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AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Dec 27, 2005
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February 2006, Vol 96, No. 2 | American Journal of Public Health 233-243
© 2006 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.065409

PUBLIC HEALTH THEN AND NOW

Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation

Jack S. Blocker, Jr, PhD

The author is with the Department of History, Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Jack S. Blocker Jr, PhD, Huron University College, 1349 Western Road, London, Ontario N6G 1H3 Canada (e-mail: jblocker{at}uwo.ca).

The conventional view that National Prohibition failed rests upon an historically flimsy base. The successful campaign to enact National Prohibition was the fruit of a century-long temperance campaign, experience of which led prohibitionists to conclude that a nationwide ban on alcohol was the most promising of the many strategies tried thus far. A sharp rise in consumption during the early 20th century seemed to confirm the bankruptcy of alternative alcohol-control programs.

The stringent prohibition imposed by the Volstead Act, however, represented a more drastic action than many Americans expected. Nevertheless, National Prohibition succeeded both in lowering consumption and in retaining political support until the onset of the Great Depression altered voters’ priorities. Repeal resulted more from this contextual shift than from characteristics of the innovation itself.




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