bottoms up!
When the White House workday drew to a close, Franklin Roosevelt would summon close staff and friends to his White House study for cocktails.
The invited guests understood their role was to provide light banter to amuse the President and distract him from the heavy burdens of his office.
Serious government matters were left at the door.
FDR called this time the “Children’s Hour.”
“[It was] the pleasantest period of the day, especially if the group was small…
“After a second cocktail, he would look around at the empty glasses and say, ‘How about a little dividend?’ or ‘How about another sippy?’
“…and usually added, ‘Will you have a smidge?’
— Grace Tully, FDR’s secretary, 1941-45
FDR usually mixed and served the cocktails and Martinis were his favorite.
He’d make them with generous amounts of vermouth and whatever liquor or juice he had on hand, often adding a few drops of absinthe “for flavor.”
Eleanor Roosevelt rarely attended Children’s Hour.
Her father, Theodore Roosevelt’s younger brother, Elliott, had had a drinking problem.
The First Lady’s presence in the study’s doorway signaled that the Children’s Hour had drawn to a close and the President’s dinner awaited him.
The Children’s Hour was even a part of FDR’s day while he attended international diplomatic conferences.
He used its relaxed atmosphere to forge personal relationships with world leaders.
But his drink-mixing skills earned mixed reviews.
“It is cold on the stomach,” said Joseph Stalin, after being served one of FDR’s cocktails at the Teheran Conference in 1943.
Winston Churchill is said to have disliked FDR’s mixed cocktails, too.
Some claim that after receiving one of Roosevelt’s mixed drinks, he would take it to a bathroom and pour it down the sink.
Churchill was said to have enjoyed brandy and Pol Roger champagne and some claim that he drank 42,000 bottles of this champagne during his lifetime.
Churchill’s private secretary once said he would begin his day with a “daily whiskey mouthwash.”
And Churchill lived to age ninety.
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I’ll see you tomorrow.
— Brenda