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7 unusual facts about Volstead Act


Capper–Volstead Act

Senator Arthur Capper was a member of this bloc and the Capper–Volstead Act was a part of the farm legislative program.

Estill Springs, Tennessee

During the time of Prohibition, Estill Springs was home to prominent local mobster and bootlegger Parker Jones.

Happy hour

When the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act were passed banning alcohol consumption, people would host "cocktail hours", also known as "happy hours", at a speakeasy (an illegal drinking establishment) before eating at restaurants where alcohol could not be served.

Louis Ginzberg

The subsequent Volstead Act defined "intoxicating liquors" and provided for several exceptions, one of which as for sacramental use.

New Beer's Eve

The beer had to have an alcohol content less than 3.2% (4% ABV), compared to the 0.5% limit of the Volstead Act, because 3.2% was considered too low to produce intoxication.

Peter P. Walsh

In 1928 a grand jury indicted Chief Walsh and some of his command staff for conspiracy to violate the Volstead Act.

Richard Enright

During the early years of Prohibition, the police force came under fire for widespread corruption and its ineffectiveness in the enforcement of the Volstead Act and the rising violence from the "Bootleg Wars".


Nicholas M. Pette

He was a U.S. Commissioner (i.e. a federal magistrate appointed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York to help with the enforcement of the Volstead Act) until 1931; and a judge of the Queens Municipal Court from 1932 to 1950.


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