Association Against the Prohibition Amendment

Anti-prohibition organization.

The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) was founded in 1919 by William H. Stayton who was disturbed by the increasing role that the government was playing in enforcing Prohibition. By the mid 1920s a bipartisan group of businessmen which included Pierre S. du Pont, Irenee du Pont, John Raskob, and James Wadsworth had joined the AAPA.

At that point the organization began to mount a massive publicity campaign as it sought to identify Prohibition with the country's rising crime rate, the increase in federal authority, and rising taxes. The Republican Party had always been in favor of Prohibition, but the Democrats, with important support in the urban ethnic communities, were divided on the issue. However, after Governor Alfred Smith was nominated for President in 1928 and John J. Raskob became chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Party identified itself with the repeal movement. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt endorsed this position and his election was interpreted as a mandate for repeal. On December 5, 1933 Prohibition was repealed. Many of the leaders of AAPA who were opposed to the Roosevelt New Deal program and the emerging activist state organized the American Liberty League.