After learning that Utah, of all states, was the deciding ratifier of the 21st Amendment (ending Prohibition by repealing the 18th), I had to learn more. How could this predominantly teetotaling state go and do this? How insanely… principled!
Thanks to Google Books, it didn’t take long for me to find the proceedings of the state ratifications (the 21st Amendment is the only amendment to be ratified by “state conventions,” rather than state legislatures). The Utah vote was unanimous among its delegates, and I enjoyed the dialogue between Delegate Sam Thurman and the convention’s president, who both realized the significance of the moment (and that Pennsylvania had ratified only a few hours earlier!):
The speech immediately prior to the vote seemed to reflect the sentiment of the time:
The average citizen is willing to pay a reasonable premium to patronize a legitimate dealer, either private or public [Ed. note: Utah chose public dealers], but it is perfectly obvious that if legal beer, legal wine and legal spirits are made expensive through excessive taxation, such beverages, all of them, without exception, will again be the stock-in-trade of the bootlegger and racketeer. Prohibition created a millennium for crime, by providing high profits and small penalties. No, if we are wise in this country, repeal will create a Waterloo for crime, by providing small profit and heavy penalties.
