Picture of the Day and Birthdays for June 12

Posted June 12, 2008, 6:24 am in Picture of the Day by Growing Bolder


Todays Birthdays:
Banker/philanthropist David Rockefeller is 93. Former President George H.W. Bush is 84. Singer Vic Damone is 80. Songwriter Richard Sherman (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) is 80. Actor-singer Jim Nabors is 78. Jazz musician Chick Corea is 67. Sportscaster Marv Albert is 67. Rock singer Reg Presley (The Troggs) is 65. Rock singer-musician John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson) is 59. Rock musician Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) is 57. Actor Timothy Busfield is 51. Singer Meredith Brooks is 50. Actress Jenilee Harrison is 50. Actress Frances O'Connor is 41.

Picture of the Day: 1931 Protest

The 18th Amendment (national prohibition) was ratified in 1919. It is the only amendment to the United States Constitution that has been repealed (by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933). The public consensus was that beer ought to be excluded from the dry law, particularly beer of low alcohol content.

The Prohibition Amendment itself made no reference to alcohol content, citing only "intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes" as being illegal. But the resulting Volstead Act (the actual set of laws drafted by Congress to enforce Prohibition) set the legal alcohol limit at one-half of 1 percent. Brewers and beer drinkers alike bristled at the low limit, which, according to one frustrated observer, was "less than the alcohol content of sauerkraut."

In 1931, thousands of workers hit the streets in Newark, New Jersey demanding the return of legal beer. The event symbolized an important turning point as Americans everywhere began to rise up against the unpopular law. One poet painted a colorful picture of the typical Prohibition-era household:



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