you for being on our historians roundtable lucky not "decision points." >> researching his book, "the prohibition hangover: alcohol in america fro demon rum to cult cabernet," garrett peck began giving temperance tours of historic sites in washington d.c. booktv joins mr. peck to see how the temperance movement led to probation in 1920 and why prohibition was repealed in

1933. the tour begins at the little-known temperance fountain near pennsylvania avenue. >> the favor sending on right now is seventh in pennsylvania avenue, halfway between the white house in the capital, where the temperance fountain once stood. they moved in the 1980s about 100 feet north of the theater. it is very strategic here in washington d.c. because it's halfway between the white house and the capitol. right across from a very what once was a very bad neighborhood called murder row. the statue itself once stood right in front of this building right here, at the base of it was a store called the apex liquor store, kind of ironic statue itself, which meant may temperance from abstinence alcohol altogether ended up a liquor store. the mac user that originally the statue is right here, where the statue is now? >> correct, that is now the

grand army of the republic. it stood here from 1882 until the 1980s, so by the century estate here in this location. what happened during the 1980s, pennsylvania avenue had he come very lighted here it's a wonder sanner patrick moynihan and other notable, for the pennsylvania avenue redevelopment corp. and we developed pennsylvania avenue in the temperance movement was downgraded. so hence the grand army of the republic was put in its place. >> i started at two in 2006. so at this .3 and half years. >> would he be the idea? >> when i was writing "the prohibition hangover," i was looking for ways to build up my platform for the book. in one of the things was developing it to her. so at this point i've had hundreds of people, matured him numerous times of the occult organization called walking town d.c., which is pre-cultural tours on washington d.c. >> so this is

>> this is the temperance fountain. this was then called washington d.c.'s ugliest fountain. don't see where i'm at the top are four words, faith, hope, charity and finally temperance, which gave the town its name. but by the way comes out of the bible from st. paul's letter to the corinthians. the fountain here was actually based here in 82 by a point called henry cogswell who made his fortune in the gold rush. he was part of the whole abstinence movement. he made enough money that he financed about via the statues around the country. only a handful survived, including here in washington d.c. and also in thompson square park in new york city. if you look at the statue itself, of course is loaded with symbolism here. mostly symbolizing water. so you see the two dolphins in the middle, which are pretty ugly.

water once came out of their mouths of this was an actual drinking bout. there was a cop we could get a drink of water. there's the two clients on top of the content, which of course are waterbirds. when i was there at the corner of pennsylvania, it looked across as very bad neighborhood. so symbolically with the thought that was drink water instead of whiskey. whiskey drinking is very prevalent at the time. >> where do we go from here? >> were going next into chinatown to the smithsonian art museum, which was where abraham lincoln had his first -- his second and not euro ball in 1865. we'll talk about abraham lincoln and his views on temperance up there. at the smithsonian art museum and national portrait gallery, there's two museums in one. it was renovated after a six-year renovation. costs more money than i thought, but this used to be the old

patent office. now granted the chance and this is the robert n. r. lane: not courtyard which opened in november 2007. this was designed by star norman foster and is designed to look like a giant wave. washington d.c. is fortunate to have this very, very modern architecture. and we almost didn't get it, but the final commission finally approved it and had three of the spectacular ceiling here. those bring the audience here for the temperance tour the museum to see this. it's usually kind of jaw-dropping. people really love to see it. the reason i brought you here into the smithsonian american arby's and today was to point out that abraham lincoln had a second and i drove all in this building. and the wing went over my shoulder there at the very, very top floor, it was one of the largest public spaces in washington d.c. and they could fit more than a thousand people here into the room.

at the ball itself, they charged $10 per person for an all-you-can-eat buffet, which is more like a thousand dollars compared to today. a lot of money these people spend. the virtual riot broke out once the audience was led into the room, they basically stormed the tables and were grabbing wasters and hams and turkeys and so on. this was washington high society 1965. >> was there drinking involved? >> i'm certain there was drinking and. d.c. has never been a dry city. prohibition winning 1917, but there is always drink and debauchery in washington d.c. >> and you said earlier that abraham lincoln was a proponent of temperance? >> he was. in fact, he didn't drink. that was the big issue he thought for all his life was slavery, abolition of them. did he himself chose to be a temperance minded person, more to personal conviction is

supposed to messianic zeal. so for example, utility croupier that was once called the washingtonian society -- they were like the early version of alcoholics anonymous. he told a group of washingtonians come on i temperance man, but i don't drink. so again was kind of a personal decision for him not to drink alcohol, but not necessarily to lower that over other people are make them feel bad because they chose to drink where is he didn't. there's another interesting kind of a practical story dealing with unisys said cantu won the civil war. granted course with a known drinker. and lincoln did not drink. one of the states came down and complained that grant was drinking on the job. yet grant was winning battles, so supposedly what lincoln said here that grant was fine that the name of the brand was he so i can give it to my other

