O Prohibition Bureau e a cultura da Proibição

Abstract

This article seeks to discuss the role that the Prohibition Bureau, the agency responsible for enforcing National Prohibition (1920-1933) at the federal level, had in building a culture of Prohibition. In other words, a set of values and ideas that contextualized the prohibitionist effort and sought to stimulate in the American population the desire to obey the legislation, not because they are legally coerced to do so, but because they share its principles. In this endeavor, those responsible for the command of the Bureau sought to build a discourse and references that tried to transform important elements of the American political tradition, most notably, traditionally ideas of freedom.