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33:43
Transcript
0:00
- [Narrator] This video
was made possible by Honey.
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Good morning, Honey.
0:14
What's for breakfast?
0:15
The usual.
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Two caskets of rum, a mug of hard cider,
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and a full bottle of wine.
0:19
Oh boy.
0:20
Oh, I'm running late.
0:21
I'll have to take it with me.
0:22
Don't forget your lunch.
0:23
It's a six-pack of beer,
a flask of whiskey,
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six shots of tequila, and as
a special treat, a banana.
0:28
Ah gee whiz, I'm gonna be smashed today.
0:31
Enjoy your day of operating
sharp, dangerous farm equipment.
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0:34
I can't believe this is
an acceptable way to live.
0:37
God bless America.
0:38
Okay, gotta go.
0:43
(loud crash)
0:44
I love my life!
0:46
(animated music)
0:50
America, the land of
beautiful strip malls,
0:53
top class infrastructure,
and wonderful urban sprawl.
0:56
Ah, yes, beautiful America.
0:58
But what's the most American
thing you can think of?
1:01
The Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore,
1:03
a crazy lady in a mobility
scooter yelling at a pigeon?
1:05
Well, what if I told you
the answer is alcohol?
1:08
That's right.
1:09
When the Puritans arrived
on America's shores,
1:11
they brought a ship packed with beer.
1:12
George Washington provided his men
1:14
with a daily cup of whiskey.
1:15
Andrew Jackson's inauguration party
1:17
left the White House so trashed
1:18
that everybody had to be ordered outside.
1:20
Frederick Douglass said whiskey
1:21
made him feel like a president.
1:23
Me too, Frederick, me too.
1:25
Americans drink at breakfast.
1:27
Doctors prescribe their
patients hard liquor.
1:29
In the 19th century,
Americans drink three times
1:31
as much as their modern-day counterparts.
1:33
That's a lot of whiskey.
1:34
Hey Jerry, how's that report coming along?
1:35
Already done, sir.
1:36
I've also organized your
paperwork, watered your flowers,
1:39
and been a father figure to your children.
1:40
Wait a minute.
1:41
(sniffs) What's that smell?
1:42
Have you been drinking at work?
1:44
No sir, I would never.
1:46
Well, why not?!
1:47
Everyone else is doing it.
1:49
But I got all my work done!
1:50
You're fired!
1:51
(glass shattering)
1:52
(people cheering)
1:53
Americans drink at work.
1:54
They drink at barn raisings,
baptisms, and public hangings.
1:57
Heavy drinking was so normal
1:59
that it was as American as apple pie.
2:01
Hi everyone, my name is
Ron and I'm an alcoholic.
2:04
Get over yourself, Ron.
2:06
We're all alcoholics.
2:07
But more and more
Americans began to wonder
2:09
whether all of this truly
was a normal way to live.
2:12
Were Americans drinking
perhaps a little too much?
2:15
Well, one group in particular
2:17
thought the answer to that was yes.
2:18
You know 'em.
2:20
You love 'em.
2:21
Women.
2:21
(men laughing)
2:22
Oh, crap, women!
2:24
Run!
2:25
(crowd yelling)
2:26
Hang on!
2:27
We just want to talk.
2:29
Women talking in public?
2:30
That's outrageous.
2:31
Come on, Fred, you've got
two kids and a wife at home,
2:34
yet here you are spending
your entire paycheck on booze.
2:37
And you, Dr. Spanky,
2:39
you run the cusp of
discovering time travel,
2:41
but what did you discover instead?
2:43
The sweet, sweet joys of whiskey.
2:45
That's right, alcohol.
2:47
It's destroying our families,
our jobs, and our homes.
2:51
She's right, she's right.
2:52
Hang on, men.
2:53
Don't let them get to you.
2:54
This saloon is our safe space
where our wives and children
2:57
can't annoy us with reality
where we're free to be real men.
3:00
He's right, he's right, I am a man.
3:02
And what is it real men do?
3:04
Take care of their families.
3:06
I don't know what she's talking about.
3:08
Do you take care of your family?
3:09
No.
3:09
We drink beer, we shoot
guns, and we mud wrestle!
3:14
(men cheering)
3:16
As America's heavy drinking
ruined more and more lives,
3:19
moral resistance began to arise
3:21
and women were at the forefront
3:23
taking matters into their own hands
3:24
at a time when women doing just
about anything was shocking.
3:27
They'd had enough of being victim
3:29
to their husbands' heavy drinking
3:30
and they were gonna do
something unprecedented.
3:32
You're going to what?
3:34
I'm going to protest.
3:36
(laughs)
3:39
(coughs)
3:41
Oh sweetie, women can't protest.
3:45
(crowd yelling)
3:49
Starting in Ohio before
spreading nationwide,
3:51
women began a crusade against alcohol.
3:53
They marched through towns and cities,
3:54
singing hymns, gathering outside saloons,
3:57
and praying on their knees.
3:58
Women praying was so terrifying
4:01
that in some towns schools were
shut and business stagnated.
4:04
On one occasion, firemen were called out
4:05
to hose down the dangerous praying women.
4:07
On another, the owner of a beer garden
4:09
reportedly hold a cannon outside
4:11
and threatened to reduce
the savage women to dust.
4:14
Nevertheless, they persisted.