generals. and then finally here, lincoln on the idea of moderation and alcohol. i think is interesting here to see his own personal views from somebody who did not drink. andy says that injury does not come from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a good thing. it's really interesting that person who is an absent -- person who would stand come with you that alcohol could have a good purpose in some of life. >> i don't want to put you on the spot. would you say that lincoln is a 19th century president was unusual in that he didn't drink? >> i would say so, yes. his next really big temperance minded president we came to was rutherford b. hayes and his wife was lemonade lucy. the church i go to there is a portrait of her and we joke that it if they lemonade lucy portrait. she insisted that lemonade is served at white house functions as opposed to be her or anything

else. >> so come your tour stops here and where do you go next? >> we go one block way to calvary baptist church, where the anti-saloon league had its first national convention in 1985. >> how do we get prohibition in the united states? >> prohibition was started in january 16, 1920, with -- once the 18th amendment was ratified. but is actually part of a century long movement to ban alcohol in this country. that movement was called the temperance movement. the idea behind there initially temperance meant to moderate one's drinking. but by the 1820s, the movement decided that people had to abstain completely from alcohol. this is led by the evangelical protestant churches started in the teen teens and they believed that alcohol was wrong. they called it the mid-round. you know, they associated alcohol with a double and therefore everybody had to stop drinking altogether.

this movement must be century long. very do is to clean up and sober up do is to clean up and sober up american society and eventually end up wit. very do is to clean up and sober up american society and eventually end up with a decent middle-class white-based protestant american society. i'm ultimately, they got their way and prohibition of health, which was a constitutional amendment. the 18th amendment to ban alcohol in america and i went into effect in 1820. prohibition southwest only listened 14 years because of extreme civil disobedience, the law of the land. and a lot of fans here from organized crime. and i think extreme indifference here from the american public. they didn't really realize what they had gotten into here is signing up for prohibition. if i do something useful to have been realized pretty quickly that impact the country has always been a drinking nation. so a lot of ways the temperance movement was naïve to believe people would simply disobey the law and not trained.

>> in her book, he seems to indicate that world war i has something to do with it. >> is the fascinating part of how the anti-saloon league got the 18th 18th amendment through congress. and the afl, anti-saloon league has largely been forgotten about. from 1893 to 1933, they used the occasion of world war i, when the united states declared war in germany in 1917, the largest ethnic group in the country at that time were german. and guess who also with the brewers, the germans, right? so you have a whole ethnic group whose rights were pushed aside and suddenly there was this huge german hysteria in the country and drinking beer, which let most americans drink at that point suddenly looked really unpatriotic. so the asl at that point proposed the 18th amendment and filter congress. this is a wartime measure. people thought they needed us for the war and went into the states about people even thinking about it very much. congress voted very quickly went

on to the states and all but two of the states ratified the 18th amendment. the states were rhode island and connecticut. both states have very heavy catholic populations, who really is prohibition is really targeted at them because the temperance movement have a very strong nativist protestant sentiment behind it. >> are next up here is the striking brick church, calvary baptist church. >> the church was built by adolph coors, who does a lot of buildings doesn't appear to civil war all the way to complete 1880s. he was a german immigrant and he was known as the red archetypes. he was both for the red polychrome use. you see them in church outright prejudice in office domains for that prayer bread. eastern market was probably his best-known building in d.c. the other reason he was known as the red architect was because of his good friends with karl marx, the guy who wrote the manifesto. he was hired in 1866 to build his church church producer churchville tier years before during the civil war and burnt

down in the church hired him to build this new church. and this was at the very edge of town at the time and now it's been almost right downtown washington d.c. this was chinatown. we're here at calvary baptist church because an important event that happened in the temperance movement. it happened in 1855. does that the anti-saloon league had its first national convention here in this building. it was only for two years earlier by a congregational minister known as howard russell, out of ohio. and he recruited a college senior named wayne wheeler. wheeler became the asl's general counsel. and he was -- alike to call them the karl rove of this day. she is the guy who invented pressure politics in the way -- how the asl to please these different politicians to force them to vote drive instead of voting wet. so they matter in this building in 1895 and began to craft a

strategy of how the asl is clinched in the country dry. one of the things they decided they were going to do was to go after the states first. and by the states, they got the states to allow local option off. whether it's a local option not in place that meant the church allies and the sort evangelical protestant could use their political influence and force counties to go dry. you see that especially across the deep south to the status. you still see a lot of dry counties because of the strong emphasis -- the strong influence i should say of the southern baptist convention. once enough states had voted to put some kind of driveline and place, that would then force a congressman from that state to go dry, even if they were white, the senators and congressmen would have to vote drive. by 1915 come majority of the state system can prohibition on the books.

