I live in what we call a dry county here in Arkansas. Alcohol can't be sold here but we can drink it. It doesn't help much when the drug problems are so much worse but nobody cares here I guess.
@@ramaslambert7200 I live in a dry township too. There are dry counties and townships all over the rural US still. There are many of the same mistakes of prohibition being made to this day with the 'war on drugs'
Fun fact: There is a bar/restaurant here in Cincinnati called Nation, named after Carrie Nation. Their slogan is "All Nations are welcome......except Carrie"
Here in Baton Rouge, there is a historical marker for the Fort Sumpter Saloon which opened following the attack on Fort Sumpter and the proprietor stuck a cannon , muzzle down, at the front door marking the entrance. The bar is long gone, but the cannon, and marker are still there.
Oversimplified has the best history lessons. Fun fact, NASCAR came about because of moonshiners. They'd compete to see who had the fastest cars after they spent decades outrunning the cops. Even though it was years after prohibition, that's where it's roots are
Nice reminder. It seems that moonshine was still run illegally to avoid federal taxation for years afterwards. I will always remember Robert Mitchum playing a moonshine runner in a movie from the 1950s. Thanks!
@@bfkennedy moonshine is still "regulated" weirdly. You can produce it legally, but you can't sell it for those tax purposes. Most people now do it for a hobby, some do it for extra cash though. There's a lot of good moonshiners movies out there for sure
"Doctors basically became bar tenders" That's why we sell beer and wine in pharmacies. If you've ever been to a real old school pharmacy you'll often even see a bar inside. These were mostly converted to soda bars and are a good place to grab a milk shake or a float.
Yeah, no. That’s not how it happened. Bars in pharmacies were never really a thing. Before the existence of various drug and narcotics laws, what was a thing was getting various pep drinks containing things like caffeine and cocaine at the drugstore. With the closing of bars and saloons during Prohibition, and with the invention of soda water fountains at about the same time, those drugstore concoctions evolved into fizzy soft drinks, ice cream sodas and the like served at the drugstore soda fountain, which became big money makers for the drugstore.That is where those old timey drugstore soda counters came from.
For that matter, so called "soft drinks" have their roots in the pre-regulation patent medicine era and were often made by and sold only in pharmacies, such as Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper. They were marketed as being good for you, curing ailments, and giving you "pep" (Pepsi Cola). All of the sugar, caffeine, and in some cases analgesics such as coca extract in them probably had something to do with that.
President Wilson had a load of wine transported from the White House to his private residence right before prohibition took affect. Most taxes before prohibition was on booze and tariffs. There was no income tax until 1916.
@@jameshudkins2210 There was a temporary income tax during the civil war to help fund the Union's war effort. I think the Confederates may have tried something similar.
As you can tell from, Prohibition had a much deeper backstory than people think with the Temperance Movement and such. It had been a goal of a lot of people for decades. You don't just get through the difficult constitutional amendment process without that. But then it went so bad that it crumbled in only a little over a decade and is still the only amendment to be repealed.
Carrie Nation was an Irish woman. She and her little hatchet would break up saloons. My grandmother would say, "Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine."
The Great Lakes were a major smuggling area due to the open border (practically, not politically) with Canada. Short runs of just a few miles meant small boats could be used and landed anywhere, in the dark of night. That's why the mob was so big in the cities on the lakes.
Here in the coastal areas of the Carolinas those small boats would run booze in the sounds and rivers. They were affectionately known as booze yachts [pronounced boozey yachts].
Yep. A great uncle of mine from the Green Bay area worked for Capone, we think as a driver on the Sault Sainte Marie to Chicago route at least at the start.
Townsends has a series about the Colonial era "small beer" and how to keep from dying of Dysentery: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dtjN1qWoflk.html Small vs, Strong Beer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dRFHdyBTXIA.html
Yes. Drinking water was dangerous everywhere before the 20th century, and still is in much of the world and anywhere people drink unpurified water (ditto with unpasteurized milk). Dysentery is not only not much fun, it's often fatal. They didn't know why beer was safer back then before germ theory came along, but of course we now understand how and why the brewing process kills bacteria. as does simply boiling water before consuming it.