4:15
They formed the WCTU in
1874 and they organized.
4:19
They set up homes for inebriate women.
4:21
They installed water
fountains in public parks.
4:23
They wrote textbooks for schoolchildren
4:25
that contained some interesting claims
4:27
about drinking alcohol.
4:28
Here's little Timmy.
4:29
Uh-oh, looks like Timmy's
gonna have his first drink.
4:32
He's taking a small sip of whiskey
4:34
and Timmy has spontaneously combusted.
4:36
The end.
4:37
The women's efforts weren't in vain.
4:38
In small towns across America,
4:40
drugstores agreed to stop fulfilling
4:41
prescriptions for alcohol.
4:43
Men committed themselves
to giving up drink.
4:45
Inspired by the women's moral fervor,
4:47
some saloon owners closed their doors.
4:49
The women's crusade and
other temperance movements
4:51
were forcing people to reconsider
alcohol's role in society,
4:54
and more people began to side
4:55
with the growing temperance movement.
4:57
Many states had even begun enacting
4:59
their own dry laws that restricted
5:00
the sale and use of alcohol.
5:02
One of them was Kansas
5:03
where alcohol had been
outlawed since 1881.
5:06
Despite this, many illegal
saloons remained open
5:09
and authorities had done just
about nothing to stop them.
5:11
One woman, disgusted by what she saw,
5:14
decided she would take the
law into her own hands,
5:16
and not just any woman, a
terrifying hatchet-wielding,
5:20
sweet old lady named Carrie Nation.
5:22
Armed with her trustee hatchet
5:24
and a bag of what she called smashers,
5:26
she traveled from town
to town visiting saloons,
5:28
but she wasn't there to get smashed,
5:30
she was there to smash.
5:32
The men could do nothing but cower
5:33
as sweet little Carrie hulked out
5:35
and tore the place to shreds.
5:37
She went to Kiowa and smashy smashed,
5:39
Wichita, smashy smashed,
5:40
to Piqua, smashy smashed.
5:42
On a couple of occasions,
she was arrested,
5:44
but each time they were like,
5:45
okay, Carrie, we're gonna let you go
5:46
so long as you promise to be a good girl
5:48
and not smash up any more saloons, okay?
5:50
Screw you pig! (spits)
5:53
Yeah, I think she's gonna be all right.
5:56
Smash, smash, smash.
5:58
Carrie's tactics shocked the other members
6:00
of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
6:01
but she assured them, and this is a quote,
6:03
"Ladies, you do not know
how much joy you will have
6:06
"until you smash, smash, smash."
6:09
Carrie became a household name
6:10
and she hoped her unusual tactics
6:12
would spread across the country,
6:13
but unfortunately,
6:14
many of the women's movements
eventually slowed down.
6:17
Why?
6:18
Well, because of this kinda thing.
6:19
Thelma!
6:21
I ripped my pants again.
6:22
Ugh, well, you'll have
to sew them yourself
6:24
because I'm going out protesting.
6:26
What?!
6:27
I don't know how to sew.
6:29
What if I burn the house down
and get eaten by alligators?
6:31
What?
6:32
Don't be stupid, Mitch!
6:34
Look, I've gotta go.
6:36
Call me stupid?
6:38
She's the one who's stupid.
6:39
(glass shattering)
6:42
(loud explosion)
6:45
Hey Thelma!
6:45
Look who's stupid now?
6:48
See, while the women were out protesting,
6:51
there was nobody to do
the cooking and cleaning
6:52
and being seen and not heard,
6:54
and they gradually had to
return to their duties at home.
6:56
But where the women had
got the ball rolling,
6:59
a new movement was about to take that ball
7:01
all the way to Washington, DC.
7:03
I'm talking about the Anti-Saloon League.
7:05
The Anti-Saloon League was
a political pressure group
7:07
run by a very sweet-looking old man.
7:09
But don't let that deceive you.
7:10
This guy was an evil genius.
7:12
While the women's movements
7:13
were interested in a
whole range of issues,
7:15
Wayne Wheeler and the Anti-Saloon League
7:17
only cared about enemy
number one, Mr. Al Cohol,
7:20
and as a result, they
were extremely effective.
7:23
They were able to exploit the
fears of the American people.
7:25
And I mean everyone's fears.
7:27
Here's how they did it.
7:28
Hello, sir, welcome to the
Liberal Progressive rally.
7:31
Why don't you introduce yourself?
7:32
Well, I'm Paddy and I'm
an immigrant from Ireland.
7:35
And tell me, Paddy, do you drink?
7:37
Oh yes, I drink a lot.
7:39
See folks?
7:39
People like Paddy come here
looking for a better life
7:42
only to end up drunk in the gutter.
7:44
Don't worry, sir, we're gonna help you.
7:47
(people applauding)
7:48
Hey man, you're doing great.
7:50
I just need you for one more thing.
7:52
Hey Christian Conservatives,
this is Paddy.
7:55
He's a dirty Catholic Irish immigrant
7:58
who's come to destroy America
7:59
with his alcohol-fueled debauchery.
8:03
(people cheering)
8:05
Workers were told alcohol
was a capitalist ploy
8:08
to keep them subjugated.
8:09
Factory owners were told
8:10
alcohol was making their
irresponsible workers lazy.
8:13
The Black community was warned
8:14
alcohol was hindering its progress
8:16
while racists were warned alcohol
8:17
would turn Black men into brutes.
