Some Things Do Not Change

While it is interesting to note how much has changed technologically and culturally since the 1920’s, it is more important to note the things that have not changed. There are certain characteristics of our political system that have changed very little in the past century. Finger-pointing, mudslinging, and partisanship were as strong in the 1920’s as they are today. The men of the Coast Guard and Customs were always caught in the crossfire. When the national Prohibition law took effect, both the Coast Guard and Customs were under-equipped, under-manned, poorly funded, yet expected to stop a tidal-wave of liquor from flooding the U.S.
The Prohibition law was extremely unpopular. It is interesting to note that the National Prohibition Act received two thirds of the vote in Congress and was ratified by 36 state legislatures. Although it soon became apparent that the law was extremely unpopular, even among police officers and politicians, Congress did not repeal the law until 13 years after it went into effect. Not only did Congress take a long time to repeal the law, it continually escalated the war on alcohol, spending hundreds of millions of dollars (billions in today’s dollars) to enforce a policy that most Americans were against. Prohibition provides a classic example of a great gap between popular opinion and the workings of our political machinery. As far as Congress was concerned, the issue was not how many people supported Prohibition, but who supported it.