The Volstead Act, which enforced the 18th Amendment''s nationwide ban on alcohol, proved unable to prevent mass distribution of booze and inadvertently fueled the rise of organized crime figures like Al Capone, who built criminal empires from illegal liquor sales. Federal agents and police did little more than slow the flow of alcohol, while public sentiment increasingly turned against Prohibition by the late 1920s.
The Great Depression accelerated Prohibition''s demise, as opponents argued that legal alcohol would create jobs for the unemployed and generate desperately needed tax revenue. In 1932, Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned on repealing the 18th Amendment, and his victory that November sealed Prohibition''s fate. Congress proposed the 21st Amendment in February 1933, and on December 5, 1933, Utah became the 36th state to ratify it, achieving the required three-fourths majority. The 18th Amendment became the only constitutional amendment ever repealed, a testament to the difficulty of using the Constitution to regulate personal behavior and the power of economic pressure during a crisis.