The Wettest Day of the Year
Prohibition Repeal Day, December 5, is the anniversary of the repeal of the 18th amendment, which ended prohibition. Prohibition began in 1920 and ended in 1933 after it was concluded that the law had not ended drinking in America. Worse, Prohibition was costing billions in lost tax revenue for local and federal agencies.
To celebrate, I’ve found some lesser known facts about the era.
Prohibition didn’t actually outlaw drinking. Surprisingly, the Volstead Act, as it was called, only outlawed the production, sale and transportation of alcohol. Doctors could prescribe alcohol for various ailments, and you could pick it up at the pharmacy.
Maryland refused to enforce the law. “Although Maryland became the sixth state to ratify the amendment, the state, led by outspoken anti-prohibition Governor Albert C. Ritchie, refused to pass a state enforcement law abridging its citizens’ right to imbibe,” the Maryland State Historical Society reports. “In his second inaugural address delivered on January 9, 1921, Ritchie laid out his opposition to national prohibition as an infringement on Marylander’s liberties.”
Thus “Maryland was one of the ‘wettest’ states, and Baltimore one of the ‘wettest’ cities.”
“The Chesapeake Bay became the prime port of call for the nation’s bootleggers,” according to the Brewers Association of Maryland. “Because of its refusal to enforce prohibition, Maryland was also important in becoming a strong advocate for repealing the law.
Elsewhere, booze cruises became popular. These “cruises to nowhere” set sail into international waters so passengers could legally drink, went in a circle and came back.
Some states remained dry even after Prohibition was repealed by the federal government. Mississippi didn’t end Prohibition until 1966.
This December 5, consider raising a glass to Utah, the last state to ratify the 21st amendment that repealed prohibiton.