Prohibition 75 years later

Today marks the 75^th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition the ridiculous 18^th Amendment to the US Constitution that intended to keep our country “dry” from the sale and consumption of alcohol. The evil firewater was blamed for a multitude of sins that the American public committed and for 7,302,204 minutes from January 17^th 1920 until December 5^th 1933 liquor did not touch the lips of one American citizen and everything was rosy... Well at least that’s what the Temperance Movement had intended. 

If you haven’t watched Ken Burns documentary on Prohibition you should, it was fantastic. But if you are never going to get around to watching all 5 ½ hours of it don’t worry because I did and here’s basically what you missed:

According to a bunch of rural religious folks living in small towns throughout the country there were too many drunks destroying American society. They thought that if alcohol was prohibited the country would be restored to order.  Much to the dismay of  urban dwellers the 18^th Amendment was passed which banned the sale and consumption of alcohol. 


People kept on drinking and states struggled to enforce the new regulation. Organized crime skyrocketed to keep up with the high demand for liquor. . The country went on a 5071 day bender drinking bathtub gin provided by gangsters in the shadows of speakeasies and the 1920s roared! Slowly people began to realize that the law created to clean up the country was actually corrupting it further. Oops. 

Finally on this fateful day 75 years ago everyone finally admitted that Prohibition was a total flop and passed of the 21^st amendment nullifying the 18th.  Today we raise our glasses to one of our country’s biggest faux pas. So celebrate your inalienable right to cocktails today and enjoy Ya'll!