here in washington d.c. when we prohibition in 1917, before we got into world war i, the city was always sensibly drive. never was, but legally it was tried. so the idea should we change the constitution to ban alcohol? that seem so far-fetched. georgia states were dry or had some dry lot in the books and therefore it seems to be the political will of the country that we should dry up the country entirely. again, the asl used the occasion of world war i, once the germans -- once we declared war in germany and the germans for the biggest ethnic minority and also the brewers are pushed aside in, that led them to the 18th asl to propose the 18th amendment. some of the interesting things here about the temperance movement itself is that it's really an evangelical white protestants movement. this was a faith-based initiative to get the country to dry. this is a part in the 18th

century, known as the rest of era, this idea that society can be reformed. actually a lot of good stuff cannot at this area. women got to go, we got for the bus, we got the income tax -- i don't know if that's a good or not. but we also got prohibition. of course i backfired horrendously against the temperance movement itself. this was nearly three decade long period, we thought we can actually have a socially. society. this is for the benefit of all americans here to clean things up. at the same time of course because it was so protestant five, he really violated a lot of writes about mcnerney. remember serving with the irish in 1840s, there is a great wave of catholics who came into this country. at germans who came in were catholic then you had a telling of coming here and huge waves coming from eastern europe and so on. these people acted differently and brought their drinking habits with them. and lot of cases that violated

with the temperance movement -- not what it meant to be a good american. in this country don't drink. we're middle class, properties and people. and you catholics, you need to behave. so a lot of cases here of temperance was really -- the tongass movement targeted catholics to try to reform their ways. prohibition went into effect a year after the 18th amendment was passed and so it went to effect on january 16, 1920. on the eve of prohibition, they were all little bit sullen. he won last chance to go buy alcohol in the tri-state majority of seats were to try at that point. done an awful, virginia, there is a mock funeral for john barleycorn, led by a man named billy sunday. he was an evangelist and former baseball star. another smock fornaro he preached the eulogy. in this eulogy, he said goodbye, john. you were god's worst enemy and

it doubles best friend. farewell. i heed to what a perfect taken by the grace of god, i love to hate you. [inaudible] [inaudible] >> and of course prohibition when into effect next morning, but things have turned quite differently. >> john barleycorn -- >> does an old nickname for alcohol, also known as demon rum. >> so, when you were junior to her, when you're done with the calvary baptist church, what's next? >> we next jump on the subway and go to colorado, where we see the woodrow wilson house. he was the president when prohibition went into effect in 1920. >> we rode the subway across the city to dupont circle and i were here at the woodrow wilson

house. and when you bring your tour here? >> woodrow wilson was the president when prohibition went into effect in 1920. he's also, by the way -- he left the white house in 1921. he's the only president to actually retire to washington d.c. every other president has left the city. wilson stayed here. and nixon is unique among all the presidents we've had in this country. his wife actually bought this house for him. his wife -- his second wife was edith g-golf. she was a widow, formally mirrored to a jeweler and she had the money. she married wilson in 1916 coach of coach of the same year the policy was built and there is a state-of-the-art house for a time. set up electricity, and elevator and so on. the key reason why he edith bought this house here was really for her husband, was in the waning days of his presidency, he had a massive

stroke. during that time he was try to sell for trivia for side to the country was on a road tour, trying to get the country to throw its weight behind the treaty of versailles that ended world war i and ultimately the senate voted that down martial because of the league of nations. during the time he suffered a massive stroke. for about nine months, he was incapacitated and his wife, edith to factor became the during the time because she limited access to her husband. anyone who wants to see, the president had to go through her.her -- her doctor or through her. so she really limited presidents accessor to other people during that time while he recovered. he never fully recovered from the stroke. he left the white house in march of 1921 and warren harding came in. he only lived to an for 20 years heard he died in january 1924. interesting story here. wilson was president when prohibition went into effect.

