April 7th, a date that lives

Prohibition, the national experiment, goes belly up … Legal beer finally. Happy day.

A year ago, on the 75th anniversary of April 7th, 1933, some folks were stepping all over the date to point out that in 1933, it wasn’t the final spade of dirt to bury Prohibition, that April 7th was a mere stepping stone.

Prohibition’s actual repeal wouldn’t come until Dec. 5, 1933, when Utah ratified the 21st Amendment, securing a sufficient majority of states doing so. Because government is a process.

Seems like the purists were arguing (and hawking a book) that repeal wasn’t big enough to embrace both dates, that April 7th was stealing Dec. 5th’s thunder.

Maybe that's an extreme reading of their point, but anyway, thanks for the clarification. And 76 years later, who gives a crap about splitting hairs, unless you're on Jeopardy! or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

April 7th did mean 3.2% (alcohol by weight) beer was legal, and that certainly helped put one foot of the Volstead Act on a banana peel (the other was already in the grave). It's enough to be happy about.

The rest is history.

Have a beer.