What Was Prohibition?

8. Prohibition Begins to Fail

As lawlessness and gangland massacres became more widespread, the Noble Experiment began to crumble around the edges. The "wet" Northern senators argued that it was increasing violence. George Cassiday, a well-known bootlegger of the time, not only addressed Congress but wrote in the Washington Post, that about 80% of the Senate and Congress drank. The stock market crash and resulting Depression helped ease the way for the end of Prohibition. People needed jobs, and the government would benefit from the taxation of alcohol. By 1932, the number of supporters to end Prohibition was almost equal to the number who promoted it.