“Are you kidding me?” said America in 1919 when Prohibition took effect, banning the sale and manufacture of all alcoholic beverages. Turns out they weren’t kidding, and it wasn’t until 1933 that we were able to celebrate this holiday with a drink,
NATIONAL END OF PROHIBITION DAY!
13 years of bad luck is what the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act were, as bootleg booze made millionaires of murderous gangsters, turned our government against its own citizens and encouraged corruption in every segment of society.
If Prohibition proved anything, it is that people like to drink, and people get what people like, no matter who’s doing the selling.
On December 15, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution officially replaced the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, lifting the ban on fun libations. The 21st Amendment was basically a grand exercise in acknowledging the obvious, that we had made a doozy of a mistake.
Our national temper tantrum finally came to an end, but left us with a permanent organized criminal underworld. On the plus side, we did wind up with a whole lot of great gangster movies, so there’s that.
•Suggested Activities: Ordering an Old Fashioned.