Heads of State (Part 1)

The first hundred years of intoxication among US presidents

[This is the first in a multi-part series examining drug use among presidents, prime ministers, kings, and queens.]

As we have discussed in earlier posts, rulers have been getting drunk or otherwise intoxicated for millennia. Therefore, the long and rich tradition of inebriation among United States presidents is not especially unique in this regard. But the degree to which the Founding Fathers got smashed is nonetheless remarkable. And in many ways, the stunning level of drinking and smoking that went down among the most powerful individuals in the newly-created nation set the tone for what was to come.

Indeed, the United States was born amidst bouts of drunkenness, opium buzzes, and the haze of tobacco smoke. Today I would like to explore, briefly, the first hundred years of intoxication among United States presidents.