The waning of Kansas prohibition, 1933-1948.

Abstract

Prohibition dominated Kansas political and social life for 68 years. In 1933 many Americans had come to the conclusion that national prohibition had been a failure. It was believed that Kansas, like many of her sister states, would join the wet parade and repeal national prohibition. Yet in a popular referendum held November 2, 1934, Kansans voted by an overwhelming majority of 90,000 to retain the state's prohibitory amendment. It was no longer necessary for Kansans to vote on national prohibition as repeal had already been ratified by the required number of states. Between 1933 and 1948 something startling occurred in Kansas. A popular referendum in 1948 repealed the state's prohibitory amendment. The repeal amendment, banning the saloon but enabling the sale of packaged liquor, passed by 60,000 votes. By July, 1949, Kansas was legally wet for the first time since 1880. This thesis examines the attitudes of Kansas between 1933 and 1948. A history of early prohibition is provided to afford the reader with an understanding of the traditional values and circumstances that induced Kansas to become the first dry state by constitutional amendment. The time between 1933 and 1948 was a significant period in the struggle between modern ideas and traditional beliefs. In 1933 beer was sold openly in Kansas towns and cities. Juries refused to convict beer sellers. The 1937 Kansas legislature passed a 3.2% Beer Bill legalizing the sale of beer in Kansas. By 1945 many Kansans considered prohibition a mockery and demanded its repeal. Kansas World War II veterans returned from Europe and the Pacific with new attitudes toward liquor. They no longer viewed liquor with the same revulsion of their ancestors. Kansans demonstrated this changing attitude in the 1948 referendum.