8:19
In one of the most confusing
eras of American politics,
8:22
totally opposing groups
found themselves agreeing
8:24
on at least one thing, alcohol was bad.
8:27
The Anti-Saloon League also
made great use of propaganda,
8:29
something prohibitionists
had been doing for decades.
8:31
Take this specimen, for example,
8:33
that warns what will happen
to you if you start drinking.
8:36
Let's see, first you take a drink,
8:37
you get a little rowdy,
8:39
okay, you make some new friends.
8:41
Nice.
8:42
Then you become homeless.
8:44
You turn to crime.
8:45
And but, uh-oh.
8:49
But the most effective tactic
8:50
Wheeler used to force
prohibition on America
8:52
was pressure politics.
8:54
In any election he could,
8:55
Wheeler very successfully rounded support
8:57
against any politician who
was in favor of alcohol.
9:00
In Ohio alone, he had
70 state representatives
9:03
and the popular Republican
governor ousted from office
9:05
and replaced with prohibitionists.
9:07
Suddenly every politician in America
9:09
was afraid of Wayne Wheeler.
9:11
Even those who enjoyed alcohol in private
9:13
began pretending to be
against it in public.
9:16
Alcohol is delicious.
9:18
I mean malicious.
9:19
Sorry Wayne.
9:21
I'm really drunk right now.
9:22
Then it really hit the fan in
1917 when America found itself
9:24
fighting in the First
World War against Germany.
9:27
Anti-German sentiment exploded.
9:29
Sauerkraut became Liberty Cabbage.
9:31
German measles became Liberty measles.
9:33
And dachshunds became
the embodiment of evil.
9:36
See America?
9:37
You've always been this way.
9:38
The biggest brewers in
America were German,
9:40
and Wheeler saw to it
that drinking alcohol
9:42
became akin to pro-German treason.
9:45
The German brewers desperately
tried to fight back,
9:47
creating their own propaganda,
9:48
presenting beer as a healthy beverage,
9:50
one that you could even give to your kids.
9:52
As you can imagine, it
didn't go down well.
9:54
President Wilson instituted some temporary
9:57
wartime prohibition measures
to save grain for food.
9:59
And with many in the country
now in support of prohibition,
10:02
all that was left was to make it law.
10:04
One problem was that taxes
on alcohol made up nearly 40%
10:07
of the US government's annual revenue,
10:09
and the government wasn't
just about to give that up.
10:11
No problem.
10:12
The Anti-Saloon League
helped lobby for the creation
10:14
of a new income tax on
the American people.
10:16
And just like that,
10:18
the government was no
longer reliant on alcohol.
10:20
Prohibition was finally
introduced to Congress in 1913,
10:24
not just as a law but a
constitutional amendment.
10:27
In 1917 as the House held their final vote
10:30
on the prohibition amendment,
10:31
Wheeler was watching from the gallery.
10:33
You spineless cowards.
10:35
I know half of you drink
10:37
yet here you are bowing down
to Ned Flanders up there.
10:39
Look at him like he's some kind of Caesar.
10:41
Ugh, don't be so dramatic.
10:43
I obviously don't think I'm Caesar.
10:46
Now release the lions.
10:47
(lion roaring)
10:48
In the end, prohibition
passed the House easily,
10:51
282 votes to 128.
10:53
And the states ratified
the new amendment by 1919.
10:56
America, a nation obsessed
with liberty and freedom,
10:59
had just voluntarily
given up its private right
11:02
to choose Whether or not to drink alcohol.
11:05
We did it, folks!
(crowd cheering)
11:06
We fixed everything.
11:07
America will be perfect forever.
11:09
But you just dissolved
America's fifth largest industry
11:12
and lost tens of thousands
of jobs for us immigrants.
11:14
No, you idiot.
11:16
You don't get it.
11:16
We helped you, idiot.
11:18
Ugh, I could really go for a beer.
11:21
Oh no!
11:23
Immediately after
prohibition went into effect,
11:25
alcohol consumption in America
11:26
decreased as Americans followed the law
11:28
and tried not drinking.
11:29
Man, if we're gonna be
law-abiding good boys,
11:31
we need something else to
fill the dark lonely void
11:34
that delicious beer once did.
11:35
Well, how about we crack open
a nice cold can of water?
11:39
Hell, yeah, toss it over.
11:44
Nah, this isn't doing it for me.
11:46
Let's try knitting.
11:49
This isn't filling the dark void at all.
11:51
Wanna play some kites?
11:52
Ah, screw it.
11:54
Let's go get some illegal beer.
11:55
While it seemed like many
Americans supported prohibition,
11:58
after the law went into effect,
11:59
it seemed like just as many Americans
12:01
intended to keep on drinking
12:03
and they would go on to
find a variety of ways
12:04
to break the new law.
12:06
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13:16
Now where were we?
13:17
Oh yeah, punching Paddy,
13:19
passing prohibition, and procuring pints.
13:21
Pretty soon after the
new law went into effect,
13:23
the failures of prohibition
13:24
were already beginning
to rear their ugly heads.
13:27
For starters, the details
of the new prohibition law
13:29
written by none other
than Wayne Wheeler himself
13:32
turned out to be more
draconian than expected.
