Today, December 5th, marks the 78th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition in the United States. It was our country's great failed experiment - "The Noble Experiment" - that lasted just over 13 years during which liquor went underground where it boomed and fed many illegal enterprises throughout the country.
The history of Prohibition is one that I continually get lost in. There's always something new to read and research and so many different aspects of the experiment to explore. Just a few months ago we saw the anticipated release of Ken Burns & Lynn Novick's PBS documentary, Prohibition, which if you haven't seen it yet is worth watching. And I thought that this year I'd pull some of my favorite newspaper clippings about repeal to share: Prohibition Repeal Newspaper Archives. I could get trapped in 1933 newspapers for weeks if I could pull that off, but these six articles are a good start and you can get a feel for what was happening throughout the nation as repeal was being debated.
On another Repeal Day note, the town of Medicine Lodge, Kansas, home to the hatchet-wielding teetotaler Carry Nation finally passed a measure to quash the town's Sunday blue law. It is known as one of the strictest places in the country when it comes to liquor laws, likely influenced by that brash woman who was known for smashing up one saloon after another. Read about the Medicine Lodge law at Huffington Post and more about Nation in the review of the Prohibition documentary.
Further Reading:
- Prohibition Repeal Newspaper Archives
- 10 Facts About Prohibition and Repeal
- United States Prohibition of Alcohol, 1920-1933
- Classic Cocktails (1930's and earlier)
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