The entry into force, on January 17, 1920, of the 18th amendment to the Constitution of the United States plunged the country into Prohibition, its contraband alcohol, its gangsters and its clandestine bars. A century later, the page of this singular period in American history is not yet completely turned.
Two large ornamental owls once sat in the bar of the luxurious Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore. Without ever directly exchanging a word on the subject, customers had learned to closely scrutinize the movements. If they blinked, the party could begin: the bosses had just been supplied with alcohol and the police did not prowl around. On the other hand, it was better to keep a low profile when the funny birds stared straight ahead.
Nostalgia for the 1920s
Prohibition has left behind countless places and stories like these in the United States. Romantized by Hollywood - The Incorruptibles , Paths of perdition and other gangster films - and literature, it deeply marked American minds.
To the point of seeing a strong comeback today from bars inspired by clandestine "speakeasies" or themed evenings on the Roaring Twenties , the American Roaring Twenties. "There is a nostalgia for the 1920s and their mythology," confirms historian Michael Walsh, seated at a table in the Owl Bar of the Belvedere hotel, whose counter is no longer overhanging, in a preserved setting, only by only one of the two famous owls.
Less domestic violence
The "noble experiment" ended in 1933 after Franklin D. Roosevelt came to power in America seriously affected by the Great Depression. Organized crime has meanwhile exploded across the country in the shadow of figures who have since gone down in history, such as Al Capone. The 18th amendment prohibiting the production, sale and transportation of alcohol was the only one in the history of the United States to have ever been abolished.
But for Michael Walsh, author of a book on the subject, making Prohibition a total failure is a shortcut. "Everything is not black or white," he explains, pointing to the decline over the period in the rate of divorce, domestic violence, cases of cirrhosis and admissions to psychiatric hospitals.
The regulation of alcohol was left to the States at the end of the Prohibition, which sometimes delegated it to their local jurisdictions. There are still in the United States, especially in the religious states of the Bible Belt (Arkansas, Kentucky ...), hundreds of dry counties and dry towns in which the sale of alcohol is prohibited or largely restricted. This is the case for Moore County, Tennessee, where the Jack Daniel's distillery is located.
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