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1932 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › National Prohibition
Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by state conventions; legalize beer now; states control liquor and bar the saloon
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Prohibition & AlcoholSociety & Rights⚡ National Prohibition similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Congress to propose immediately a repeal amendment to be ratified by state conventions; states to regulate the liquor traffic, promote temperance and prevent the saloon's return, with federal help against importation into dry states; pending repeal, modify the Volstead Act to legalize beer and raise revenue. If the current Congress does nothing, "I shall urge the new Congress to carry out these provisions."
Rationale
"This convention wants repeal. Your candidate wants repeal. And I am confident that the United States of America wants repeal"; repeal also has a fiscal dimension through beer revenue.
Statements (12)
We advocate the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.
Pending repeal, we favor immediate modification of the Volstead Act; to legalize the manufacture and sale of beer and other beverages of such alcoholic content as is permissible under the Constitution and to provide therefrom a proper and needed revenue.
That admirable document, the platform which you have adopted, is clear. I accept it 100 percent.
Blanket endorsement of every plank.
This convention wants repeal. Your candidate wants repeal. And I am confident that the United States of America wants repeal.
I say to you now that from this date on the 18th Amendment is doomed. When that happens, we as Democrats must and will, rightly and morally, enable the States to protect themselves against the importation of intoxicating liquor where such importation may violate their State laws. We must rightly and morally prevent the return of the saloon.
Nothing need be added to that, except that if the present Congress takes no action, I shall urge the new Congress to carry out these provisions.
The experience of nearly one hundred and fifty years under the Constitution has shown us that the proper means of regulation is through the States, with control by the Federal Government limited to that which is necessary to protect the States in the exercise of their legitimate powers. This I submit is the principle embodied in our Democratic platform
Unquestionably our tax burden would not be so heavy nor the forms that it takes so objectionable if some reasonable proportion of the uncounted millions now paid to those whose business has been reared upon this stupendous blunder could be made available for the expenses of Government.
Thus the Democratic platform expressly and unequivocally opposes the return of the saloon and with equal emphasis it demands that there be Federal control of the liquor traffic to protect dry States.
I refer specifically to a Federal tax on beer, which would be raised through the sale of beer in those States and those States only which by State law allow the sale of beer.
by placing a tax on beer which in the meantime will increase our Federal revenues by several hundred million dollars a year.
I favor the modification of the Volstead Act to permit States to authorize the manufacture and sale of beer just as fast as the law will let us. This is a way to divert three hundred million dollars or more by way of taxes from the pockets of the racketeers to the Treasury of the United States.
Follow-through
kept
Congress had proposed the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933 (before inauguration); Roosevelt's March 13 message produced the Cullen-Harrison beer bill (signed March 22, effective April 7) with its tax revenue; ratification by state conventions was complete on December 5, 1933. States regained control and the federal government enforced protection of dry states under the amendment's Section 2.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933-03-13 | message | Message on repeal of the Volstead Act | Requested legalization of beer and light wines with a federal tax. | yes | Message to Congress on Repeal of the Volstead Act. |
| 1933-03-22 | statute | Cullen-Harrison Act (3.2 beer) | The Congress also passed legislation authorizing the sale of beer in such States as desired it. This has already resulted in considerable reemployment and incidentally has provided much needed tax revenue. | yes | Second Fireside Chat |
| 1933-12-05 | other | Twenty-first Amendment ratified by state conventions | Second, Whenever the repeal of the 18th Amendment now pending before the States shall have been ratified and the repeal of the Volstead Act effected. | yes | Message to Congress Recommending Enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act. |
Assessments
Repeal was pending before the states by June 1933 and completed in December.
Reception (1)
Pairing the bonus refusal with beer revenue was a 'bald-faced bribe': vote for beer and get your bonus — a promise beer taxes could never fund.
What Roosevelt seems to have done is a dirty trick. He has dunked his bonus in beer. And bitter bread it will be for him in the day of reckoning.
Other positions on this issue
- Repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment as a matter of states' rights — Albert C. Ritchie, 1932 specific_pledge
- Outright repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment — the issue Roosevelt was downplaying — Alfred E. Smith, 1932 specific_pledge
- Resubmit the Eighteenth Amendment so each state may decide, with constitutional guarantees against the saloon and against interference with dry states; enforce the law meanwhile — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment — the candidate preferring a binding national referendum — Norman Thomas, 1932 specific_pledge
1932-fdr-repeal-prohibition · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed