On This Day…1933

23 March 1933

On this day in 1933 Adolph Hitler becomes Führer of Germany with the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 by the Reichstag.

Under the Act, Hitler’s government acquired the authority to pass laws without either parliamentary consent or control. These laws could even deviate from the Constitution.

The Act eliminated the Reichstag as active players in German politics. Together with the Reichstag Fire Decree, which curtailed basic civil liberties and transferred state powers to the Reich government, the Act transformed Hitler’s government into a legal dictatorship.

The Act also effectively removed Presidential oversight, as President Hindenburg’s representative had stated that the aged president was withdrawing from day-to-day affairs of government and that presidential collaboration on the laws decreed as a result of the Enabling Act would not be required.

On This Day…1933

17 February 1933

On this day in 1933 The Blaine Act was passed by the US Senate starting the process by which the 21st Amendment was ratified thereby repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to Prohibition in the United States of America

Wisconsin Senator John J Blaine sponsored the Act which bore his name the passing of which set in motion the events making it possible to repeal the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America thereby bringing an end to prohibition.  

Prohibition had been in place in the United States since 1920 and forbade the sale, manufacture or transportation of alcohol but was widely regarded as a failure even by its supporters.

The 21st Amendment did away with it by repealing the 18th Amendment.  That process was completed on 5 December 1933.