Best Al Capone Quote: “Don't mistake my kindness for weakness. I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me.”
On March 23, 2020, Denver was closing all "non-essential businesses" due to COVID. This order included liquor stores and marijuana dispensaries. The city panicked and 3 hours later, liquor stores and dispensaries were deemed "essential" and re-opened. It was hilarious!
Prohibition did lead to many positive changes in American society. Even with the resumption of legal alcohol sales, the cycle had been broken, and American alcohol consumption never returned to previous levels. Alcoholism became a recognized problem, and drinking at work remained forbidden. While some people were still problem drinkers, most Americans learned to drink in moderation.
@@hawkings22 You're right, prohibition was not the right answer but we learned a lot of lessons in both personal consumptions and the effects of government regulation. Either action in excess is bad. Too bad we rarely apply these lessons in our governance.
Prohibition was led by women’s groups primarily but it was mostly Protestant women and there was a strong anti-Catholic aspect of the “temperance” movement. After the Civil War Republicans Campaigned against Democrats by saying they were opposed to “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion” to imply that the drinking problem was related to Catholic immigrants (while ignoring the problem was just as prevalent among Protestant men). Prohibitionism was also stronger in rural areas as opposed to the burgeoning cities of the day.
What Oversimplified failed to mention about Remus' case was that his wife had actually hired a hitman to kill him once he got out of prison. The hitman however for some reason didn't feel like doing it and confessed the whole plan to Remus, which enraged him even further Not sure if this is a sufficient excuse for Remus' actions but it does provide some context
Loved it! The animation was hilarious. I had a relative that delivered the mail on horseback and would carry moonshine in the saddle bags to sell along the route. ❤️U☘️🇮🇪🇺🇸
My grandfather had a part ownership in a speakeasy in Buffalo, NY during prohibition. He had a sweet deal with our Canadian family members to supply him with the booze. They used boats to move it across lake Erie from the Canadian side to the U.S. side. Did I mention his family was Irish.
A surprise visit over the weekend and now a half-hour episode (on a truly terrifying subject, perfect for spooky season 😂 !!) I'm going to run out and buy a lottery ticket! Have a lovely week Diane (and Chewie) - cheers! 🍻
One of my fathers earliest memories was when his bootlegging grandmother hid my father behind her. She was sitting at a table in the basement. A tall scary man came down the stairs. Without say much, great grandmother pulled two bottles of her best homemade moonshine and gave it to the scary guy. The bottles were a payoff and the guy was a cop on the alcohol task force. 🤣 Go outside! Please 😁👏
Aside from religious reasons, many women were witnessing their men getting pissed, neglecting and abusing their families. There were no family protections back then and women had almost no rights.
@@Caseytify That seems a bit strong of a reaction. "Like most reformers" I would amend that to "Like most people". Everyone looks for easy, and often ultimately ineffective as you state, solutions to complex issues. There are undeniably negative effects from irresponsible alcohol consumption that had valid reason to be addressed. Things that we have in large part, though not perfectly, addressed in our modern day culture. Sometimes we as a society and/or an individual have to experience the results of our "solution" to realize that we need to reconsider what the problems actually were. And we need to be more aware and wary of people highjacking a cause for their own often not related ends. People can and should look for ways to improve on problems affecting them and society. Reformation itself isn't the issue. People are imperfect and therefore often our attempts to fix problems suffer from that imperfection.
@@Caseytify That all or nothing attitude is what holds back opportunities for advancement. Stop 💩ing on others while you make no efforts to come up with any solution whatsoever. 👋🏼
Prohibition is what led to the increase of moonshiners, especially here in North Carolina. Those drivers who delivered the moonshine eventually led to the creation of NASCAR. Let's hope lonely Chads don't track down your profile and ruin your online dating experience.
@@DianeJennings I actually know of several places in Kentucky that I can get actual moonshine. A close alternative to actual moonshine is a product called Everclear and is legal to purchase.
A bit of clarification. The FBI did not take down Capone, that was Ness (Treasury Agent) leading select members (untouchables) of the Bureau of Prohibition, which is now the ATF.
