Raise a glass and cheer. Repeal of Prohibition occurred Dec. 5, 1933, when Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah voted to repeal the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which had imposed Prohibition upon the land.
Repeal had become a central plank of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s campaign for the Presidency. By the time he was inaugurated, it had become clear that Prohibition had been a disaster for the United States, giving rise to a murderous mob, depriving the government of millions in tax revenue and crimping commerce.
Interestingly, it was never illegal to drink alcoholic beverages during Prohibition. It was simply illegal to manufacture, transport and sell them.
You can find when your state voted for Repeal here, five interesting facts about Prohibition here, from the National Constitution Center. You can see newsreel footage about the impact of Repeal here.
American brewers celebrate Repeal on April 7. That’s because President Roosevelt had the Volstead Act amended in April to allow the sale of beer before the 21st Amendment was ratified.
In celebration of the legalization of beer manufacturing, August A. Busch had addressed the nation on April 7, 1933, noting economic benefits of repeal and calling for respect of control laws (you can hear it here). Busch’s sons – August A. Busch Jr. and Adolphus Busch III – presented him a six-horse Clydesdale hitch in celebration.
A second hitch was sent to New York, and then toured New England and the Middle Atlantic states, stopping in Washington, D.C., to reenact delivery of one of the first cases of Budweiser to President Roosevelt. (The actual delivery had been shipped by air and presented April 7.)