there was the prohibition enforced, was called the bolstad act, named after and are both said, a minnesota congressman and wayne wheeler wrote this fact. the act itself was to enforce prohibition itself. and it declared anything above .5% alcohol to be intoxicating. and so even any kind of beer was considered to be intoxicating. and wilson wanted to allow beer and wine to be available for the public. the anti-saloon league wanted anything without alcohol to be illegal. congress overrode him regard every racist interpretation of going into effect in 1920, anything with more than .5% alcohol is considered to be intoxicating, so therefore illegal to manufacturers to sell or transported. because transporting alcohol was now legal, there is an

interesting side story here dealing with wilson. wilson was the white house, right? but he had a small wine collection in the white house, which he did not want to leave behind for warren harding. warren harding with his republican successor. and harding was a known heavy drinker and also considered to be the most corrupt president in american history. so wilson had to go to congress to get special dispensation -- a special act had to be passed, allowing one person on one particular day to go into the white house and =tranfour wilson's wine collection from the white house to this location here. so one person was a lot to do that not so wilson got his wine collection at the white house in early 1921. it's really fascinating to actually see the wine cellar because it's actually right behind me and below me, about 20 feet behind me. so it's got all these old bottles from a prohibition era. there's a few but is there from

1928 better champagne bottles. edith had good relationships -- relations with the french embassy, which is close by. of course the embassies can import for their use and hence was able to get some alcohol under the table. as you can see the bottles in 1920 and, when prohibition was so the law of the land. again, that's what we bring the tour here -- the temperance tour to the woodrow wilson house. >> and when you're done here at the wilson house, where do you go? >> we actually go over to the spanish steps for the final little talk through about how a prohibition became undone and talk about the legacy of prohibition. >> this is the final stop. this is where i talk about how prohibition became undone after nearly 14 years. the change the constitution -- i'm so flabbergasted by the side thought that in american history change the constitution not once but twice to do with alcohol --

wanting to ban at one time to make it legally can. so on the space of 14 years. pretty remarkable. you think josh, how'd this happen? and income habibie to the point where we can't alcohol was so simple, so run we had to change the constitution and password here two or 23rd straight alcohol and that was central question behind the prohibition hangover and why we decided to go read the book. prohibition itself of course went into effect in january 16, 1920. and the country initially took a wait-and-see attitude toward the law of the land. a lot of people had stockpiled alcohol. in some cases, enough to last them through the entire dry years. pretty soon, people started to realize just because they cut off supply doesn't mean you can still find alcohol. in fact, i largely look at this as kind of an economics question. it's like supply and demand, right? okay, the idea behind anti-saloon league was to look at the liquor traffic as they

call it. by forcing the country to go dry, need to cut down saloons and alcohol companies, people naturally dry out, right? it didn't work out that way. there was still demand to drink. it was certainly part of our culture to drink and there was also of course all these ethnic minorities, germans, catholics, italians and the ones whose rights get pushed aside to get prohibition passed. and i came back with a vengeance. these people decided the spot was targeted at a beard you know what we're not going to obey it. so the country within just a couple years turned sour in the idea of prohibition. one of the most interesting things i found during my research was written in 1922 when i was kind of stunned when i read this. if i can read one quick little brief quote. there's a couple of big novels that came out of the 1920s. when i received "the great gatsby" and everyone has read that. the other one is facing for lewis and it's called babbitt.

i found this quote in there but in 1922. only two years in the prohibition. and lewis encapsulated by prohibition will fail and this one go. so setting it up, babbitt ends noll, so this euro the story is on story pisani trained for five or six other men and they are sharing a bottle of gin, bootleg gin. on this one guy brought up the bottle of gin, tells the other men, i don't know how you fellows feel about prohibition, but the way it strikes me as if the mighty beneficial thing for the four of us who haven't had the will power your buffer fellows like us, it's an intention of personal liberty. easy right there why prohibition will fail. as soon as everybody else is okay, prohibition is for the other person to obey. i select two of my cocktail and i'm not giving it up. right there is going to fail. the culture is not behind it. but also becomes a big problem right there. at the mid-1920s, people are disobeying law left and right. there is so much money to be made during prohibition because

there's a big market still to drink. and the progressive cause that is pushed prohibition among the country -- the next generation the 19 twice as okay, enough progress, we just want to have some fun. the 1920s as an aqua. during that time. this is the heir of sigmund freud. everybody is going to see their shrink. women have to vote now. by the way, prohibition went into effect the senior women got to vote and that was not a coincidence. the next generation of women came up and said they didn't drink before prohibition. now it's illegal for everybody to drink? women are going just as much as men are. it's a remarkable transition during the 1920s and all these people decide on a wholesale basis, we're going to disobey the law of the land. alcohol is legal now, but we're going to do it anyways. screw whatever the law says. lawbreaking became obsolete than

i cannot became a huge problem, particularly during 1920s as a cop further along, as the lakers, not always the most scrupulous bootlickers were starting to use denatured alcohol which poisoned hundreds of thousands of people and you also had organized crime taken over the cities. imagine a city like new york city, which was -- some people think it's uncomfortable. there was also unenforceable for prohibition. much of the police force were catholic. there were more than willing to take a bribe to look the other way. new york said we can't enforce prohibition, so they repeal their own seaway prohibition enforcement law. and the governor at the time, al smith, became the de facto leader of the last. he then of course -- he was catholic either way. he got trounced against herbert hoover in 1928 in part because he ran as an open catholic against herbert hoover and that was the last big time i think the country really thought to

have anti-bigotry election. as i mentioned before coming to organized crime taken over cities. chicago is the best example. you know, think about capone, probably the most famous gangster in world history. you know, he made his fortune bootlegging alcohol, bringing it in from canada and other places. of course it is increasingly turning to violence. everybody's heard of saint valentine's day massacre from february 14, 1929 and i was on the front page of every newspaper in the country. ..

