On May 3, 1980, a 46-year-old man with four prior drunk driving arrests struck and killed 13-year-old Cari Lightner as she walked along a road in California. The driver left her body at the scene. He would serve two and a half years for the crime, receive a temporary license upon release, and cause another drunk driving crash shortly after. Cari's mother, Candy Lightner, founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving four days later.
At the time, drunk driving was responsible for approximately 25,000 highway fatalities per year in the United States. Minimum drinking ages varied by state, and the patchwork of laws created what critics called "blood borders," where young people drove across state lines to purchase alcohol legally, then drove home intoxicated. Lightner and MADD aimed to raise the national drinking age. However, they hit a big roadblock: alcohol regulation was controlled by states, not the federal government. State lawmakers, who wanted to keep lower drinking ages for economic reasons, resisted any changes.
MADD responded by shifting its strategy to the federal level. Lightner personally lobbied members of Congress, while MADD chapters across the country flooded congressional offices with letters and telegrams. The organization grew to 300,000 members in 44 states by 1984. MADD also worked to build public awareness through anti-drunk driving public service campaigns, and its visibility attracted the attention of President Ronald Reagan, who appointed a Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving and ultimately reversed his opposition to federal involvement in what he had previously considered a state issue.
The solution came through federal highway funding. In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which withheld five percent of federal highway funds from any state that did not raise its drinking age to 21. The law did not technically establish a federal drinking age, but the financial consequences were substantial enough that most states could not afford to refuse. South Dakota took the law to the Supreme Court. In 1987, the Court upheld it, saying Congress acted within its power to promote general welfare. By 1988, every state had complied.
