Today is Repeal Day! Kitterman Woods residents get ready to pop open a bottle of wine and celebrate. Today we celebrate the repeal of prohibition.

Prohibition is the nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. This was accomplished by the passage of the 18th amendment on January 16, 1919. Which took effect the following year, January 1920. Many people believed that alcohol was the root cause of trouble in the country. This was widely supported by the American Christian Women’s Temperance Union.

They believed that prohibition would protect women and children from the effects of alcohol abuse. By banning alcoholic beverages the goal was to reduce or even eliminate drunkenness, crime, mental illness, and poverty. People continued to produce and drink alcohol during prohibition.

Over the next thirteen years, the support for prohibition faded. Repeal organizations increased. In 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for the United States presidency on a platform that included the repeal of prohibition. On December 5th, 1933 the 21st amendment was passed restoring the American right to celebratory drink.