Enforcing Prohibition with a massive new federal force of poorly trained agents didn’t go so well in the 1920s
- Written by Richard F. Hamm, Professor of History, University at Albany, State University of New York
Coast Guardsmen stand in front of two truckloads of liquor seized on April 14, 1931, after a battle between three policemen and several alcohol smugglers near Falmouth, Mass.AP PhotoAs 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,...

