68 Historical Photographs That Help Us Understand What Life Was Like in the 1920s

#28: Battle of the Chemists During Prohibition

In the roaring 1920s, a covert battle unfolded between chemists. On one side, outlaw chemists concocted premium bootleg spirits to quench America’s undying thirst for alcohol. The opposing force? Government chemists are devising ingenious denaturing methods to spoil these illicit brews.

The onset of Prohibition in 1918, marked by the eighteenth amendment, embarked the United States on what Herbert Hoover coined a ‘noble experiment.’ This ambitious legislative effort aimed to curb the nation’s alcohol consumption. However, its endeavor to regulate moral conduct led to unintended consequences, proving that controlling human behavior was a task easier said than done.