13:34
Many prohibition supporters
13:35
only wanted to outlaw hard liquor
13:37
and hoped beer would remain legal,
13:38
but the Volstead Act
outlawed anything over .5%.
13:42
That would make Liberty Cabbage illegal.
13:44
Secondly, the new law
was full of loopholes
13:46
that Americans very
quickly began to exploit.
13:48
For example, while the sale
13:50
and manufacturer of liquor was illegal,
13:52
drinking it wasn't.
13:53
And you could also keep
any alcohol you had
13:55
before the law went into effect.
13:56
So many private clubs hoarded
huge amounts of alcohol
13:59
that saw them through the
entire prohibition period.
14:01
Whiskey intended for medicinal
purposes was also allowed
14:04
and doctors basically became bartenders.
14:06
It looked as though a full-on
epidemic had broken out
14:09
as there was a sudden surge
in prescriptions for whiskey.
14:11
Sacramental wines used by
churches and synagogues
14:14
were also permitted.
14:15
Orders for communion wine
suspiciously skyrocketed
14:17
by millions of gallons.
14:18
And as rabbis had access
to religious wine,
14:21
suddenly everyone was becoming a rabbi.
14:22
You had Rabbi Pat O'Leary,
Rabbi LL Cool J, Rabbi Fluffy.
14:27
But don't worry.
14:27
I'm sure all these definitely
legitimate religious figures
14:30
couldn't possibly be selling wine
14:31
in the back alley after mass.
14:32
Yep, definitely nothing
strange going on here.
14:35
New products also hit
the shelves in stores,
14:37
such as Vine-Glo, a brick
of dehydrated grape juice,
14:40
itself not alcoholic and
therefore perfectly legal,
14:43
but the packaging did contain
a strangely specific warning.
14:46
After dissolving the brick
in a gallon of water,
14:48
do not place the liquid in a jug
14:49
in the cupboard for 20 days,
14:51
because then it would turn into a wine.
14:53
I'll take a thousand.
14:54
Yes, sir.
14:55
Now at this point, I want
you to think back for me,
14:57
if you will, to the year 2005.
15:00
You're the coolest kid around
15:01
and you convince your parents to rent
15:03
the greatest movie of all time
from your local Blockbuster.
15:05
But the movie starts
with a strange message,
15:07
something about not downloading a car.
15:09
You immediately disregard
that and hop on Kazaa
15:12
to download the greatest song of all time,
15:14
and in the process drain
your dad's bank account
15:16
with copious amounts of ransomware.
15:18
You were breaking the
law, you bad boy or girl.
15:21
But did anyone come to arrest you?
15:22
No.
15:24
That's my point.
15:25
If no one is enforcing a law
while everyone's breaking it,
15:28
is it really a law?
15:29
And so it was with prohibition.
15:32
See, the conservative-led
governments of the decade
15:34
were also the kind of people
15:35
who believed in small government spending.
15:38
So they passed a law
15:38
that would be extremely
difficult to enforce
15:41
but also didn't wanna spend
15:42
any of the money required to enforce it.
15:44
The newly created Bureau of Prohibition
15:46
only had 1500 agents to
cover the entire country.
15:49
That's one agent for
every 70,666 Americans
15:53
in a massive country with
12,000 miles of coastline
15:56
and one gigantic land border with Canada.
15:58
Good luck schmuckos.
16:00
And all these clever little loopholes
16:01
people were using to score legal booze
16:03
were only just the beginning.
16:05
America was about to devolve
16:07
into alcohol-fueled criminal chaos.
16:10
By outlawing it,
16:11
prohibition had made alcohol
a precious commodity.
16:14
And millions of Americans
would become outlaws
16:16
as they found a variety of
ways to score illegal booze.
16:18
For example, many Americans
began making their own liquor.
16:21
Illegal stills for making moonshine
16:23
were found by prohibition agents
16:25
from the hills of Kentucky
and the caves of Arizona
16:27
to parking lots in major
cities and even in the homes
16:29
of prohibition-supporting politicians.
16:31
Oh come on now, fellas,
I voted for prohibition.
16:34
I'm not gonna have an illegal still.
16:36
What's this?
16:37
That's my son Freddie.
16:38
Say hi, Freddy.
16:39
Sir, this is obviously an illegal still.
16:41
How dare you?
16:42
Hey, what's this in the bathtub?
16:44
That's bath water.
16:45
Why does it taste like alcohol?
16:47
Here's a better question.
16:48
Why are you tasting my bath water, weirdo?
16:50
Come on, Freddy.
16:51
Let's get away from these perverts.
16:53
To discourage moonshining,
16:54
the government began adding extra toxins
16:56
to many of the products
moonshiners were using
16:58
which resulted in many cases
of severe illness and death.
17:01
But alcohol wasn't just
being made at home.
17:03
Along America's vast coastlines,
17:05
rumrunners smuggled alcohol
into the country by sea.
17:08
A floating supermarket known as Rum Row
17:10
extended along the East Coast
17:11
just beyond America's maritime limit.
17:13
And bootleggers frequently
sailed out in small boats
17:16
to pick up shipments of booze.
17:17
These bootleggers could then be found
17:18
selling their illegal products everywhere
17:20
even in the halls of Congress.
17:23
Wow, pop, one day, I wanna work here.
17:25
Well, son, if you work
hard and never give up,
17:28
one day even you could
be a massive hypocrite.
