December 5, 1933: Prohibition Ends

December 5, 1933: The 21st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment, which had prohibited the production, sale, purchase, transport, and possession of alcoholic beverages in America. After 14 years, Prohibition has ended. 

America's self-appointed moral arbiters had gotten Prohibition ratified in the first place, in 1919 to take effect on January 16, 1920, because they saw alcohol as evil, but also because they saw it as something that those other people enjoy. You know, the immigrants. The foreigners. The Catholics.

As it turned out, Banning liquor and drinking was the worst thing they could have done. There was already organized crime in America, but Prohibition launched it headlong into American life, as Mob bosses like Al Capone were happy to supply the people with the drinks they craved.

With the Great Depression underway by late 1929, people needed a drink more than ever. And so, the desire to keep Prohibition began to fade away. Being "Dry" was a winning stance in the Presidential election of 1920 for Warren Harding, 1924 for Calvin Coolidge, and 1928 for Herbert Hoover.

In 1929 and 1930, the Philadelphia Athletics won the World Series. Both times, Hoover made the short train trip from Washington to Shibe Park in North Philadelphia, and threw out the ceremonial first ball before one of the games. In October 1929, he was cheered. In October 1930, he heard boos and chants of "We want beer! We want beer! We want beer!"

In 1932, the Depression meant that Hoover was going to lose to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, anyway, but being "Dry" hurt Hoover on top of that. FDR was "Wet," and that made him all the more popular.

Did making booze legal again stop organized crime? Far from it. The Mob, figuring that this day would eventually come, was prepared, and had already moved on to other things, like gambling, and illegal drugs.

By 1933, the 18th Amendment was so unpopular, that it became the first Amendment to the Constitution to be repealed. It remains the only one.

This historic day was in December, so there were no games in Major League Baseball. It was a Tuesday, so there were no games in the National Football League. And it was before 1946, so there was, as yet, no National Basketball Association.

Even in the National Hockey League, there was not a full schedule. The New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks were not scheduled to play. These games were:

* The New York Americans lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 9-1 at what would later be called "the old Madison Square Garden."

* The Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Boston Garden.

* And the Montreal Maroons and the Detroit Red Wings played to a 1-1 tie at the Montreal Forum.