Bootleggers, Booze, and Busts: Prohibition in Kern County, 1919-1933

With the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act a bridge of enforcement was developed transmitting National policy into local action-enforcement of Prohibition became the responsibility of Federal, County, and local police agencies. In towns, counties and states across the country individuals ignored these laws in the pursuit of profits, because of cultural imperatives, or out of the sheer desire to secure their liberty. Law enforcement faced an uphill battle-understaffed and underfunded, they tried to bring a largely unwilling population into compliance with national laws.

BOOTLEGGERS, BOOZE, AND BUSTS explores the development, enforcement, resistance, and repeal of Prohibition in Kern County, California. As a regional study the following topics are addressed:

-The wide-open nature of many towns in Kern County
-The Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League
-Local Option Elections
-The passage of the Eighteenth Amendment
-Enforcement of Prohibition
-Resistance to Prohibition
-The role ethnicity played in Prohibition
-An analysis of the over 1700 people who were arrested, including an assessment of who the average violator was
-Repeal of Prohibition and reaction to this in Kern County
-A comprehensive bibliography
-A complete listing of the names of individuals reported violating Prohibition and the years of their arrest

Researched using primary and secondary sources, historical studies, and voter registration and census data BOOTLEGGERS, BOOZE, AND BUSTS tells the story of this national issue on the local level.