Secrets & Scandals Of America’s First Ladies

Prohibition Meant Nothing

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Photo by Library Of Congress/Getty Images

Prohibition must have been a tough time for some when it was going on. No more vice for them to run to when things got hard or no more celebratory drinks when success comes around. Florence Harding didn’t care about any of that. She was going to serve up some drinks.

“In a time when alcohol was illegal nationwide, Florence Harding did more than turn a blind eye to this rule,” said Baty. “When President Harding would host friends for poker, they would drink scotch and whiskey out of the president’s private reserves. Florence played bartender, mixed drinks for the gentlemen while her husband called out cocktail orders (although she was never seen drinking the alcohol herself).”