17:31
Even President Harding was
known to serve his cabinet
17:33
bootlegged whiskey.
17:34
And some bootleggers were so successful,
17:36
they became bazillionaires
such as Roy Olmsted,
17:39
an ex-cop who became one
of the biggest employers
17:41
in the Seattle area from smuggling booze.
17:43
Unfortunately, all of his
whiskey came from Canada.
17:46
Yuck.
17:47
All of this criminality
was being made possible
17:49
by copious amounts of corruption.
17:51
Across the country, armies
of government officials
17:53
were persuaded to turn a blind eye.
17:55
Bootleggers became so rich
17:57
it was no problem to stuff
a couple thousand dollars
17:58
into the front pocket of the police chief
18:00
or the mayor or their disapproving mother.
18:02
And some cops were getting
18:03
almost as rich as the bootleggers.
18:04
All right, men, everyone gather in.
18:06
I've received word that one of you
18:08
has been taking bribes from bootleggers.
18:10
Any ideas who?
18:11
Kevin perhaps, got any thoughts?
18:13
No, sir.
18:14
Many police officers
18:15
came from the same
communities that drank a lot
18:17
and they weren't about to
arrest their own granddads
18:19
for knocking back some homemade gin.
18:21
But all this isn't to say
18:22
there was no enforcement.
18:23
Plenty of government officials
18:24
were doing their best
to enforce the new laws.
18:27
And some unlucky individuals
18:28
received very harsh penalties
18:30
such as a Michigan mother who
is sentenced to life in prison
18:32
for small-scale moonshining.
18:34
Cases like these were
widely reported in the media
18:37
and only served to make
prohibition even more unpopular.
18:39
But not just that,
18:40
the media also loved to cover the exploits
18:42
of the most famous bootleggers,
18:44
turning them into national icons.
18:46
One of the biggest bootleggers
18:48
was a man named George Remus.
18:50
Originally a lawyer,
18:51
he watched as his bootlegger clients
18:53
paid off enormous fines
like it was nothing
18:55
and proclaimed bootlegging
is the business for me!
18:57
But unlike most bootleggers,
Remus had big brain
19:00
and he came up with a
pretty clever system.
19:02
See, there were millions
of gallons of liquor
19:04
produced before prohibition
19:05
that were sitting in
distillery warehouses.
19:08
And it could only be sold
19:08
with government permission
to drug companies.
19:10
So Remus set up his own drug company
19:12
and bought all the liquor,
19:13
then he set up his own transport company
19:15
to transport the liquor,
19:16
and then he would send
his own men out with guns
19:18
to intercept his own transport vehicles,
19:20
and this would happen.
19:21
Hey man, this is a stick-up.
19:23
Oh no, please don't hurt me.
19:24
I won't hesitate to shoot.
19:27
Please, I have a wife and kids.
19:28
Handover all the whiskey, fatty.
19:31
Hey, fatty isn't in the
script, you jerk! (sobs)
19:36
After stealing all the
whiskey from himself,
19:38
he could then sell it for big bucks.
19:40
The perfect crime.
19:41
Unfortunately, Remus was eventually caught
19:44
by a goody two-shoes
prohibition director in Indiana
19:46
who wouldn't take Remus's bribes.
19:48
And the government found Remus guilty
19:49
of violating the Volstead Act 3,000 times.
19:52
For two years as Remus sat in prison,
19:54
his wife promised to take
care of all of his money,
19:56
and by take care of his money,
19:58
she meant having an affair
with a prohibition agent,
20:00
sell off everything Remus
owned, and file for divorce.
20:02
When Remus finally got out
20:04
and found his big fancy mansion
empty with his wife gone,
20:06
he reportedly broke out in tears.
20:09
A few months later,
during the divorce trial,
20:11
he spotted his wife in
a car in Cincinnati.
20:13
Remus hopped in a cab and asked the driver
20:15
to run her off the road.
20:16
The driver was like, okay.
20:18
Then Remus got out of the
cab and shot his wife dead.
20:21
He immediately handed
himself into the police.
20:23
And his next trial, this time for murder,
20:26
became a national sensation.
20:28
Remus defended himself, claiming insanity,
20:31
occasionally carrying
out skillful questioning,
20:33
occasionally crying in the corner.
20:34
But the nation felt bad for him.
20:36
His wife had screwed him over.
20:37
And so when after just 19
minutes of deliberation,
20:40
the jury returned and
declared him not guilty.
20:43
The court erupted into celebration.
20:45
And just to remind you,
20:46
this guy bluntly admitted
to murdering his wife.
20:49
The American justice system.
20:52
As alcohol poured into the nation,
20:54
a lot of it was going
20:55
to a new type of drinking establishment
20:56
that had been booming in popularity,
20:58
a secret drinking establishment.
20:59
So secret that from the outside,
21:02
they often looked like
ordinary shops or homes,
21:04
so secret that you usually
needed a password to get in,
21:07
so secret that everybody
knew about them, speakeasies.
21:10
And once you were in, the
party went all night long.
21:13
Scantily clad flappers,
snake ladies, jazz.
21:16
It was a roaring time to be alive.
21:18
Some publications even posted
reviews of these illegal clubs
21:21
and bribes galore kept the party going.
21:23
It seemed like half the police officers
21:25
and federal agents in cities like New York
21:27
were receiving kickbacks
from speakeasy owners.
