Two Pieces from when it was hard to "get a cold one."

Prohibition started in 1920. Although the '20s were called "roaring," it was illegal to get a beer that contained alcohol. By 1928, a going number of Americans were asking for change. Politicians who supported the continuation of Prohibition were called “drys.” Those who called for an end to it were called “wets.”

In 1928, the Democrats nominated Al Smith, Irish-Catholic, who had been a Governor of New York. Smith was a “wet,” and some of his supporters emphasized that fact with this political button which had a celluloid beer stein hanging from it.



Smith's opponent was Herbert Hoover, who was a "dry."

Although Smith's "wet" position was controversial, he greatest political problem was that he was a Catholic. The anti-Catholic bias was huge in American at this time, and buttons like this made reference to it. The bigots who wore a button like this must of missed the memo that Catholics are Christians, in fact the original Christians. Smith lost the election by a wide margin.



In 1932 the atmosphere are changed considerably. Prohibition had caused a terrible crime problem, and many more people were ready to end the “noble experiment.”

Although the terrible, Great Depression economy was the major issue in 1932, ending Prohibition was also a major issue. The Franklin Roosevelt campaign embraced an end to Prohibition was evidence by this “Good for a 5 cent beer” token.



Roosevelt won the election in a landslide. It began 20 years of Democratic Party Whitehouse dominance.

 

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Interesting Roosevelt token, must be rare, here's a couple of my Prohibition items!

 

Cool tokens and a nice history review.

 

Very cool!

 

Folks have been fighting over this for many years. This is the only one I have.