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American History Hit

Prohibition

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.31.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On 17 January 1920, the 18th Amendment came into effect in the United States. It made the manufacture, sale and transportation of 'intoxicating liquor' illegal.


Sarah Churchwell is BACK to explore the realities of the roaring twenties with Don. Why was alcohol banned? How did prohibition become federal law? And why would the US government have poisoned its citizens?


Produced by Freddy Chick and Sophie Gee. Edited by Anisha Deva. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:27.0

That's better H-E-L-P.com. A light wrap on an inconspicuous door. A small panel shoots open, a password is uttered in a whisper.

0:44.3

The eyes hold for a suspicious moment.

0:46.6

Then the heavy door pulls open just enough

0:49.3

to allow us inside, into a short unlit corridor leading to a second door that opens into a world.

0:57.0

Opulent velvet

1:03.0

velvet curtains draped the windless walls.

1:06.1

Plush armchairs host shady conversations.

1:09.2

Everything is dim, dark, fogged by cigarette smoke, so you can hardly make out a face.

1:15.4

It's jazz music and small talk.

1:17.4

Men and women mingling, laughing, their glasses brimmed with cocktails made with questionable

1:22.4

spirits, bathtub gin, and homemade moonshine,

1:26.4

all mixed with sugar, mint, and lemon to mask an ugly aftertaste.

1:30.7

Everywhere in this room is a transgression, a law broken, a crime born of the sale and

1:36.4

distribution of the prohibited alcohol. Greetings I'm Don Wildman, host of American History Hit, and thanks for joining us.

1:54.1

Today, it is nearly inconceivable, shocking even, the notion that at one time in America

2:00.0

it was constitutionally illegal to manufacture, transport, and or sell alcoholic beverages.

2:06.7

Can you imagine? In a country that has historically loved to drink, a century-long protest movement finally evolved into a political powerhouse that effectively

...

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