In October 1929 the crash of the stock market triggered a crisis in the U.S. economy. By 1930 Americans were starting to realize how severe the economic depression would be. Every day more banks failed, businesses folded, factories closed their doors, and increasing numbers of Americans lost their jobs. This depression was to become the Great Depression that lasted for more than a decade. Those who managed to keep their jobs saw their income greatly decrease. Americans' hope for prosperity faded as they struggled to hold on to a minimal standard of living. To most people the U.S. government seemed distant and ineffective, providing no solutions to the difficulties and no relief.

In addition to the nation's economic troubles, for many Americans there was another source of distress: Prohibition. Prohibition began in 1920 when the Eighteenth Amendment (the Prohibition amendment) to the U.S. Constitution...