The 18th amendment, which launched the Prohibition Era, began its short career this day in 1919. Considered by some a well-intentioned act (of social hygiene), it sought to ban the availability of alcoholic beverages.
The unintended consequences, though, were perhaps worse — vast flouting of the law by the public and a boost to organized crime. Prohibition was repealed in December 1933. In the no-longer-dry U.S., there are over 31,000 beer, wine and liquor stores, with annual sales over $36 billion, the Cenesus Bureau notes.