6. The end of prohibition
In his early days in office Roosevelt delivered on a campaign promise to allow the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages under federal law, with individual states deciding whether if they were to remain wet or dry. As part of the New Deal (and which gained widespread popular support from it) Roosevelt lobbied Congress to amend the Volstead Act, the legal mechanism for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment, to allow the sale of beer. Congress complied, and the breweries across the nation which had managed to survive prohibition were quickly back in business, employing their staffs as well as delivery drivers, distributors and salespeople, and providing an additional market for farmers. By December of the same year Prohibition was fully repealed with the ratification of the 21st amendment to the Constitution.
The repeal of prohibition and the sale of legal alcohol was far more than a morale booster for the American public. In addition to adding to employment (virtually every American city of size had multiple breweries) it proved an important revenue source to local and state coffers through taxes. The political capital Roosevelt acquired, especially in the ethnic communities of urban areas, also helped him gain support for other New Deal programs which otherwise would have been less well-received. The legalization of alcohol also reduced the strain on local police departments which had struggled throughout prohibition to enforce the law, or had been corrupted through the bribery of organized bootlegging groups which had acquired significant power during the so-called “noble experiment”.