The Repeal of Prohibition and Conclusion (1930-1933)
By the time that the Great Depression started to settle in, during the early 1930s, public opinion on Prohibition had largely changed. Even the new president was against it. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932, it didn’t take long for his plans of repealing prohibition to go into effect. By March of 1933, the Cullen-Harrison Act was passed, which legalized the sale of lightly alcoholic beverages.[1]
Crowds gathered in Washington DC in order to get their hands on the newly legalized 3.2% alcohol by volume beer. This photo was taken after midnight on April 7th, 1933.
Meanwhile, Virginia was still under state-wide prohibition. Even though the governor at the time, John G. Pollard, supported temperance, US Senator Harry Byrd persuaded Pollard that the state should call the Virginia General Assembly into order regarding prohibition.[4] The results of this meeting included the legalization of lightly alcoholic beverages in Virginia, like the national Cullen-Harrison Act proposed, and a call to vote for the future of state Prohibition.[1]
The results of the election in October of 1933 stated that state Prohibition would be repealed if national Prohibition would be repealed as well. In addition, voters decided that there should be a new organization dedicated to controlling the sale and distribution of liquor in Virginia.[3] This organization would become the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, more commonly known as the Virginia ABC.[3] When the 21st amendment was ratified on December 5th, 1933, just two months later, almost the entirety of Virginia was wet once again for the first time in roughly 17 years.
Headlines were made across the US on December 6th, 1933, as presses informed the public that Prohibition had been repealed nationwide, the day prior. Here is an example of a newspaper headline on that day, from the Baltimore Sun.
When the fading judiciary support is combined with the massive rise of organized crime and the public’s overall changing opinion of Prohibition, it is not hard to see why Prohibition failed in the end. Prohibition was largely ineffective at functioning, being taken seriously, or delivering on its promises, which is why it was repealed. By 1934, a new time had begun for the state of Virginia and the USA, a time of government-controlled alcohol distribution that still exists to this day.
[1] Benbow, Mark. The Old Dominion Goes Dry: Prohibition in Virginia. Journal of the Brewery History Society. http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/138/Bendow.pdf
[3] Kimball, Gregg. Teetotalers & Moonshiners: Prohibition in Virginia, Distilled. Broadside, vol. 2. pg. 2-4. 2017. https://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/broadside/2017-Spring.pdf.
[4] Heinemann, Ronald L. Old Dominion, New Commonwealth a History of Virginia, 1607-2007 Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, pg. 283, 304, 315. 2007. https://www-jstor-org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/j.ctt6wrjzn