This Week in History – 21st Amendment Ends Prohibition

With the ratification of the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933, nationwide prohibition comes to an end. Utah was the last state needed for a three-fourths majority. With their ratification, thirteen years of speakeasies, illicit stills and large-scale bootlegging came to an end…mostly. Several states used state-level temperance laws to prolong prohibition locally. The last dry state was Mississippi, where prohibition lingered until the mid-60s.

Prohibition Ends TonightProhibition Ends Tonight Tue, Dec 5, 1933 – 1 · Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

Prohibition RepealProhibition Repeal Tue, Dec 5, 1933 – Page 1 · The Evening Review (East Liverpool, Columbiana, Ohio) · Newspapers.com

Sidenote: In 1929 Henry Ford claimed he would close his automobile plants if prohibition ended, saying “Gasoline and booze don’t mix; that’s all.”

Find more on the prohibition era with a search on Newspapers.com, or browse through the papers of the 1920s.

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