Enforcing Prohibition with a massive new federal force of poorly trained agents didn't go so well in the 1920s

[marmar]

Enforcing Prohibition with a massive new federal force of poorly trained agents didn’t go so well in the 1920s
Published: February 20, 2026 8:38am EST

Richard F. Hamm
Professor of History, University at Albany, State University of New York


(The Conversation) As the actions of agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement come under intense scrutiny, it’s worth noting that a little more than 100 years ago, another expansion of federal policing – to enforce national Prohibition – also sparked nationwide concern.

....(snip)....

National prohibition enforcement

When Congress approved the Volstead Act in 1919 that outlawed the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic liquors, it purposely limited the number of Prohibition enforcement officials due to pressure from powerful dry lobbying groups, which supported the prohibition of alcohol sales and consumption. These groups thought the majority of the Prohibition policing would be done by states.

The Volstead Act also exempted Prohibition agents from civil service laws, which would have required job applicants to pass certain minimum standards. The exemption was written into the law because the prohibitionist lobby only trusted committed “drys” – people resolutely dedicated to maintaining an alcohol-free society – to do the enforcing, and they thought that they would control the appointments.

....(snip)....

In 1927, Federal Circuit Judge William S. Keynon said that “three-fourths of the 2,500 dry agents are ward heelers and sycophants named by the politicians.” The assistant attorney general in charge of Prohibition enforcement, Mabel Walker Willebrandt, said that Prohibition agents were “as devoid of honesty and integrity” as those who violated Prohibition laws.

When Prohibition agents were placed under the civil service, 60% of them failed their civil service tests. In a six-year period beginning in 1920, 752 Prohibition officials lost their jobs for delinquency or misconduct. Drunkenness and bribery were the two main reasons for dismissal. ...................(more)

https://theconversation.com/enforcing-prohibition-with-a-massive-new-federal-force-of-poorly-trained-agents-didnt-go-so-well-in-the-1920s-276258

[tanyev]

1. Interesting. I was not aware of this aspect of Prohibition before.