Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933.
The introduction of alcohol prohibition and its subsequent enforcement in law was a hotly debated issue. The contemporary prohibitionists (“dries”) labeled this as the “Noble Experiment” and presented it as a victory for public morals and health. The consumption of alcohol overall went down by half in the 1920s; and it remained below pre-Prohibition levels until the 1940s.
Fleet of Rum Chasers in East Boston
$175,000 in Liquor Seized by Coast Guard
Speakeasy Raided and Destroyed by Federal Agents
Ice Covered Rum Chaser
Superintendent Crowley Inspects a Speakeasy
Commissioner McSweeny and Superintendent King. Police Headquarters (possibly William E. Payne – Gunsmith / George F. Smith – Handwriting Expert).
Aerial View of Rum Runners
Aerial Photo of a Seized Rum Runner
Newer Fleet of Rum Chasers: General Green & Frederick Lee
Fleet of Rum Chasers in East Boston
Captured Rum Runner Brought to the Appraiser’s Stores
Coast Guard Seizes a Rum Runner
Fleet of Rum Chasers in East Boston
Still Raided and Destroyed at Woburn by Federal Agents
Man Operates Still out of the Back of a Carriage
Still Explosion Kills Man in Reading
Boat Suspected of Selling Alcohol is Inspected
Casks Seized by Police
Boston Police Liquor Squad
Officers Dismantle a Speakeasy After Raid
