Oklahoma Journeys
Week of April 6, 2008
Repeal of Prohibition 1959
It’s the end of a long dry spell for the state this week on Oklahoma Journeys. Oklahoma, partly because of the unique way it came into the union, held similarly unique liquor laws. This week marks the 48th anniversary of the end of prohibition for the Sooner State, and that’s the topic for this week’s Oklahoma Journeys.
From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.
Oklahomans and liquor have had a short but interesting history. Partly because of a desire to keep liquor from American Indians and partly because of the strong southern conservative religious presence, Oklahoma in 1907 became the only state ever to enter the union with prohibition written into the constitution. As the rest of the country struggled and battled with the idea of prohibition, Oklahoma was ahead of the national movement. Temperance leaders, moralists, pragmatic-minded economists all proclaimed the evils of drink and the need for a nationwide ban on liquor. Although Oklahoma was officially a “dry” state, the illegal liquor movement, bootleggers and such, ran a thriving business. For fifty-two years, from 1907 to 1959, the state was an experiment in hypocrisy; the state was dry, but the liquor trade flourished. The situation provided humorist Will Rogers with one of his more memorable lines. “Oklahoma,” he said, “will be a dry state as long as the voters can stagger to the polls.”
One of the most unusual configurations of this situation involved bootleggers helping to fund the prohibition cause. The smugglers and makers of illegal liquor knew that their success depended upon continuing the program of prohibition. In 1933 the 21st amendment ended national prohibition, but Oklahoma maintained its dry status. In the meantime, the illegal trade in liquor was strong and running at full speed. In the 1950s governor J. Howard Edmondson, wanting to end the illegal traffic in booze, realized that the way to end prohibition was to enforce it. With vigorous tenacity Edmondson instructed local authorities to set up roadblocks, search vehicles, arrest violators, and in general finally do what law enforcement was supposed to have been doing all along.
Within months of this new “get tough” policy, Oklahoma began to dry up, liquor became increasingly hard to find, hotels began to lose convention and conference business when it was learned for the first time that they wouldn’t be providing liquor. Now unable to get their drink, Oklahomans demanded change. It was in this week of 1959 that Oklahomans went to the polls and officially ended prohibition. Liquor companies had trucks waiting on the state line ready to do legal business, and the so-called “national joke” that was Oklahoma prohibition, finally came to an end.
This story of Oklahoma’s experiment in prohibition, experience with bootleggers and law enforcement makes up one of the exhibits at the Oklahoma History Center. In addition you can learn more about this fascinating part of our history by researching the archives and newspaper divisions of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The Oklahoma History Center is located on NE 23rd Street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.