History Memes

It was still regulated state-by-state at that time. IIRC some states had higher drinking ages and lowered them to 18 during the Vietnam War because of the horrors so many young men were experiencing in war.

The drinking age didn’t change to 21 nationally until the Reagan administration. Constitutionally the federal government can’t set a drinking age; it clearly falls under the states’ purview. To get around this, Congress created a law stating the federal government would withhold 10% of the federal highway money any state was entitled to under the standard allocation if their drinking age was lower than 21. Several states sued to block this but Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole convinced the Supreme Court that the federal government should have the right to put conditions on money it dispenses if they’re related to the purpose for that money (in this case the ostensible reason was that raising the drinking age would reduce drunk driving on federally funded roads). A few states have tried to find ways around this, such as (I think) Massachusetts proposing a graduated drinking license similar to the graduated driving licenses teenagers get in many states, but none of these have gone into action.

That’s how the US wound up with the highest drinking age of any non-Muslim country. Even then there is some inconsistency. The law only requires banning the sale of alcohol to persons under 21. Some states go above and beyond, banning even the possession or consumption of alcohol by persons under 21.

Don't forget cigarettes!

Having crushed and created a lot of orphans, the war eventually led to the voting age being lowered to 18.