21:29
Hey, what the Kevin
Costner is going on here?
21:33
Officer O'Hannity, taking
bribes, why am I not surprised?
21:38
Prohibition director Simmons?
21:40
For shame.
21:41
Mom?
21:42
What would dad say?
21:43
Ask him yourself.
21:44
Dad would say quit
being such a wet blanket
21:46
and let daddy earn his tips.
21:48
Anytime a speakeasy was
shut down by authorities,
21:50
it seemed like three more
would just pop up elsewhere.
21:52
And some neighborhoods
were so full of them
21:54
that one resident began hanging a sign
21:56
to try to keep party-goers
21:57
from constantly knocking on her door.
21:58
It really seemed like the
new laws regarding alcohol
22:01
in some places were simply being ignored.
22:03
And one prohibition agent
who traveled the country
22:05
liked to see which city
was the most defiant
22:07
by timing how long it took for him
22:09
to be offered a beer after he arrived.
22:11
His winner?
22:11
New Orleans where a cab
driver offered him a drink
22:14
after just 35 seconds.
22:15
Bravo!
22:17
Many voices in Congress
were already speaking out
22:18
against prohibition and its failures.
22:21
To display how ridiculous
the whole thing was,
22:23
one Republican congressmen
gathered the media
22:25
to all come and watch him
drink a homemade beer.
22:27
When he asked a passing police officer
22:29
if he'd like to arrest him,
22:30
the officer said no.
22:31
Hey Wayne, is all this
what you had in mind?
22:33
I thought we were gonna
make the country better
22:35
but it almost seems like it's worse.
22:37
What do you mean?
22:38
Alcohol consumption is down.
22:40
Well, that may be true
in your small town world,
22:42
but it says here drinking
in some areas is up
22:44
as are arrests for public intoxication,
22:46
drunk driving, and incidents
of liver cirrhosis.
22:48
The general chaos has turned America
22:49
into a nation of criminals
with no respect for the law.
22:52
And all these attempts at enforcement
22:53
are just costing the
economy valuable money
22:55
and eating up judicial time and resources.
22:56
Release the lions.
22:57
(lion roaring)
22:59
The social change and corruption
23:00
that Wheeler and the Anti-Saloon League
23:01
had been so eager to prevent,
23:03
in the cities at least, was surging.
23:05
See, when something is legal,
23:06
you can usually regulate and control it,
23:09
but make that thing illegal
23:10
and often anything becomes fair game.
23:12
Legal drinking age, gone.
23:14
Mandatory closing hours
for clubs and bars, gone.
23:17
Other unspoken sociocultural
rules surrounding alcohol,
23:20
gone, gone, gone.
23:22
In speakeasies, different
genders and ethnicities
23:24
were beginning to mingle in a
way they hadn't done before.
23:26
The roaring 20s saw a monumental shift
23:29
in culture, not least of all,
23:30
because now men and women
could flirt in public
23:32
without being damned for eternity.
23:34
An outraged Wayne Wheeler
did his best to make sure
23:36
that anyone breaking the law was punished.
23:38
He had even stricter legislation
put in place in New York.
23:41
But all this did was clogged
up the justice system
23:43
with petty drinking violations,
23:45
and judges began letting
everyone off with like fines
23:47
so the judges could get
back to dealing with things
23:49
that actually mattered,
23:50
things like murder,
23:51
and there was plenty of murder,
23:53
because bootleggers and
moonshiners were one thing,
23:56
but prohibition had given
another kind of criminal
23:58
an opportunity to make a fortune,
24:00
mobsters and gangsters.
24:02
Hey Fat Tony, big news.
24:04
Hey Fat Joey, what's up?
24:06
I just got word from Fat Louis here
24:08
that the government is outlawing alcohol.
24:09
You know what that means?
24:10
That means we're gonna be rich.
24:13
Quick, call Fat Paulie
24:14
and let's go hijack a liquor truck now.
24:16
All right.
24:17
Hang on, let me tell my wife first.
24:19
Hey Fat Susan, no pizza for
Fat Joey tonight, capeesh?
24:22
Stopped calling me Fat Susan.
24:25
Oh yeah, forget about it.
24:27
Rival gangs began to
battle in American cities,
24:29
raiding each other's transports,
assassinating rivals,
24:32
and trying to take control
24:33
of their city's illicit booze trade.
24:35
Every city had its top dog.
24:36
Detroit had The Purple Gang,
24:38
New England had Charles King Solomon,
24:40
but no city was as infamous
24:41
for gang violence and murder as Chicago.
24:44
The city had multiple gang factions,
24:46
and at first, they agreed to stay
24:47
in their own neighborhoods,
24:48
but the thing about criminals
is that they're criminals,
24:51
and the agreements inevitably broke down.
24:52
One day the leader of the
Italian South Side Gang
24:55
was walking along the
street when this happened.
24:57
(machine guns firing)
24:58
And he was like, "You know,
I think I'm done with this,"
25:01
and left for New York,
25:02
leaving his crime empire
to his chief enforcer,
25:04
none other than Al Capone.
25:07
Having been knifed in the
face in his younger years,
25:09
Capone earned himself the name Scarface.
25:11
Although interestingly,
he hated that nickname
25:13
and preferred to be called Snorky.
