13. Myth: Most American Presidents Steered Clear of Alcohol
Fact: Many were actually daily drinkers and bordered on alcoholism.
Beginning with John Adams, who started each day with a glass of hard cider, many American presidents hit the sauce on a regular basis. Jefferson spent a fortune he did not have on French and Italian wines and brandies. Blue Whiskey Van was a nickname for Martin Van Buren. Franklin Pierce left the presidency noting that there was nothing left for him to do, “but to get drunk”. He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1869. Grover Cleveland reportedly did not like hard liquor, but he drank beer, often up to eight pints of it per day. Warren Harding served liquor to his poker cronies in the White House despite Prohibition being the law of the land.
Harry Truman opened his day with a shot of bourbon and had another or two at the close of the workday for most of his life. He was in the Capitol having an end-of-the-day drink when he received the call to come to the White House immediately in April 1945, where he learned that he had become President after FDR died. As time elapsed, the personal habits and supposed vices of the President became more under public scrutiny, and many have striven to keep their public image clear of supposed vices such as consumption of alcohol, though the image of the President serving beer to guests on the White House lawn appeared in the twenty-first century.