11 Dec “What America Needs Now is a Drink”
Many of President Franklin Roosevelt’s quotes seem just as appropriate in the 21st century as they did during his Presidency. Surely, though, the one we can all agree on that has aged the best was his quip after overseeing the end of Prohibition. “What America needs now is a drink.” Seriously, have you turned on the news lately?
President Roosevelt was the lucky president that was sitting in the White House on December 5, 1933 at 4:32 Chicago time when Prohibition crashed into the history books and America was free to drink. The Yuengling brewery was so pleased at his efforts that that a shipload of FDR’s favorite brew arrived at the White House as a thank you gift shortly after the end of Prohibition.
Roosevelt’s sentiment was perhaps the truest Presidential statement ever issued. The country was in the middle of the Great Depression. Europe was simmering with the early threads of World War II. And this guy, FDR, he liked his cocktails. It took him only five days after his inauguration to convene Congress for the purpose of moving towards an end to Prohibition. America needed a drink, Americans needed jobs, and America needed the taxes that come from alcohol. It was, perhaps, the perfect storm for ending the failed experiment.
While it might have been good politics, it was also good for the President himself. President Roosevelt is rumored to have hosted nightly cocktail hours with his closest advisors during World War II. It’s said that during the war, Winston Churchill would visit and FDR would assume “Winston Hours,” which translated roughly to maintaining a college-style bender in the White House instead of a Frat House. Occasionally, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was invited to join the two for a drink and there is allegedly even a Roosevelt Bar in Munich to this day.
Is it possible that alcohol saved America? Maybe it’s just who we are. We are a people that likes its drinks. Somewhere in this city right this moment, someone is brokering a mega-deal over a martini. A first date is going surprisingly well during happy hour. An entire family is surviving Christmas with the in-laws because of gin!
It’s not that farfetched to think that FDR’s decision to urge the repeal of Prohibition saved us from ourselves and the world around us. The new revenue stream of taxed liquor and the sudden job boom in breweries and bars helped to pull us out of the Great Depression. Certainly Churchill, Stalin, and FDR grew to trust one another more after a cocktail or two and freedom and peace prevailed eventually in World War II.
So don’t feel bad about that second cocktail at Christmas brunch. Fuck it, this may be a “what can you do for your country” moment, America. Raise that glass proudly, cheers to a guy named FDR, and don’t forget to pay the government its 10% on that splurge for the good Bourbon at the liquor store. This year, America puts the spirits back in Christmas spirit with a hat tip to the past.
Written by Amy Williams