@@macaylacayton2915 the ATF is the (BAFTE) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It’s just called the ATF nowadays and their main job is to make sure people pay special tax stamps for firearm add-ons like suppressors, select-fire switches, pistol braces, etc. They’re also notorious for botching no-knock warrantless searches involving shooting house pets and children.
Two of my favorite channels, Oversimplified and Diane Jennings! Thank you Diane! I enjoy these reaction videos and other content you put. Sending you, chewie and especially editor Diane lots of hugs. Diane: “they need some cocktails” lol true I agree they did
And Ms. Jennings continues to educate the rest of us in entertaining ways. 🤓 I didn’t know all these details about Prohibition. Some of them were fascinating and the video itself was a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing, Diane! Happy Monday to all!✌🏻❤️
I learned a few years ago that gin was made from juniper berries. When I was a kid, our entire back yard was overgrown with these bushes. I would have go around that area because of the sharp needles. I guess the former residents did not have to travel far for their holiday punch.
I'm glad they touched on the bigotry component. In addition to minorities, prohibition was aimed at German, Irish, and Italian Americans who were had large catholic populations.
My dad's side came in the potato famine, and Mom's fled Eastern Europe in the late 1930's; definitely they were viewed similar to how the Afghani refugees and central American ones at the Texas border are being portrayed now
@@Caseytify the term "patty wagon" is a slur against Irish people. In that the name Patrick (or Patty) is a name associated with Ireland, such as St. Patrick. And Americans of that era stereotypically viewed most mobsters to be Irish. As were the policemen who often arrested them. Ergo, the police car became known as the "patty wagon" because it was often filled with "Patties," or the stereotypical Irish mobsters and policemen of the era.
@@matthewcastleton2263 jaywalking as a crime is against the Eastern European Jewish refugees (they had heard of automobiles before but never seen one much less many, and until then roads were for foot traffic horses and wagons equally.) The derogatory term at the time was to call them "Jays," and I think you can figure out the rest of this anti-Semitic oversight that we've normalized and yet none of the SJW causeheads want to bring up. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--AFn7MiJz_s.html source: native of the city that changed their offensive to native Americans MLB team name to a pair of statues erected to enforce jaywalking as a way to "be unoffending to anyone." The Cleveland Crossing Karens!!!
Weed wasn't outlawed until 1937, so you could legally smoke weed throughout prohibition. However, it wasn't he cultural phenomenon it is today and you probably wouldn't have regularly encountered it outside of some of the border regions in the Southwest.
The Untouchables is a worthy Hollywood treatment of the situation with Capone. Not necessarily 100% accurate, but worthy (Kevin Costner and Sean Connery). The film you review neglects the Canadian border as a source of smuggling and also neglects a certain prominent American family whose fortune was made running rum - enough to create a political dynasty. Anyway, interesting!
@@davidcruz8667 the idea that the Kennedys made their money bootlegging is a myth. Joe Kennedy was a rich man before prohibtion, and made a even bigger fortune in the twenties on wall st and in hollywood.
Canadians profited from Prohibition by opening distilleries across the river from Detroit, which gave a real boost to Canadian whiskey. Note: for some reason the government forgot to repeal the income tax. Maybe we should remind them, but then I suppose the answer would be, "We'll look into it." Great video covering a great video.
Great video Diane ! The Oversimplified channel is great. The entire Prohibition era is a fascinating part of United States history that many Americans have no clue about ...
Diane, That was a really interesting video. I actually went to High School with Al Capone’s great-great nephew Anthony Capone. He was in my Math class. He was actually a really nice kid. But he definitely didn’t like to talk about his family history. He said no one in his family ever talks about it.
It didn't mention it but Remus' wife and the agent she was with also tried to kill him by sending a hitman after him, who felt bad and instead told him about it. That was the main thing that motivated him to kill her and was a big part of why everyone had pity on him.
A very interesting subject. Prohibition has been one of those periods of history that has fascinated many people. Myself included. Thanks for the upload Diane. Have a wonderful day and week. Say hi to Chewie and Editor Diane for me. Be well.
Yes Diane, even the state of Texas, into the 90's about 2000's had dry Counties. There might even still be some. I loved this video, wonderful. I never payed that much attention to the history of Prohibition. Cool, very cool, Sweetness. Thank you
Happy Monday Diane! We still have dry counties and towns locally, but some of that is changing. However, the town I grew up in is dry, the now have a few private clubs that serve alcohol. Sometimes progress is slow.
