setting its sights on a Constitutional Amendment banning the sale and manufacture of alcohol. The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, and went into effect one year later.

For the next 13 years, America would be split by a fierce cultural divide between “wets” and “drys” as Prohibition pit the city against the countryside, Protestants against Catholics, immigrants against native-born citizens. Prohibition turned law-abiding citizens into criminals, made a mockery of the justice system, caused illicit drinking to seem glamorous and fun, encouraged neighborhood gangs to become national crime syndicates, permitted government officials to bend and sometimes even break the law, and fostered cynicism and hypocrisy that corroded the social contract all across the country. The film raises vital questions that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago – about means and ends, individual rights and responsibilities, and the proper role of government.