Outrage and Repeal

The beginning of the end for the Bureau began in 1930. Outside pressure began to take its toll on the Bureau. Newspapers began to run articles doubting the mission of Prohibition and questioning its role in the increase of crime.[1] Most disturbingly, the Bureau of Prohibition was criticized for its alleged corruption and disregard for the constitutional rights of civilians.[2] This included alleged illegal wiretapping and illegal search and seizures, which brought into question the validity of the cases the Bureau had prepared and the convictions based off those cases. Second, Headlines began to appear across the United States that exposed Prohibition agents as guilty of bribery, assault, and even murder.[3] These stories outraged the public and only fueled the existing anti-prohibition movement. Furthermore, the Bureau began to experience pressure from its own government.

With mounting pressure on the law and the agency, Congress reacted by enacting financial cuts, cutting the amount of agents, and eventually reorganizing the Bureau. This reorganization included the Bureau’s transfer to the Department of Justice and rewriting the mission of the Bureau.[4] Rather than acting as the enforcers of the Volstead Act, the Bureau was restricting to only providing support to local law enforcement on an on-call basis. This shift, along with the number of states voting to repeal Prohibition, ensured the eventual collapse of the Bureau.

Starting by 1930 several states had begun moving forward of the ratification of the 21^st amendment to the Constitution. This amendment would nullify the 18^th amendment and make alcohol a legal beverage in the United States once more. By 1933, the process was complete and Prohibition had ended.[5] However the end of the Bureau would not be as finite as the end of Prohibition. Through bureaucratic maneuvering, the Prohibition Bureau would be laid to rest and reimagined via a smaller sub-bureau which had been under the Prohibition Bureau’s control since 1930.[6]