After a long day of trying to find work in the middle of the Great Depression, a man couldn’t even go to the local pub and enjoy a pint to take the edge off and forget the miserable world he currently lived in. Americans hadn’t enjoyed a legitimate drink since Prohibition had started 12 years earlier.

It wasn’t just a matter of inconvenience. Gangsters controlled the illegal sale of alcohol and between 350 and 400 murders per year could be traced to the bootlegging business.

It was hard on government as well – after the income from taxes on alcohol products dried up New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker was forced to drastically cut his budget and shrink both police and fire departments.

Unemployment soared and few could deny that if beer sales were legalized the violence would end, thousands of jobs would be created and millions in desperately needed tax revenue would come rolling in.

Tired of being hamstrung by the “dry” laws and not able to fight the mob on the street and tired of tasting paint thinner in his gin and tonic, Mayor Walker rounded up a posse of like-minded souls and took to the New York City streets.

What started as a small group of protesters quickly swelled into a mass of 100,000 parched voices all under the banner of “WE WANT BEER”.

“Beer for Prosperity” became the battle cry. Soon the voices of the unemployed drowned out the buzz-and-revenue killing voices of the “drys” and with the  election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had practically built his platform on ending prohibition, the Dry movement found itself over a barrel.

The 21st Amendment to the Constitution soon answered the marchers cry:

“Who wants beer?”

“We Do!”