This Day in Booze: We Want Beer!!!

The year was 1932. The sun was setting on the days of prohibition. America was a hornet's nest, and prohibition was the little kid jamming the stick up in it. Public outcry against prohibition was rampant. Organizations such as the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) and the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR) fought fervently to end prohibition. WONPR particularly hurt the prohibitionists and their cause. Throughout the years, there was always an assumption that they could count on the support of women almost unanimously (Take that! Women's Christian Temperance Union).

I know I used the one picture before in another post, but it's just such a damn good picture.

The great depression had hit hard, and people were more concerned with unemployment than keeping alcohol out of peoples hands, and opening up the breweries meant jobs. Presidential nominee, Franklin D. Roosevelt, practically built his platform on fighting dry laws and ending prohibition. Even some of the most outspoken prohibition supporters had flipped sides, and were now touting the benefits of repeal.

Now that I have set the stage, the date is May 14th, 1932. New York City Mayor, Jimmy Walker, organized a day-long Beer rally known as the "We Want Beer Parade." Nearly 100,000 people showed up in support of repeal and the legalization of beer. On the very same day the city of Detroit held a similar even of there own, in which some 40,000 people attended. They marched and the chanted "Who want's a bottle of beer?"

"We Do!"