Prohibition

Throughout American history, heavy alcohol consumption has been a pervasive part of its national social character. However in the 1800s, a growing Temperance movement arose determined to oppose the destructive habit by any means necessary. This series tells the story of this crusade until it achieved its ultimate goal of passing the 18th Amendment of the US Constitution which imposed prohibition. After that victory, the series covers this social reform's disastrous unintended consequences that encouraged clandestine drinking and organized crime while undermining civil liberties and society's respect for the law in ways that still reverberate today.

Cast

• Kevin Conway
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Blythe Danner
• Joanne Tucker
• Carolyn McCormick
• Adam Arkin
• Peter Coyote
• Campbell Scott
• Amy Madigan
• Oliver Platt
• Sam Waterston
• Philip Bosco
• Frances Sternhagen
• Catherine Gilbert Murdock
• Noah Feldman
• Jeremy Irons
• John Lithgow
• Pete Hamill
• Martin Marty
• Tom Hanks
• Jack Roche
• John Paul Stevens
• William Leuchtenburg
• Daniel Okrent

• Season 1
• Episode 1: A Nation of Drunkards
  The 19th century was a period of growth both for alcoholic beverages and the temperance movement. Wa...
• Episode 2: A Nation of Scofflaws
  With the passing of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, the federal government now passes leg...
• Episode 3: A Nation of Hypocrites
  By the mid-1920s, a great many people had become convinced that prohibition was a serious mistake. A...

• Lyrics: play full screen play karaoke
• Prohibition - Irving Berlin
• Prohibition - Zoetrope

[Father Time:]
A day is born, July the first
And with it comes a shock
John Barleycorn who quenched your thirst
Passed out at twelve o'clock
The mourners come from far and near
Their bitter tears to shed
July the first, prohibition's here
And alcohol is dead
[Mourners:]
Alcohol, alcohol
Sorry to see you go
Alcohol, alcohol
Oh, how we'll miss you so
Fare thee well, fare thee well
Place us in a padded cell
For the country's going to hell
Now that she's going dry, dry, dry
We hate to say goodbye
[Bartenders:]
What are we going to do now?
What are we going to do?
Gone are the beer saloons
And we went with them too
The future now looks very black
Because the future points
To red neck-ties and tennis shirts
And sarsparilla joints
Where are we going to work now?
Maybe before we are through
We'll have to join the soda water crew
We'll have rouge upon our lips
And our hands upon our hips
Heaven help us when we do
[Chorus Girls:]
Gee, but it's gonna be tough for the chorus ladies from now on
How are we going to wrestle a Rolls-Royce from a Jack or John?
A little bit of Haig and Haig while we were having sup
Would help to make the tightest Ebeneezer loosen up
But now it's gonna be tougher
Now we're going to suffer
Now that the town is growing dry
[The Working Man:]
I want my beer, I want my beer
And there are no two ways about it
I want my beer, I want my beer
I won't do any work without it
The working man must have his can
To do his work from year to year
Oh, how I wish again
That I was a fish again
Swimming in an ocean of beer
[Soldiers:]
So, this is the land of the free
That awoke when the U-boats were sinking
And told us to go o'er the sea
And protect her liberty
Now I'm just as true as can be
To my land, but I cannot help from thinking
That I should have stayed in Paree
Where no one dares to interfere with what you're drinking

In an abandoned warehouse late at night in the shipping yards
The gangsters keep a watchful eye for the man in blue
As a loaded semi pulls up to an empty dock
The rear door opens to reveal the demon alcohol
CHORUS:
Restriction drinking's against the law
Prohibition the demon alcohol
A heavy profit's to be turned on this mountain dew
But if you're caught you might get killed or thrown in jail
But what's the fuss it's soon to be legal anyway
So you may as well go with the flow of things to come
CHORUS
What you see is what you get on a one shot deal
So make it now and worry later about the end result
When the loaded semi pulls up to the empty dock
You'll get another week's supply of alcohol