Alcohol in American Politics

Following the news of Rudy Giuliani’s inebriated advice to Donald Trump on election night, Heather and Joanne dive into the historical role of alcohol in American politics. How have the norms around alcohol shifted — and how has that impacted our history?

Heather and Joanne cover Franklin Pierce’s alcoholism, Warren Harding’s Prohibition-era hypocrisy, and the 1970s reckonings over alcohol in Congress. 

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Executive Producer: Tamara Sepper; Editorial Producer: David Kurlander; Audio Producer: Matthew Billy; Theme Music: Nat Weiner; CAFE Team: Adam Waller, David Tatasciore, Sam Ozer-Staton, Noa Azulai, and Jake Kaplan. Now & Then is presented by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

REFERENCES & SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS 

Dana Milbank, “Rudy Giuliani, drunk on conspiracy theories,” The Washington Post, 6/13/2022

Trish Bendix, “Late Night Blames It on the Alcohol,” New York Times, 6/14/2022

Cameron Joseph, “Trump’s Top Advisers Say Drunk Giuliani Urged Him to Declare Victory,” VICE, 6/13/2022

FRANKLIN PIERCE

Katherine Winton Evans, “Rebellious Spirits: Hard Liquor in Early America,” The Washington Post, 12/30/1979

Jacob Appel, “The Derailment of Franklin Pierce,” Hektoen International, 3/26/2021

Cromwell Whipple, “Mr. Whipple's address to the sober, moral and temperate men, of all parties!” Brown University, 10/22/1852

J. Childs, “Social Qualities of Our Candidate,” Library of Congress, 1852

“Franklin Pierce’s murky legacy as President,” National Constitution Center, 10/8/2021

“The Triumph and Tragedy of Franklin Pierce,” New England Historical Society, 2021

“President Franklin Pierce Warmly Endorses the Kansas-Nebraska Act as ‘Demonstrably Right and Patriotic,’” Shapell, 3/9/1854

WARREN HARDING

Warren Harding, “Address in Denver Colorado,” UCSB Presidency Project, 6/25/1923

Myra MacPherson, “'Princess' Alice Roosevelt Longworth,” The Washington Post, 2/21/1980

Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Crowded Hours, Archive.org, 1933

Aaron Killian, “Warren G. Harding: A Scandalous Presidency,” Historic America, 4/27/2021

THE RECKONING

Mark Kelly, “Ted Kennedy on the Rocks,” GQ, February 1st, 1991

Josh Sandburn, ““The Kennedy Machine Buried What Really Happened”: Revisiting Chappaquiddick, 50 Years Later,” Vanity Fair, 7/17/2019

Wayne King, “Wilbur Mills Offers Sober Testimony to an Alcoholic Past,” New York Times, 12/4/1978

Stephen Green and Margot Hornblower, “Mills Admits Being Present During Tidal Basin Scuffle,” The Washington Post, 10/11/1974

Julian Zelizer, “The sex scandal that reshaped Congress — and the warnings for today,” The Washington Post, 3/1/2021

Hugh Sidey, “In Defense of the Martini,” TIME, 10/24/1977

“Betty Ford Says That She Is Addicted to Alcohol,” The Washington Post, April 22nd, 1978

“Betty Ford on Admitting She was an Alcoholic,” ABC News, 1987

Elaine Sciolino, “Washington at Work; A Year After Rejection in Senate, Tower Replays Loss of Coveted Job,” New York Times, 4/5/1990

Jamie Dupree, “Flashbacks to John Tower as Senators review Kavanaugh FBI file,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 10/3/2018

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