How alcohol made FDR a legend

A perplexing question to some of us born long after Franklin Roosevelt’s reign as president ended is how a man who enlarged the powers of the federal government beyond anything even considered previously, built up labor unions, slowed long-term economic growth and weakened business was able to acquire such a cult of personality?

Author Mark Thornton says the answer is simple, if counterintuitive to many today: ”In (Roosevelt’s) first 30 days, he did more to bring liberty to Americans than any president since Thomas Jefferson repealed the Alien and Sedition Acts.”

Inaugurated on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt dealt with the banking crisis and the budget during his first week on the job.

Then, on March 13, he called on Congress to repeal Prohibition and 1o days later signed the Cullen-Harrison Act, which legalized the sale in the United States of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2 percent.

Pennsylvania to honor black Civil War troops

Pennsylvania is taking an unusual tack in celebrating the upcoming sesquicentennial of the War Between the States. Next month, the state will kick off a year-long commemoration of the Pennsylvania Grand Review and the role blacks played in the North’s victory.

Unknown to many Americans, the Pennsylvania Grand Review took place in November 1865, organized by the citizens of Harrisburg, Pa..

It was designed to honor the United States Colored Troops from 25 states who had been excluded from the Grand Review of the Armies, a military procession held earlier that year in Washington, DC, to celebrate the end of the Civil War.