This day in history

The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, bringing an end to the prohibition of alcohol in America.

In early 1919, the 18th Amendment banned the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating liquors within the United States. To enforce the 18th Amendment, the U.S. Congress passed the Volstead Act, which authorised the Treasury Department to establish its own prohibition unit. In its first six months, the unit destroyed thousands of illicit stills run by bootleggers.

However, federal agents and police did little more than slow the flow of booze, and organized crime flourished in America. Prohibition, ineffective in enforcing sobriety, lost popular support and in early 1933 Congress proposed the 21st Amendment to repeal the 18th.

On December 5, 1933, Prohibition officially ended when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, giving it the requisite three-fourths majority of state approval.

An unpopular pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan signs a “friendship treaty” with the Soviet Union. The Soviet’s agree to provide economic and military assistance to the Afghan government.

The Korean War: Chinese troops enter the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang.