When Florida Quenched A Nation’s Thirst

Few periods in American history were as exciting as the Roaring ’20s—flappers, fast automobiles, gangsters, brazen crime and booze, booze, booze. It’s ironic that the ’20s were the era of the “Great Experiment” with Prohibition, since the popular perception is that the decade was dedicated to the pursuit of illegal liquor. There was a large degree of truth to this perception, too, as Al Capone, John Dillinger and the Valentine Day’s Massacre became icons of the decade.

The idea of Prohibition began during World War I when government planners became concerned about the small quantities of alcohol available for critical war industries. In December 1917, Congress responded to these concerns by enacting the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, restricting the use of alcohol; ratified by 36 states it would go into effect a year later.

Read the entire article in the March 2007 issue