Tales of the Cocktail 2015

It might not be politically correct, but liquor is as much a part of politics as kissing babies. The earliest written reference using the word “cocktail” was found in an 1806 editorial criticizing a candidate’s spending on alcohol during his election campaign—which he lost. For presidents, a cocktail can be an icebreaker with other world leaders, or just a way to ease the pressure of power from time to time. Presidential imbibing is not normally the subject of political inquiry, but some of the drinking at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has been documented—and tonight you can taste a few of its former residents’ favorites.

FDR’s “famous” Martinis were actually famous for being terrible. Nixon frequented Trader Vic’s in the Statler Hilton for a Navy Grog when he needed an escape. Harry Truman and his wife Bess loved their bourbon Old Fashioneds. In fact, Harry was enjoying a bit of bourbon in House Speaker Sam Rayburn’s office in April 1945 when he learned he had become president on FDR’s death.

John F. Kennedy had a weakness for Daiquiris, and was savoring one while watching returns on Election Day 1960. And the story goes that the Manhattan cocktail was created in honor of New York Governor Samuel Tilden’s presidential campaign in the mid-1870s, by none other than Winston Churchill’s future mother. And on the local front, the Louisiana Kingfish himself, Huey Long, so adored the Ramos Gin Fizz that he flew the Roosevelt Hotel's bartender, Sam Guarino, all the way to New York City to teach the Big Apple's bartenders how to properly make the drink, exactly 80 years ago this month (July, 1935)!