Will-Weber - Drinking with the Republicans

W HAT BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE our rich political history than with a book about U.S. presidentsand alcohol! This book is part history, part cocktail recipe handbook, and all fun.

Author Mark Will-Weber has scoured the archives and historical records for the best stories about White House drinking, which is no small feat since a few of them were teetotalers. And while some stories about drinking can be downright downers, Mark has worked hard to keep it light and frothy in this edition.

Republicans are known as the staid, the conservative, and oftentimes the boring. But this book shows that the GOP presidents let their hair down, so to speak. Find out which ones violated Prohibition (Warren Harding), and which ones got a little tipsy with staffers (Gerald Ford). Read about which Republicans used alcohol to help with foreign relations (Richard Nixon) and which ones used it to ply voters (George Washington).

And for each president, a cocktail recipe is provided so you can follow along at home. Some of the recipes are that presidents actual favorite cocktail, and others are contrivances based that presidents life or background.

We tried to keep it fun, so go ahead and read about the tippling POTUSes, and mix up a cocktail or two to shake things up. And while moderates may be the scourge of the Republican Party, we recommend that you always drink in moderation.

Alex Novak

Publisher

Regnery History

T HIS BOOK is called Drinking with the Republicans. But not all of the presidents covered herein were actually Republicans. We didnt want to leave out some of the greatest and best-known early presidents; so, after careful thought, we took liberties and drafted some of those early presidents into the Republican ranks. Included as Republicans for the purposes of this book are George Washington, who was an independent; John Adams, a Federalist; and a quartet of Whigs: William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore. The companion to this edition is called Drinking with the Democrats. In that book, we grouped Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams as Democrats. In their day, they were affiliated with the Democrat-Republican Party.

17891797

LET YOUR RECREATIONS BE MANFUL NOT SINFUL.

George Washington

A PRESIDENTIAL PRECEDENT

G EORGE WASHINGTON, Americas most famous general, smoothly made the transition to president. His most famous encounter with alcohol occurred when he put down the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. But that had to do with taxes and federal authority. Washington did not have any objection to the potent potable itself; in fact, several years after the Whiskey Rebellion, coincidentally or not, Washington had a whiskey distillery set up at his Mount Vernon plantationa venture that proved quite profitable.

Washington, like other general-presidents, had to draw a hard line on soldiers and officers who drank themselves into states of inebriation. In fact, the wise general had to keep his eager men in line when they captured hogsheads of Hessian rum after the famous crossing of the Delaware. But he also was ready to dispense a moderate rum rationas was standard practice of the daywhen his men needed it or when their efforts were worthy of an extra shot.

Not unlike Thomas Jefferson, Washington enjoyed wines and beer more than whiskey (if, in fact, he drank whiskey at all). But he never drank in the Executive Mansion. (John Adams, the second president, was the first leader to actually live in the Executive Mansion.) He did, however, imbibe almost daily when he occupied the Presidents House on Market Street in Philadelphia during his presidential years and at Mount Vernon, his splendid plantation in Virginia.