@@DianeJennings they have tried to make it a regular drinking place, but the “older people that live there keep voting it down to keep it dry. Maybe one day it will be a wet place where people can enjoy their beer and liquor.
The one line that really hits home and manages to sum up literally every event in the video is, "See, America? You've always been this way." It's so sadly true.
Prohibition was and is still a mess and a half. So many common day correlations as well, just like Belfast. Very interesting subject, thank you for spreading it.
New Orleans is still relatively loose with enforcement of drinking laws. Non-glass Open Containers are allowed on the street. & until the late 1980’s Louisiana the second to last state to outlaw open containers in motor vehicles- Texas was the last a couple of years later.
Hi! This snarky video did a pretty good job with this topic. Being from Chicago, this was very familiar ground for me. A few factoids. Those depression era tent towns became known as Hoovervilles. Have no Idea if this Miles character ever existed as an individual. One of my cousins, from the tine share of non-Irish in my ancestry, Alf Landon, Governor of Kansas, ran against FDR in his run for a 3rd term as President, pretty much knowing he would lose. One of the great 90’s media kerfuffles was “The Search for Al Capone’s Tomb” and overhyped TV event that through some cold water on Geraldo Rivera’s media career in the 90’s. A safe found under a sidewalk section on a property tied to Capone turned out to be “Empty”! Gasp. Very interesting take on this Diane!
The Women's Temperance Movement was based in Evanston, IL which is adjacent to the northeast of Chicago. Evanston was dry for decades even after Prohibition was repealed. Howard Street. (one block north of where I grew up) is the border between Evanston and Chicago. The north side of the street is Evanston and was dry. The south side of Howard is Chicago and was very, very wet. All of the drinkers in Evanston went to Howard St. to get their fill.
Its not that men couldn't take care of things like sewing and cooking its that they didn't have time this was back when it was common for men to work 12-16 hour days. 8 hour work days wouldn't come about until Ford from the Ford Motor Company found people working shorter hours on their assembly line had higher quality work thus it eventually caught on but that wouldn't be until after 1914. While these women would be going to their protest and the dads working it was usually up to the children to keep the home in working order and because they were then suddenly short handed the children had to pick up the slack and work double duty when chances are many children older than 10 already had some sort of paying job. There was actually a story I remember from an old guy who was talking about how he grew up in a mining town where when he got home from work he found his dad still completely covered head to toe in coal dust doing his best to get all the daily chores done as he didn't even have enough time to wash it off and all the men decided to make a day of it and took the kids out to eat as a big group. What makes it even more funny is there has been multiple instances of people proving that statistically prohibition was a disaster that caused way more death and destruction than it prevented.
Actually, to be honest, it was *Irish women* who had a huge influence on the move toward Prohibition -- albeit, indirectly. During after the Great Famine, lots of the impediments on Irish Catholic ownership of land got lifted by the guilt-stricken (temporarily...) UK government. So, for the first time in centuries, Irish men could actually own land they'd previously only ever been able to work as tenant farmers. However, the land still had to be purchased, so many young Irish men focused on that, straight away, and delayed marriage. "You don't start a family until the farm is paid for." That left many young Irish women with the prospect of either waiting to marry until the men their ages had paid off the farm, or marrying much older men (which many Irish lasses did), or trying to make their own way in the world, without husbands. Lots of young Irish women chose the last option, and a lot of those wound up emigrating to the United States. Once here, they took jobs as domestic help in middle-class, and upper middle-class, homes, the number of which had started to expand rapidly as the U.S. industrialized. So, for the first time, a country had a huge number of reasonably well-educated, middle-class women who suddenly had a lot of free time, because they had affordable domestic help. (Irish girls made a lot more money in American homes than they ever made on Irish farms, but still worked relatively cheap, as do most immigrants.) With all that free time, the middle-class women got interested in social issues, such as poverty -- drawn, in large part, as they learned what lives were like for their Irish maids. (Not surprisingly, many American women *genuinely liked* their Irish maids, and were concerned with their general welfare.) One of the major problems these socially-active middle-class women kept running into, that seemed to lay at the foundation of such things as domestic abuse, sexual assault, and unwanted pregnancy, was the presence of alcohol. So, they not only formed social organizations designed to teach birth control and supply low-cost condoms (this eventually led to the foundation of Planned Parenthood, of course...), they also formed the WCTU, as mentioned in the video. Not surprisingly, a huge number of the young Irish women hopped on board and joined the WCTU, as well, since many of them had been the victimes of alcohol-induced violence and other problems. So, yeah. If the Irish women hadn't come to the United States in such huge numbers, the WCTUs and other social issues organizations, founded by middle-class American women who suddenly had unprecedented amounts of free time, might never have gotten off the ground. The presence of Irish women in America *profoundly* changed U.S. culture and politics.
seeing your ever expanding repertoire of shocked-face was the best part of this video. fun note, a house for sale that I toured off the main street had a narrow staircase in the back of the main room that went to the cellar that had a bookcase on one wall that was really a door to a small room with a heavy door to a large room that had been a speakeasy during prohibition.
About Remus and his wife: No one knows whether it was her or her prohibition agent lover but one or both of them had been trying to get Remus killed. So in addition to impoverishing him, breaking his heart, and cheating on him his wife was either with a man who was trying to have him killed or was involved in trying to have him killed herself. Is it any wonder the Jury felt sorry for him and figured it was sort of self-defense and so basically performed Jury Nullification? It is sad this video doesn't give the larger context.
Here in Kentucky was actually the state that started brewing bourbon! Also don’t know if you’ve heard about this but, Irish were treated SO BADLY (as bad as Black Americans honestly.) as were the Scottish and Germans to a lesser extent. There were riots in New York called the draft riots were thousands of Irish Immigrants protested about the draft that sent their young men into the Civil War. Lots of Irish moved to the Upland and Appalachian south (Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina, and the northern parts of Georgia and Alabama.) I actually come from that line of Irish (and Scottish and German) ancestors on my Maternal side (both my grandma and grandpa come from them.) I thought you’d find that interesting! Love the videos!
I am from Western Pennsylvania. A few miles from my home was the site of the "Whiskey Rebellion. Pittsburgh was separated from the East Coast by the Allegheny mountains. Roads were bad and it took weeks to travel over the mountains. The farmers need to sell their grain, but couldn't ship it over the mountains. So the farmers made Whiskey, and shipped it over the mountains in barrels. The U.S. Government decided to tax Whiskey. The farmers outside of Pittsburgh decided to Rebellion against the Whiskey Tax. George Washington headed up an Army to stop the Rebellion. After leaving Philadelphia (the USA's capital was in Philadelphia at that time) Washington turned over command of the Army to Hamilton. Hamilton went on to stop the Rebellion.
This has been one of my favorite movies but somehow it rarely gets mentioned. .. The Hallelujah Trail 1965 - Is a comedy about in 1867 The miners in a mountain mining town with winter approaching that will cut off access and they are running out of whiskey. They order whiskey that is coming by a wagon train with 40 wagons and the teamsters are Irish. Abolitionist Cora Massingale and her women are determined to intercept the wagon train and destroy the whiskey. The local Indians are determined to intercept and get the whisky. The Miners send a group to intercept the wagon train and escort it. The local Calvary fort is instructed to have a detachment escort it and when they find out about the women, they decide to send another detachment to escort them by "detached contact" .. "What Sir is that? Some kind of new tactic? " ... Of course they all had to come together during the confusion of a blinding sand storm. It has an all star cast including the actor that my brother was named after - Brain Keith.
I remember 2 things about prohibition, one was Carrie Nation. The other was the slogan Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine. There was that whole gangster thing too.
Check out Carrie Nation. The Women Christian Temperance movement was a STRONG influence, although they were greatly misguided. Tijuana Mexico had a racetrack/Casino were all the smuggler met up. Two Irish/Americans owned an entire section of town where grapes were grown. I lived there in the '80s. They produced alcohol that was smuggled across the border at the race track. Lots of facinating stories just there.
