Volstead, Andrew J. (1860-1947)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1947 Jan 30 p. 1

Birth date: 1860

text of obituary:

AUTHOR OF PROHIBITION ACT DIED LAST WEEK

ONE OF the nation’s noted dry leaders, Andrew J. Volstead, former Minnesota congressman and author of the Volstead Prohibition Act, died at his home in Granite Falls, Minn., on Monday, Jan. 20. He was 87 years old.

The Prohibition amendment, which was ratified January 16, 1920, was again repealed on December 5, 1933. Temperance-minded citizens and national dry leaders contended that prohibition would have worked had determined enforcement efforts been made by the government.

Volstead, a lifelong dry, was elected to congress on the Republican ticket in 1903. Besides being author of the Prohibition act, he also drafted the Farmers Cooperative Act, which was passed by congress.

He resumed his law practice in 1922 following defeat by Paul J. Kvale, also a dry. All during his life he declined to be interviewed or photographed and refused numerous offers to write about his life, the Volstead Act and his philosophy.