In-Text References

The Constitution

Both Amendments are doing their best to sound like they're supposed to be part of the Constitution.

That's about it. Volstead and Wheeler were writing a Constitutional Amendment, not a diss track.

References to This Text

Literary and Philosophical References

The Great Gatsby 
F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous work takes place in 1922, or right at the beginning of Prohibition. Guess how Gatsby became great? Bootlegging.

To Kill a Mockingbird 
Mentions the Prohibition Party, which was a minor political party of the day.

Historical and Political References

Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper
Stamper draws an explicit link between the War on Drugs and Prohibition. Spoiler alert: anyone who does that thinks the Drug War, or how we've been prosecuting it, isn't working.

Pop Culture References

Scarface
The original film is about bootlegging, while the remake is about cocaine. Both are fictionalized accounts of Al Capone's rise to power.

The Untouchables
Both the TV series from the early '60s and the film in the 1980s tell the highly fictionalized account of Eliot Ness and his Treasury Agents taking the fight to the gangster Al Capone.

The Simpsons
In an episode called "Homer versus the 18th Amendment," prohibition comes to Springfield. Like everything else that comes to Springfield, it doesn't turn out well.

Boardwalk Empire
The HBO show begins with Prohibition and the glee of the main characters planning to make millions off peddling illegal alcohol.