25:15
Snorky was ruthless
25:16
just like any other
gang leader in America,
25:19
but what set him apart from others,
25:20
the reason he's become synonymous
25:21
with 1920's gang warfare is this.
25:24
Most other gang leaders would
try to keep a low profile
25:26
because they're killing
and murdering and stuff,
25:28
but Capone lived for the fame
25:30
and kept an extremely high public profile,
25:32
frequently speaking with
the media about his exploits
25:34
and presenting himself as a gracious host,
25:36
providing Chicago with good times.
25:39
No need to thank me fellows.
25:40
I just provide the city
with a valuable commodity
25:42
while doing away with the competition.
25:45
You mean you murder people?
25:45
Whoa, who said anything about murder?
25:48
I just forced my rivals underground.
25:51
When you do the thing with the hands,
25:52
it seems like you're talking about murder.
25:53
Whoa, look at you with the brains.
25:55
No, no, I just help
people retire from life.
25:59
So murder?
26:00
Whoa!
26:01
Al Snorky Capone was
somewhat of an enigma,
26:03
brutal in how he dealt with enemies,
26:05
but in front of the
camera he was all smiles.
26:07
One day he'd be ordering hit after hit,
26:09
the next, he'd be signing
autographs in Wrigley Field.
26:11
One day he'd be bludgeoning
members of his own gang
26:13
with a baseball bat for
conspiring against him,
26:15
the next, he'd be playing Santa
26:17
at a nearby parochial school.
26:18
And no murder could ever
be traced back to him.
26:20
Just like every other criminal,
26:22
he stuffed the pockets of city officials
26:24
with cold hard cash,
26:25
and any who did try to oppose
him sometimes found themselves
26:27
being thrown down the steps of
city hall in broad daylight.
26:30
Problem solved.
26:32
The public couldn't get enough of Capone.
26:33
He quickly became a household name
26:34
as people romanticized
the gang life he lived,
26:37
and this became a source of concern
26:38
for the people at the very top.
26:40
President Hoover.
26:41
What is it now, Miles?
26:43
I'm busy.
26:44
Well, it's just that
there's a lot of crime, sir.
26:46
Crime.
26:47
How long has that been happening?
26:48
Well, since the dawn of man, sir.
26:50
What?
26:51
Would you like me to blame
it on the Democrats again?
26:52
No, Miles, I want you to
blame it on squirrels.
26:55
Yes, the Democrats!
26:56
Now stop wasting my time.
26:57
Since having a crime lord
controlling public officials
27:00
and winning the hearts of the people
27:01
probably wasn't a good thing,
27:02
Hoover personally ordered
that something be done
27:04
about this Capone fellow.
27:05
But before he knew it,
27:06
President Hoover was also dealing
27:08
with another major problem.
27:09
You know 'em, you love 'em.
27:11
Women.
27:13
The prohibition era had been
going on for nearly a decade,
27:15
and anyone with a brain could see
27:16
that it really wasn't going very well.
27:18
One person with a brain was Pauline Sabin,
27:20
an extremely influential and rich woman
27:23
who served on the Republican
National Committee,
27:25
fund-raised for Republican presidents,
27:26
and had a secret wine
room in her giant mansion.
27:29
She initially supported prohibition
27:30
but was now disgusted at
the chaos it had created.
27:33
And she began a new women's movement,
27:35
this time not for
prohibition, but against it.
27:37
Being the extremely
influential woman she was,
27:40
her new organization gained
27:41
nearly 1.5 million
members within two years,
27:44
five times that of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union.
27:47
She hated that the WCTU
claimed to speak for all women
27:50
and she began calling for the
repeal of the 18th Amendment.
27:53
President Hoover, I
helped fund your campaign
27:55
and now I want you to end prohibition.
27:57
Miles, what is it I say when
I'm not gonna do anything?
27:59
You'll look into it, sir.
28:01
Oh yeah, that's right.
28:02
Pauline, I'll look into it.
28:05
Sabin gave speeches on
the steps of Congress
28:07
and helped started growing push
28:08
among the American people
against prohibition.
28:10
But Hoover, a prohibitionist
himself, wasn't budging.
28:13
Then on the 14th of February 1929,
28:16
something happened that
shocked the nation.
28:18
Men thought to be working for Al Capone
28:20
tricked some Irish
mobsters into meeting them
28:22
at a garage in Chicago,
28:24
thinking they were there to
purchase hijacked whiskey,
28:26
instead the mobsters were
lined up against the wall
28:29
by men dressed as police
and they were shot.
28:32
The Valentine's Day Massacre
had people outraged.
28:35
It was cruel and almost
felt like American mobsters
28:37
had finally crossed the line.
28:39
People were sick of the violence,
28:41
and in part they blamed prohibition
28:43
for helping to create it.
28:44
The pressure on Hoover to do something
28:46
was steadily increasing.
28:47
Fine.
28:48
Miles, I want you to put a report together
28:50
to see if this whole thing is working.
28:51
You mean the thing where mobsters
28:53
are becoming increasingly powerful
28:54
and massacring each other in the streets
28:56
and everyone is disregarding the law
28:56
and half our public officials
28:58
are corrupt and taking bribes?
28:59
That thing?
29:00
Yeah, I wanna know if it's
working or not, Miles.
29:02
Stop wasting my time.