as a bipartisan measure yet the republicans got blamed for it because there was a party they had to enforce it. with the offense of the great depression of course the country had a seismic political shift, again, just like 2006, 2008 when the country shifted completely over from the republicans to the democrats. a wholesale basis. just like today now the democrats now control congress, both houses, and the presidency. the same thing happened in 1930 and 1932. and so the democrats ran on a platform of repealed in 1933, meaning we are going to end the experiment the thing here has come to an end. the country doesn't want it anymore. when prohibition began an

estimated quarter million jobs were lost. suddenly have in a quarter million jobs during the great depression looked pretty good. these were desperately needed jobs. the economy in 1933 contracted by one-third, unreal. compared to the great recession of today, what we lived through the past couple years is nothing compared to what people went through during the great depression. the country desperately needed those jobs back, and so the democrats ran on a platform of repeal. and the first state to vote for provision, the 21st amendment, was michigan in march of 1933. it only took nine months for the final state to vote, and on december 5th, 1933 was the state of utah of all states, utah, and on that day the prohibition came to an end. ♪ ♪ >> the decisive vote of the stage against provision is happy news for the united states and

for many others throughout the land. within on december 5th, work is being rushed in distilleries and bottling work. thousands are being called back to work in plants as allied industry. at least 500,000 new jobs are predicted as a result of repealed. some factories perhaps the most closely allied lines immediate benefit from repeal extend into almost every line of business and commerce. however, everyone is what we to until december 15th. the lady is off in many places with the downfall of prohibition being celebrated in real old-time heil lardy. yes, and by the removal hotels and nightclubs report a spirit among those. why? there will be no more seen such as this, there'll after they're all of prize whiskey is believed to destroyed by government agents. it's going to be a cold winter for the beryl busters -- barrel

busters. -- we started a "the prohibition hangover" around christmas, 2003, back when i took a bottle of wine to my grandmother's place in scottsdale arizona and i had come from a methodist family, and my grandmother did not have the most positive response to the bottle of wine. she got just a little bit snooty about the fact i had brought a nice bottle of 1997 burgundy and there were three of as the table. my grandmother, my mom and myself, so three generations. at that point the light bulb went on and it was like what happened here? ausley drink, my mom is a social drinker, both of us like one and my grandmother was sort of like no, i don't drink, you should know that, kind of reaction. and it was like what happened here? why was in this generation more value my grandmother had, why wasn't passed on to my mom and myself? have that point i was like i need to solve this question.

so there was like the genesis moment or the tiffany moment for the provision hang over, and as i got into my research and started looking at ghosh what happened to america and alcohol after repeal, again, how did we get in this country where we change the constitution not once but twice and alcohol carried a very heavy stigma, especially for people like my grandmother's generation who were born and raised with alcohol being demon rum and you fast forward to today where two-thirds of a drink and the stigma is largely gone except in some parts of -- isolated parts of the country. so really to look at the fundamental question what happened after repeal, what happened over the last 75, 60 years with drinking habits and how we became this nation again where we fundamentally accept alcohol as just part of our social conditions here today, once again where most of us drank. one of the key things i looked at if i can show you a book real

quick, one of the key starting point i started off with in my research was this book again. this is called the alcoholic republic by william rohrabacher, this is by the way first edition and i'm hoping to meet him and get him to sign it. he is a professor at the university of washington and this book was written in 1979. that was the last major book written about america as alcohol. and this book here he told the story where the temperance movement came from so it is largely looking at the 19th century drinking habits of americans and they laid out the case of where this evangelical protestant movement came from, and that being out of the great whiskey binge and the response of ghosh, what we need to do about this problem and people drinking themselves to death. so that of course became this was kind of a grandfather of american alcohol social history, and my book, of course, takes -- it's starting point with the end of provision. the first chapter deals with

