during the first world war, gordon was instrumental in convincing us president woodrow wilson to harden the federal government's policies against the manufacture of alcoholic beverages, most notably by criminalizing the use of foodstuffs to make alcohol. later, in 1919, temperance organizations scored a major victory with the ratification of the eighteenth amendment to the united states constitution, which fully established prohibition in the united states. after this success, the wctu under gordon's guidance began to turn more towards temperance enforcement, and causes peripheral to the temperance movement, such as citizenship for immigrants, women's rights in the workplace, and child protection.