y and America drank it without too many worries. Some Americans regarded national prohibition as “a threat to cherished liberties and political traditions, and thirsted for a return to what they considered more righteous arrangements” (Kyvig xi). People felt they had lost a right as citizens of the United States. Drinking was a past time; it brought people together, and was prescribed for medicinal uses. Anti-prohibitionists disregarded the 18th amendment and continued to drink illegally. America attempted to bring temperance to citizens, but could not succeed in dismantling a social past time. Saloons were attracting an increasing amount of customers and were not the most respectful places of operation, which gained many followers of prohibition. These bars promoted drunkenness and prostitution that was noticeably becoming a problem. Leaders of prohibition argued that if liquor licenses were taken from these establishments, then they would be successful in the fight for abstinence from alcohol. It certainly made sense that the saloons were demoralizing Americans and enticing them to take part in promiscuous acts and gambling. The most influential argument that made prohibition possible was that Americans needed to conserve the resources used to make alcohol for the war overseas. This was so important that, “Congress adopted temporary wartime prohibition as a measures to conserve grain for the army, America’s allies, and the domestic population” (Kyvig 11). The war brought the home front together as they fought the Germans at home and on the front lines, so abstinence seemed closer to a public consensus. The most important factor that ended up with the repeal of the 18th amendment was that America was now divided. Prohibition did not stop the alcohol intake, but forced Americans to illegally pursue their thirst for a drink. By 1933, “prohibition had failed in the very important sense ...