29:04
Hoover continued to drag
his feet on prohibition,
29:06
but after the Valentine's Day Massacre,
29:07
he was still determined to do one thing.
29:09
He wanted Al Capone in prison.
29:12
Since Capone had been so careful,
29:13
the FBI were having a hard time
charging him with anything,
29:16
but eventually they got him.
29:17
Capone, we know you're
supplying Chicago with alcohol
29:20
and you've been involved
in countless murders.
29:21
Whoa, look at you with the crazy talk.
29:24
I ain't done none of that stuff.
29:25
But you're rich, right?
29:27
You're damn right I am.
29:28
And so where'd all the
money come from, Capone?
29:30
All right, I'll let you
in on a little secret,
29:32
but you gotta promise
not to tell anyone, okay?
29:35
I don't pay my taxes.
29:38
Whoa!
29:40
For all of his murdering,
29:41
the IRS finally got Capone on tax evasion.
29:43
At his trial, he didn't
seem too concern though
29:46
and spent most of his time
having a laugh with his lawyers.
29:49
Hey Capone, I gotta know,
29:50
why are you so confident
you're gonna win here?
29:52
Well, your honor, because I'm
an honest man with a big heart
29:55
who's passionate about working
for the good of the people
29:57
and also because I threatened
the entire jury's families.
29:59
Luckily at the last minute,
30:01
the judge replaced the entire
jury pool with a new one
30:03
that Capone's men hadn't yet got to,
30:05
and Capone was found guilty.
30:06
He was sentenced to 11
years in federal prison,
30:09
the harshest penalty ever
given to a tax evader.
30:12
But even with Capone locked away,
30:13
the violence in Chicago
and other cities continued,
30:16
and in response, the
movement against prohibition
30:18
continued to grow.
30:19
And the final nail in
prohibition's coffin came in 1929.
30:23
After a decade of booming economic growth
30:25
under three Republican presidents,
30:27
the stock market plummeted
30:29
and America was thrown into the grips
30:30
of the Great Depression.
30:31
It was an awful time.
30:33
One out of every five workers,
30:34
15 million people, would lose their jobs.
30:37
Half the nation's banks failed.
30:39
Temporary shantytowns were built
30:41
for the broke and
homeless in public parks.
30:43
Suddenly very few people had
time to care about prohibition.
30:47
Expensive enforcement
of an unenforceable law
30:49
didn't seem like that big of a priority
30:51
when people were having
their homes repossessed
30:53
and losing their life savings.
30:55
And many began to argue
that repealing prohibition
30:57
would create vital jobs and
tax revenue for the government,
31:00
yet President Hoover doubled down.
31:02
Here's that report you asked for, sir.
31:04
Gimme.
31:05
Prohibition is great.
31:07
Fantastic news.
31:09
Sir, it says here prohibition is great
31:11
at undermining the rule of law in America.
31:13
Miles, it says the word great.
31:15
That means good.
31:17
Now stop wasting my time.
31:20
The public increasingly shocked
31:21
at the violence they saw on the streets,
31:22
the corruption they saw in the government,
31:24
the general disregard for the law,
31:26
and now an economic calamity,
31:28
had had enough.
31:29
For his reelection, Hoover
faced the democratic candidate
31:32
who promised to finally do
something about prohibition,
31:34
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
31:36
Crowds cheered
31:38
as FDR made his campaign speeches
31:39
promising to modify the Volstead Act.
31:41
And Pauline Sabin, a lifelong Republican,
31:43
along with her 1.5 million
supporters, endorsed Roosevelt.
31:47
And on election day, it was a landslide.
31:49
Before FDR had even taken office,
31:52
Republicans in Congress began the process
31:54
of passing the 21st Amendment
to repeal prohibition.
31:56
One of FDR's first acts as president
31:58
was to pass the Beer Permit
Act which made beer legal
32:01
while the new amendment
was being ratified.
32:03
In 1933 with the passage
of the 21st Amendment,
32:06
prohibition was finally over,
32:09
and the people celebrated
32:11
like they had just won a World War.
32:13
Bars and taverns were packed.
32:14
The WCTU were inconsolable.
32:17
Wayne Wheeler was dead.
32:19
And the celebration,
32:20
particularly in American
cities, was intense.
32:23
Heading into the mid-1930s,
32:24
the effects of prohibition
were clear to see.
32:27
From now on, culture
around drinking had changed
32:29
with men and women drinking
together not in saloons
32:33
but in bars and taverns.
32:34
The crime syndicates that
had been given so much power
32:36
through prohibition remained powerful
32:38
as they moved on to other things.
32:40
Some states opted to remain dry
32:42
with Oklahoma only repealing
its prohibition laws in 1959.
32:46
To this day, there are
still counties in America
32:48
with some form of prohibition.
32:50
So what did we learn today, kids?
32:52
What's the big lesson here?
32:54
What's the moral of this story
32:55
that we can all take away
32:56
and apply to our day-to-day lives?
32:58
Maybe that you shouldn't
force your own morals
33:00
on others who don't share them?
33:01
Maybe that if you tell
Americans not to do something,
33:03
that's the one thing
they'll definitely do.
33:06
Or maybe there is no lesson.
33:07
Maybe we're all just a
bunch of dumb stinky idiots
33:09
and we're all doomed.
33:11
The end.
33:13
(upbeat music)
— end of transcript —
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