provision itself, but largely looks at what happened afterwards, what happened over the last three or four generations, 76 years now since prohibition ended to see how far we have come as a drinking a nation. so actually organized the book thematically to look at how the beer culture has had immersed largely through craft the year and looking as well as kraft wine and distilleries and so on. i look at the contentious issue over the drinking age that we changed the drinking age from 18 up to 21 back in 1984. and there's been a big national debate about that going on right here now about ghosh if you can go off to war at age 18 or get married or get a will or serve on a jury or inherit property or get divorced or by pornography, you know, but you can't buy alcohol, what's up with that? why entel 21? you have every right as an adult at 18 and this one right is

still not given to you until you are 21, so why is that? so last chapter of the book deals with that question. it also looks at some of the more modern questions about drinking goes on the public health site. there's some people known locally as the meal prohibitionists, because they want to put some restrictions on alcohol particularly on advertising and drinking and driving and so on. and the advertising question that has been going on is a pretty fundamental question. that's been going on actually since the end of prohibition when there were people from the beginning who wanted to stop any kind of alcohol advertising altogether and yet the debate continues to this day. so it's kind of a -- it's kind of a tug-of-war between the alcoholic beverage industry which put some responsible types in place and the public advocates who want to stop advertising altogether. >> where do you think this is going in the country if you take a look at just the drinking age? is there any movement in

congress for approaching that law? >> in congress, no. for some people it is largely a federal question or something they just don't want to deal with, right. but it's certainly a state issue, and there's a number of states that want, in fact, to shift the drinking age back to 18. south dakota for example of all places has been a big leader in this. there's also a movement underfoot by a group of college presidents, i think 135 college presidents signed a document called the initiative calling for a nationwide the data about the drinking age itself, just recognizing colleges themselves are at the front lines, particularly for binge drinking. while we in fact have saved quite a number of young people's lives shifting the drinking age up to 21, and the reason we did it in the first place in 1984 was because of drinking and driving by young people. at the same time though, there's been this huge shift now towards binge drinking on college campuses, and particularly for

the distilled spirits. there's this provision culture going on now on college campuses, and that's really troubling. the fact that you have these students who are effectively drinking themselves to death now because, again, there's the social taboo against drinking coming and did alcohol is easy to get. that's kind of the fundamental part of it, and so there's this culture of ghosh, i don't know when i'm going to get my next drink, therefore i will drink to oblivion, you know? so there's not a responsible drinking culture estoppel schmidle on college campuses and it is a big fundamental problem in american society. we don't raise our youth like the french or the germans to or the italians to, you know, who teach their kids have a very early age how to drink moderately and responsibly, largely how to drink at the dinner table. so for them, for those cultures, alcohol is something that goes along with a meal, so hence you don't see merely the incidences of been shrinking in many european countries like you see here in the united states. >> of the drinking age is 21 all

across the united states, is that the federal law or -- >> it's actually a state law become states control the drinking age and that is largely thanks to the 21st amendment. the 21st amendment which repeals provisions gave the states control over alcohol importation and alcohol period. so the drinking age is a state issue. that said though, the we begot the drinking age to wear it is today back in 1984, mothers against drunk driving lobbied heavily for congress to raise the drinking age from 18 to force the states of course to raise the drinking age is up to 21. the way they did that the got congress to threaten to withhold 10% of the matching federal highway funds, and if they didn't they would lose those highway funds, and so within a couple of years every state in the district of columbia all raised to 21. effectively there were held fiscally hostage. every state shifted the drinking

age of 21. >> to end up this program, if someone buys your book, reads it, what do you hope they take away from it? >> i hope they get a good understanding here of fundamental alcohol is to american culture. if you realize alcohol was there from the beginning of american culture from the first settlers in jamestown, who what they wanted to do is not to grow tobacco but rather to grow grapes savitt challenge the french monopoly in bordeaux, or the poll were misled the first landed the first place the land is what is now provincetown, the tip of cape cod and they dug a well to get water so they could growth year. these were puritans by the way. people frequently blame the puritans for prohibition and yet they drink. so alcohol has been a fundamental part of american culture since really the beginning of the colonies and so on. so the idea that temperance movement could force the country to go dry and then americans wouldn't drink was simply naive. it's simply just a way of how we live our lives today.

and ultimately -- i'm certainly a social drinker. i collect wine and i like a good gin and whiskey and so on. i think as americans age, the moderate their drinking habits. and i think ultimately the way we can realize, okay, alcohol can cause harm but it can also be a good thing to people's lives and helps us socialize better. it does have health benefits particularly to the cardiovascular system. and if people can take the good things out of alcohol it does have a good benefit here to our lives and that is what i want people to realize that alcohol can in fact be a positive for the benefit here to our lives in america. ♪ >> beer come sparkling, golden, pure, refreshing. a beverage of gold history, the anglo-saxons are credited with the development of many brewing formulas.

