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Suffrage & Prohibition  he
1920s were marked by two laws that many social workers had worked diligently to pass: suffrage and
prohibition.
Both these reforms were thought to represent profound possibilities for changing society.
Both suffrage and prohibition were a slice of a larger women's movement that counted
social work as a significant enlistee. Prominent social work leaders such as Jane Addams,
Lillian Wald, and Florence Kelly were almost as well known as suffragists as they were in
the charity field. Many people, in and outside social work, believed that many heretofore
perplexing social problems would, with the passage of these two laws, become more
manageable.
 In spite of these two major reforms,
1920s was socially and politically a conservative time. Cynicism about the Great War and
anxiety engendered by the
Red
Scare that followed the Russian revolution dashed mainstream America's
enthusiasm for improvement. It was as if the war, coupled with the attainment of a number
of reforms, had exhausted the nation's appetite for reform. The 1920s were a period when
many turned towards individual pursuits.
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