“Finer Than the Best Monongahela”: President Buchanan’s Drinking Habits
When visitors tour President James Buchanan’s Wheatland, many notice the quantity of bottles once containing alcohol that are scattered around Buchanan’s dining areas, parlors, and particularly his private office. An unopened 1827 bottle of Madeira wine from Mr. Buchanan’s collection still sits on a table in his office, one floor above the home’s original wine cellar. Occasionally, a visitor will sheepishly inquire, “Did President Buchanan drink a lot?” The answer to this is that a) Americans in the mid-nineteenth century drank a lot (in 1830, 9.5 gallons of distilled spirits per year!) and b) James Buchanan probably drank more than most of them.
For most early Americans over the age of 15, alcohol consumption was part of daily life. Continuous imbibing built up a tolerance; Americans were probably not walking around visibly drunk despite their breakfast whiskey, morning and afternoon “tea breaks” of distilled spirits, and “strengthening” nightcaps. The colonial era relationship with alcohol continued well into the nineteenth century. When James Buchanan was born in 1791, he was born into the era of heaviest drinking in the nation’s history.
James Buchanan was a man of his time. He had a preference for Madeira wine, sherry, and rye whiskey (born in Central Pennsylvania, Buchanan was raised on “Old Monongahela” Rye). Buchanan was also an avid wine collector, accumulating quite a stock of Madeira in his Wheatland wine cellar. In fact, he loved Madeira so much that, when given an assignment at Dickinson College to chart an imaginary ship’s course, young Buchanan chose a route from Boston to Madeira, an island he frequently “visited” from Carlisle taverns when he was a student. When he was a Senator, Buchanan bought his whiskey weekly, in 10-gallon quantities, from Jacob Baer, a well-known whiskey merchant in Washington, D.C. Baer’s whiskey was affectionately known as “Old J. B. Whiskey” and our own J. B. was delighted by the fact that his initials matched his own. According to his biographer, Philip Klein, Buchanan considered Baer’s whiskey to be “finer than the best Monongahela.”
One of the best sources on President Buchanan’s drinking habits is John W. Forney, a journalist and politician from Lancaster County who was Buchanan’s one-time political manager and eventual political rival. In his Philadelphia-based newspaper, the Press, Forney wrote in detail of Buchanan’s taste for alcohol, “The Madeira and sherry that he had consumed would fill more than one old cellar, and the rye whiskey that he has ‘punished’ would make Jacob Baer’s heart glad.” Forney also remarked on Buchanan’s ability to drink large quantities of liquor without appearing drunk. After observing Buchanan drink two bottles of cognac and wash it down with rye whiskey, he wrote, “There was no headache, no faltering steps, no flushed cheek. Oh, no! All was as cool, calm and cautious and watchful as in the beginning.” By the time he was writing these accounts, Forney was a Republican and was biased against Buchanan. Still, he was probably not wrong. Forney knew a thing or two about drinking himself.
Although he could handle his liquor superficially, Buchanan’s drinking was not without consequences. Later in life, Buchanan suffered from excruciating gout, brought on by a diet of rich foods and lots of alcohol. It is not known to what extent Buchanan’s drinking may have impaired his judgment. At least one scholar speculates that heavy drinking may have affected the President’s judgment during the Utah War period. By the end of his life, Buchanan had to seriously cut back on his alcohol consumption as it made the flare-ups of gout more severe. Still, he never turned down a good filet of beef with Miss Hetty’s Madeira wine mushroom sauce.
This is an entry from History from the House:
A 200-year-old house once occupied by an American president has a lot of stories to tell. From an office in Wheatland’s former kitchen space, Museum Educator Stephanie Townrow digs up quirky, fascinating, and sometimes puzzling stories that reveal the hidden histories within President James Buchanan’s Wheatland. She invites readers to explore his home, meet his “little family,” and learn about the tumultuous political climate that surrounded his presidency.
From History From The House