Thank you Diane for sharing that video with us. I have to say you are looking just as lovely as ever. I happen to live in one of the largest states that produce alcoholic beverages in particular bourbon. I can actually see a brewery from my apartment window. I personally quit drinking in 2001 and have not touched a drop since nor do I have any desire too. I have also worked with several alcohol and drug addiction programs to include when I was in the military overseas in Germany. I have seen the consequences of drinking tearing apart families. At the time the military seemed to encourage drinking and they would get mad because I would refuse to attend their functions. I actually decided to quit drinking when my divorce became final but that is a whole other chapter. I honestly don't have a problem with people drinking because that is a choice they need to make. I had no intention to make this comment so long so I will end it. I will close by simply saying have a great week and as always Stay Safe. BOOP
I love how no one has mentioned the mentioned with the Al Capone segment the fact that of how his henchmen carried Thompson machine guns and the level of violence they used it was nicknamed “the Chicago typewriter”
The Lewis and Clark expedition had an entire barge dedicated to alcohol lol. They felt it was the only way to keep spirits up on the journey. Diane, in regards to the advert on dating, you may already know, but if you're seriously on the search, pay very close attention to love languages. It's probably the single most important thing in a relationship. I found the love of my life by utilizing my understanding of them. Good day to ya!!!
The funny thing is so many of the founding fathers brewed some type of alcohol. Shows what propaganda and brain washing can do. Have a great week Diane. 😊
My family were rum runners back in the day in Florida. Al Capone would go down to buy hooch. He respected and feared the Hyslers family. Others in the family were the law. Think what a family reunion would look like LOL
I know one Girl from Wexford who didn't drunk. I would love to find a Irish Ginger Colleen. National prohibition of alcohol (1920-33) was the worse thing for America . Italian, Irish & Jews mafia had a field day . There more people dead & blinded by bad alcohol . When you make things illegal you create black market for it.
The cartoon left out that the biggest smuggler in the northeast was Joseph Kennedy of Boston, MA, father of future president John Kennedy, who got his product from fiendish cartels of whiskey distillers in Canada, just as had Al Capone.
My grandparents on my Mom's side made beer, wine and brandy. They used to use brandy with fruit in it to send booze to family fighting in WWII. My Dad's family is from Canada and my Grandfather used to bring it back from across the border.
Fun fact: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only president to be elected four times. The last time he was elected, he didn't get to serve long because he died of polio. This left Vice President Harry Truman to decide to drop the atomic bombs on Japan, and to form the United Nations. FDR was actually paralyzed from polio from the waist down throughout his presidency, but it was hidden from the public early on because the American people didn't want to see a president as physically weak. After his death, congress passed a new amendment which limited the presidency to two terms because they were afraid of the power a president might wield if they were in office too long.
Fun fact: Jack Daniels Whiskey is distilled in Moore County, Tennessee... a dry county. Meaning it can be made there, but not sold in stores, bars, or restaurants within the county.
There's still a double standard when it comes to alcohol. I went to college in the South and the local county was dry -- no legal alcohol sales. Except... richer people could join the country club or a fraternal lodge and drink, because those were considered private clubs. So the poor folks (and college kids) had to drive 30 minutes away and transport back our alcohol. And if you got caught bringing back too much alcohol (like a keg), the cops would pour it out in front of you.
im from Chicago and we were notorious for Speak Easies. There was a tour i took several years ago where you went around to some of them and had a drink in each one if they were still bars and restaurants kinda thing. It was cool. Even went to the street where the Valentines Day Massacre took place.
I can understand why women would be against drinking or more specifically excessive drinking. Number one as the video mentions men were spending too much of their hard earned money on alcohol and the men were not at home. Plus, excessive alcohol increases the likelihood of domestic violence.Who could blame a woman for not wanting to get beaten?
The real reason why prohibition was repealed in the majority of the United States was that the demand for alcohol never stopped and unfortunately this demand was met by organized crime. The mob stepped in to meet this need.And it caused more harm than good.
I didn't know most of this, I knew it was a failure, but I didn't know how it started. The crime related to it has many similarities to the current war on drugs.
Great video! On my visit to Plymouth, Massachusetts, the docent recounted how the pilgrims took three times as much alcohol as food and halfway through the trip they ran out of alcohol. Also, about women and US prohibition, look up Carrie Nation.