Alcohol During and After Prohibition - Repeal

Repeal

Both the Republican and Democratic party platforms included planks for the repeal of prohibition. The popular vote for repeal was 74 % in favor and 26 % in opposition. So by a three to one vote, the American people rejected prohibition; only two states opposed repeal.

Franklin D. Roosevelt would soon look back to what he called "The damnable affliction of Prohibition." But not all were happy. The Anti-Saloon League declared "War ... NO PEACE PACT-NO ARMISTICE" and warned that temperance forces would soon be ready to launch the "offensive against the liquor traffic."

While the president and most of the country considered prohibition a failure, clearly many temperance activists did not. Prohibition had been a major legacy of World War I and, with war in Europe, temperance leaders again hoped to take advantage of the national emergency that would occur if the United States were drawn into that conflagration. One asserted that "the full force of dry pressure would once again be brought to bear on Congress" if we entered the war in order "to get as much prohibition as .. . Possible." Stressing that World War I had been the impetus for prohibition, a pro-temperance journal predicted promising times ahead.

After the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941, temperance leaders tried to have all alcohol prohibited on all military bases. One dry (prohibition)leader said, "I would rather have a sober son in a concentration camp in Germany than in a service camp in America if that son should become the victim of the drink habit." However, the Secretary of War insisted that "temperance cannot be attained by prohibition," and supported the sale of alcoholic beverages on military bases. He believed that this policy had "caused a degree of temperance among Army personnel which is not approachable in civil communities now" by encouraging soldiers "to remain on the reservation (their home) and enjoy refreshment under conditions conducive of temperance." Similarly, Army Major Merrill Moore called for policies to encourage moderation among soldiers who chose to drink and asserted: "Not alcohol, but the intemperate use of alcohol, is the problem in the Army as well as in civilian life." The Office of War Information argued that bootleggers could not be regulated whereas legal dispensers could.

Furthermore, the availability of beverage alcohol was seen by military authorities as good for morale and the war effort. Brewers were required to allocate 15% of total annual production of beer for use by the armed forces; local draft boards were authorized to grant deferments to brewery workers who were highly skilled and irreplaceable; the Teamsters labor union was ordered to end a strike against Minneapolis breweries because beer manufacturing was considered an industry essential to the war effort; and near the end of the war, the army made plans to operate recaptured French breweries to ensure adequate supplies for the troops.

Dry leaders insisted that Congress prohibit the production of alcohol beverages for at least the length of the war, arguing that intoxication caused the disaster at Pearl Harbor, wasted precious raw materials, reduced efficiency through excessive absenteeism, and would lead to loose lips among those with military secrets.

Shortly after World War II, a national opinion survey found that "About one-third of the people of the United States favor national prohibition." Upon repeal of national prohibition, 18 states continued prohibition at the state level. The last state finally dropped it in 1966. Almost two-thirds of all states adopted some form of local option which enabled residents in political subdivisions to vote for or against local prohibition. Therefore, despite the repeal of prohibition at the national level, 38% of the nation's population lived in areas with state or local prohibition.