Repeal of Prohibition and Its Aftermath

Aggressive anti-Prohibition groups began forming by the late 1920s, intent on repealing both the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act. When the Democratic Party adopted repeal of Prohibition as a major plank of its political platform, it gained the support of millions of thirsty voters who hoped that the ban would soon end. Support grew when the Great Depression hit, with repeal advocates extolling the economic value of restoring jobs in the beer and liquor industries and increasing profits for grain farmers. Franklin Roosevelt easily swept into office in 1932, partly by promising voters that he would solve the government’s financial problems by levying a tax on beer. He kept his promise, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment with the Twenty-first Amendment in February 1933 and then legalizing beer that April. By the end of 1933 the national prohibition of alcohol was officially over. Within months, closed distilleries and breweries reopened, though their numbers were a small fraction of the pre-Prohibition industries.