the improved breweries or will the stub was just fine beverages, high in food value by the time the pilgrims settled for america. later, the taverns the can the meeting places of men who helped make american history and the have joined their favorite brews. yes, beer the enjoy today are beverages with a heritage which is unequal, yet they are as modern as today. in today's bring laboratories, knowledge passed down through the centuries is combined with modern chemistry of food to produce beverages that would have been the envy of the kings and emperors of old. from the laboratories to the tanks where the finest of american ball to the greens are fermented, the beer of today is brewed under spotlessly clean conditions. to staff the breeze, it requires nearly 100,000 employees earning $350 million a year.

american farm supply most of the ingredients required for brewing. barley, wheat, corn, royce, hops and soybeans, thousands of tons of it. to be more specific, every year the farmers of america sell the brewery is more than 1 billion pounds of farm products worth $250 million. from these feingold and greens, the brewery's produce over a billion gallons of immaculately pure beer and ale. in their roles, cans and bottles to suit every taste and personal preference. taxes on beer and alj provide $850 million a year to the state and federal governments. this is in addition to the property and income taxes paid by a the brewers, beer distributors, retailers and their respective employees. the brewing industry is proud of its contributions to america in

fine what beverages and employment, while material purchases, by products and taxes. >> a beer promotional film you just saw was created in 1952 for the united states brewers foundation. the entire film is part of the premier archive and can be watched online at archive.org. you can learn more about garretn peck's book and tore ation? prohibitionhangover.com.the >> brad meltzer, why nonfiction, >> the truth is it is for my sos and eight years ago on the night my son was born i thought i'mi'i going to write a book that lasts his whole life and i was coming backife. i was coming back from the hospital. it's that great moment when you can dream anything for your child. he can be the president, nice person, generous person, all realism, i'm going to write a book that lasts my whole life. i came home and started writing rules for him to live by. there you go. pictures of it.

what i wanted was, i'm going to write rules down. love god. two, be nice to the fat kid in class. things i thought were important for him to know. the truth was i knew nothing about being a father. so a friend of mine told me the amazing story about the wright brothers. every time they'd go out, they'd bring enough materials for multiple crashes. they knew they'd fail. they would crash and rebuild. i said i love that story. i want my son and daughter to know that story. if they have a dream and they work hard, that's the book i'm going to write. not a book of rules, but a book of hero. heros for my son is rosa parks, mr. rogers, to jim henson. >> where's barbara john?

>> that was a teenager. it has someone like martin luther king jr., but also regular people. barbara johns was a high school student and civil rights activist. barbara johns at a time when in 1951, basically saw a school bus ride by her and her school bus was broken down. there was another one that was full of the white kids going to the good school. they had no books, no materials, horrible school. she organized a walk out. we are going to protest it. forget about it. she's one of the unknown people. her test case as they walked out was one the cases used in brown v. board of education. where did it come from? a teenager. a teenager is one of the people responsible for it. so the book is filled with, a guy named frank shankwits.

he found out about a boy with leukemia that also wanted to be a police officer. he had a motorcycle made. he find out the boy with leukemia goes into a coma. he goes to the hospital room. as the boy is unconscious, he says, i want to put motorcycle wings on him. he pins the motorcycle wings, at which point, true story, the boy wakes up and smiles. the boy eventually goes back into a coma, eventually dies. on the way home, frank looks at his buddy, you know, we made that kid really happy for just one day. we should do that for other kids. that's how the make a wish foundation was born. i want my son to know that stories. that's what heros for my son. celebrating the people that can take one dream and change the entire world. >> we've only got a few minutes with brad meltzer.

we'd like to hear your heros. numbers are on the screen. go ahead and start calling in now. who's on the cover here? >> you know, it's funny. everyone think it's my son. i have two sons. my publisher wanted me to pick between my kids. i'm not stupid. it's my good friends rusty and elizabeth's son. the last hero, is my favorite hero. my mother. she died two years ago from breast cancer. before she died, my publisher was shutting down. i didn't know if anyone would take care of my contracts. i called my mom and i said, mom, i'm so nervous about this. she said i'd love you if you were a garbage man.

she's not taking a crack. my uncle was a garbage man. i say that soaking in her strength. for anyone out there, the last two pages are blank. your heros are here, and your heros stories are here. you take this book, and give it this holiday season and put their picture. write one sentence about your father, grandfather, military member, what they mean to you, that would be the most beautiful page. i wanted my book to be something that you can give to anyone at any age. >> you've included two contemporary u.s. presidents in the book. who are they? >> the book has no politics. nobody is in it for political reasons. i did george w. bush and barack obama. bush is in there because of the amazing story when he was flying. he was one the youngest pilots in world war ii. his plane was going down.

two men on the plane with him. as the plane crashes, and it's crashing into the ocean, he maneuvers the plane so they can get out before he can. uses the moment of selflessness. he lets them out first. peaks out, he's crashing, some -- vomiting, crying, terrified. he told me he still thinks of the guy. he became the president of the united states and never told anyone that story, never ran for it, never self-promoting. i want my son to that have humility. barack obama, not because of any political reason. no one knows where he's going to be in the end. what he represents, whatever your politics are, is one of the greatest ideals in all of america. that's that anyone can be president. i want my son to know that anyone can be president. i want my daughter to know that anyone can be president. they were both put in there. >> how did you get to know

george h.w. bush? >> i write thrillers. i talk to imaginary people. i got a fan letter written by george h.w. bush. i don't care what your politics are, you are the former president, you write me a letter, i'll send you a free book. >> brad meltzer is our guest. first call. maryland, go ahead, please. >> caller: yes, brad, i wanted to thank you for creating such a wonderful book. i think it's extremely important that people really understand that, you know, the heros are not just the people that are famous. but i like that you did put in people who are not famous. and kids would have an opportunity, not only your son, but anyone who's giving this gift to their family to let them know that ordinary people not only can do extraordinary things, but also be truly extraordinary. by pursuing their goals, dreams,

going after it, trying to make a difference. i want to thank you for this. that's something that i share with my family. >> thank you. >> host: who's your hero? >> caller: my hero is my mother. she was an african-american woman from the south, had a nice education, and vice president of institutional trading is what my brother, and i have my masters. >> guest: and that's exactly right. you know, the thing is that we all know and say our heros are george washington, martin luther king jr. or eleanor roosevelt and these amazing people. the real heros are the heros that we live with every day. that's vital. i should tell you do you want to talk about the hero who i spent my time with, my son, my oldest son jonas. this is the moment that i gave him the book. i've waited eight years.

it's called "heros for my son" i'm telling my son. he doesn't care about eleanor roosevelt or rosa parks. he's looking through the athletes. he finds roberto clemente. you know what being a famous athlete, nothing. it doesn't make you a better person, nicer, you know what selling a lot of books and being on the best seller list, nothing. doesn't make me smarter. it means people read the books. roberto clemente is in there not because he was a baseball player, because there was a earthquake in nicaragua. he sends three planes for help. they were stolen. he was so determined to make sure the plane gets there, the fourth one, he gets on the

plane. it crashes in the ocean. killing everyone on board. he's not a hero because he died. he's a hero because he got on board. i'm waiting for my son to say i'm the greatest hero. he said, dad, i'm sad. my book has backfired in my face. he comes racing into the room on his own, he grabs the book and says, dad, who are we reading tonight? i said what about roberto? he said i like him. i said why? because he gave his life for people. we complain about there's no good heros, we focus on athletes and celebrities. we have a say in who our kids emulate. >> host: florida, you have 15 seconds. >> caller: thank you very

much. my hero is a man named miriam frye. he was a man from a white protestant family. he saved some people from the nazis in europe. he saved so many using them to get passports and visas to get out of france and into spain and eventually to the united states and save them. and save their bodies intellectual work for the western world. that is a hero of mine. > host: thank you. thank you, caller. >> guest: great hero. in fact, we put in the book, my favorite person is meet geese. i had anne frank. she's the woman that save and

hid anne frank's family from the nazis. they come rushing in and raid her house. at that moment, she could say i didn't know they were up there. she never apologized. what she instead does, she tries to bribe the nazis. don't take these people away. they tear up her place, the one thing they discard is the one red book, anne frank's diary. she's the woman that history doesn't know about. she's the one that saved the diary, she preserved it. when otto frank said my daughter is dead, she never read the book. handed it to her father, this is her daughter's legacy to you. that's the reason that we have anne frank's diary. because miep gies saved it. >> host: quick, how much political research goes into the thrillers? >> guest: listen, i wish we

didn't live in a world where we don't get our news from comedians, and we get jokes. i realized over the year, people like to get the real facts out of my books. i take that seriously. i take that trust seriously. it takes me at least six months before i can start writing a thriller. if i'm going to show you the secret tunnels, i'm going to research. i can write whatever i want. but i'm going to get it right. >> host: how much have you sold? >> guest: this one? 10 copies to my family. the publisher says we have copies in print. the only one that matters, is my family. my mom, god bless her, i went to borders headquarters. they said guess where your books sell more than anyone else? i don't know. new york city. 8 million new yorkers. i said washington, d.c., i write thrillers about washington. no, the number one place was

florida borders one mile from the furniture store where my mother used to work. my mother single-handedly beat 8 million new yorkers. >> host: brad meltzer has been up next on book tv curtis wilkie tells a story of mississippi attorney richa