UW History Professor Dr. Phil Roberts will talk about "Legalizing Liquor, Talking Taxes, and Shrinking Government: How the 1933 Special Session of the Wyoming Legislature Dealt with the Great Depression" on Thursday, March 13, 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Barrett Building in Cheyenne. Part of the Wyoming State Museum's lecture series. It's free and open to the public.
Here's a description from the museum web site:
Wyoming's “Great Depression” began in the early 1920s, and by the time that the rest of the country was in depression, Wyomingites had long experience with economic distress. Prohibition vexed law enforcement throughout the ‘20s as more and more Wyoming people turned against the “noble experiment.” When the Wyoming legislature met in 1933, it faced these issues and more. The result of that session's deliberations—repeal of Prohibition, debates over income and sales taxes, and rancorous efforts to reduce the size of state government—left a lasting legacy. Dr. Roberts' presentation will discuss some of the roots of these issues and how the legislature responded to the challenges.
