We Wanted Beer

It is a sign of the times when the Mayor is the one leading protesters down Fifth Avenue. Eighty years ago today, Jimmy Walker, then the Mayor of New York City, organized a daylong “Beer for Taxation” parade (later known as the “We Want Beer” parade) in objection to the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcoholic beverages. An estimated hundred thousand people attended. “The parade will furnish the best count of noses I can think of, much better than the passing of resolutions, or the writing of letters to Representatives in Congress,” Walker told the New York Times. He argued that repeal, which finally came on December 5, 1933, would aid in balancing of the federal budget, as well as relieving the unemployment crisis. Here’s a look back at Walker’s parade and other scenes from the Prohibition era.