# Roosevelt's message to Congress on the Volstead Act (13 March 1933)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/fdr-122178466-message-volstead-act-1933/

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library one-page confidential message to Congress recommending immediate modification of the Volstead Act to legalize beer and other beverages of a permissible alcoholic content and to raise revenue through taxes.

The National Archives catalog titles this "Message to Congress re The Volstead Act (Speech File 617) of March 13, 1933" (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, local identifier msf00636). The one-page confidential message recommends immediate modification of the Volstead Act to legalize the manufacture and sale of beer and other beverages of an alcoholic content permissible under the Constitution, and to raise revenue through substantial taxes. A handwritten note at the bottom, read from the image, says "The shortest on record!" above his initials. Stephen Early, Assistant Secretary to the President, is named in the record.

The copy stored here is page 2, the message; page 1 is a cover sheet.

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/122178466