Prohibition Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dries

During the 19th century and the early 20th century, Prohitibition became a big topic and everybody had their own opinion. Politicians were asked where they stood before elections and those admitting to 'wet' policies and tendencies knew they would lose thousands of votes.

Answer: Anti-Saloon League

These groups were fundamental in raising support for Prohibition from their creations. The 'Women's Christian Temperance Union' in 1873 and the 'Anti-Saloon League' in 1893. They published numerous cartoons, posters and leaflets across the country.

Answer: Maryland

Maryland felt that Prohibition was infringement of its "state's right" to control alcohol within its borders. Not everyone wanted Prohibition, and from the outset even the other states kept up the flow of alcohol with the help of gangsters and the 'speakeasy'. In addition, home-made alcohol grew in popularity despite the fact that the alcohol produced was invariably poisonous.

Answer: 200,000 square miles

This difficult job and their poor pay unfortunately meant that the agents were prone to bribery and corruption by the gangsters who would do anything to keep their hugely profitable alcohol rackets alive. Despite this there were successful agents, such as Isadore Einstein and Moe Smith, between them they made 4,392 arrests!

Answer: 11,860,000

This startling increase shows just how many more gallons of spirits were available in 1929, how much corruption there was and what a failure Prohibition turned out to be. Alternatively, it could be seen that it shows how much better the Prohibition Agents worked after a few years on the job. Interestingly, the gallons seized in 1925 were at 11,030,000.

Answer: $2 billion a year

These vast fortunes were partly the reason that the gangsters could survive for so long, but inevitably there could be no happy ending. The St. Valentines Day Massacre of 1929 when seven men were ruthlessly shot against a wall is just one example of this. This massacre was also one of the first big realizations amongst the American people what Prohibition was doing to their country.

Answer: The Simpsons

The episode entitled "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment" was shown in the eigth season of "The Simpsons". Written by John Swartzwelder, and directed by Bob Anderson, it featured a Prohibition enforced upon Springfield after they discovered it had been banned for centuries - but never enforced.

Answer: True

The Volstead Act was passed in 1919 and was repealed in 1933 by the Cullen-Harrison Act. It was named after Andrew Volstead who was Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and who oversaw the act. Despite this it was the Anti-Saloon League's Wayne Wheeler who drafted the initial act.

Answer: Great Depression

Across America many became penniless and desperate, and the unpopularity of Prohibition grew staggeringly. People felt that the Prohibition was having a further detrimental impact on their lives and they wanted to end the gang culture which had also escalated. Eventually, it was repealed and the country recovered from the depression with the help of Roosevelt's New Deal.

Answer: December 1933

After Roosevelt claimed his landslide victory over Hoover, he got the 18th Ammendment to the Constitution repealed as soon as possible and ever since people have debated its success and failure - whether it was doomed to failure or if it was simply a noble experiment of modern times. You'll have to make up your own mind! Thanks for playing and I hope you enjoyed it.