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.  Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. Head to: cafe.com/history For more historical analysis of current events, sign up for the free weekly CAFE Brief newsletter, featuring Time Machine, a weekly article that dives into an historical event inspired by each episode of Now & Then: cafe.com/brief 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices