By 1931, most people had realized that
National Prohibition had been a mistake and were ready to repeal
it. Almost all, except for President Hoover, who actually
increased government spending on Prohibition law enforcement.
Soon, the entire nation was clamoring for repeal, and not even
the president could do anything to stop it.
The 1932
presidential election came and a new president was elected,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (more
commonly known as FDR). Within a month of his election, the
alcohol content allowed in beer was raised to 3.2 percent.
Soon an amendment to the constitution was proposed. It was on
December 5, 1933 that Utah was the 36th state to
ratify the 21st amendment and end National Prohibition.
This made the 18th amendment the only constitutional amendment to be
repealed.
After
that, it was the states' job to decide if a state prohibition
was necessary. Most states got rid of state prohibitions,
but Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma kept their prohibition laws
in place the longest. Kansas ended statewide prohibition in
1948, whereas Oklahoma ended theirs in 1959. The longest
state prohibition was Missouri, who ended state prohibition in
1966, almost 35 years after National Prohibition
was repealed.