The main reasons that Prohibition ended is that it was a failure. It failed, in short, because it lacked nationwide popular support. Because it was so unpopular (or to look at it another way, because alcohol was so popular) it was never really observed. This was a problem that went far beyond the speakeasies and bathtub gin that we associate with the popular culture of the Twenties. Prohibition ushered in a period of organized crime without parallel in American history as gangsters like Al Capone battled for control of the now-illegal alcohol trade. While it still had some support, especially in the South, popular opinion had turned heavily against Prohibition by the end of the decade. When Franklin Roosevelt ran for President in 1932, repealing Prohibition was a major plank in his platform. Shortly after his inauguration, the Twenty-First Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, which had established Prohibition in 1920. Prohibition passed largely unmourned. It is largely viewed by historians as a failed experiment in social control and legislating moral issues.
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