What presidents, if any were drug addicts, alcoholics or mentally ill while in office

[Wesley Clark]

I think Lincoln had depression. Grant was an alcoholic, but was he an alcoholic in office?

I think we all know about Jimmy Carter and his addiction to whippets, so lets not even go into that one.

[chacoguy]

Reagan was pretty messed up after he got shot.

[tomcar]

Kennedy was addicted to pain killers.

[Johanna]

George Washington toked up.

[Speak to me Maddie!]

I don't think historians are in total agreement about Grant's alcoholism. Many consider the stories of his drinking as rumors started by his political enemies. He did have a few episodes of public drunkenness, but whether or not he drank daily is questionable. Especially by the time he was president he seemed to not have a drinking problem.

Franklin Pierce on the other hand was an outright alcoholic. It destroyed his career and eventually killed him.

[RealityChuck]

Just to get it out of the way, Andrew Johnson was thought to be an alcoholic by most of Washington, but actually rarely drank and not to excess. The one time he did (as a cure for a cold) happened to be his inauguration as vice president, so everyone though he was a drunk.

I think Nixon showed signs of depression and possibly paranoia during the Watergate scandal; Henry Kissinger was seriously concerned about what he might do.

[Derleth]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

I think Nixon showed signs of depression and possibly paranoia during the Watergate scandal; Henry Kissinger was seriously concerned about what he might do.

I also think his record shows him a paranoid asshole, whatever personality disorder that's classified under these days. He let a lot of his worst emotions take control to the point it destroyed him; it's like we elected Othello. Smart man but he lost his grip entirely.

There's been talk that Reagan had Alzheimer's while in office. I don't know how serious those claims are, or whether they're considered valid.

[The Second Stone]

Originally Posted by Speak to me Maddie!

Franklin Pierce on the other hand was an outright alcoholic. It destroyed his career and eventually killed him.

I did not know that. Did any of his descendents go into politics and/or drink?

Kissinger describes Nixon as drunk on occasions. I also seem to recall that he was taking a prescription psych med while in office that only came to light after his death.

[Speak to me Maddie!]

Originally Posted by The Second Stone

I did not know that. Did any of his descendents go into politics. . .

All three of his sons died in childhood. The oldest survived to age 11 when he was decapitated in a train derailment while Pierce and his wife watched. There is obviously much speculation that this event sent him into a downward spiral. It clearly ruined his wife's mental health.

[Guinastasia]

Woodrow Wilson had a stroke towards the end of his presidency that left him virtually incapacitated, mentally and physically. His wife was pretty much in charge of him. Does that count?

[Accidental Martyr]

There's been plenty of speculation about George W. Bush's drinking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...se_controversy

[oliversarmy]

Does Narcissistic personality disorder count?

[alphaboi867]

Wasn't William McKinley hooked on cocaine?

[oliversarmy]

There is this from ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1...1#.T6X9hsXdbZg

It probably doesn't matter.

[Qin Shi Huangdi]

JFK definitely-morphine addict and possibly a sex addict too.

[grude]

Nixon was taking a mild pharmaceutical sedative given to him(illegally) by someone. I recall this mentioned with irony for the man who ramped up the drug war was a scofflaw himself.

[jtgain]

Originally Posted by Accidental Martyr

There's been plenty of speculation about George W. Bush's drinking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...se_controversy

Wasn't he about 3/4ths of the way shitfaced when he grabbed Merkel by her shoulders at the meeting in Germany? IIRC, there was a beer in front of him at the table.

[bardos]

All presidents: addicted to lying.

[ralph124c]

Originally Posted by Qin Shi Huangdi

JFK definitely-morphine addict and possibly a sex addict too.

I don't know about morphine, but JFK had a personal "doctor feelgood" (Dr. Max Jacobson) who provided JFK with injections of various drugs, including amphetamines, steroids, and other drugs.
Dr. Jacobson nearly killed Mickey Mantle (gave an injection with a dirty needle), and had his medical license lifted.
Lyndon Johnson was an alcoholic, and Bill Clinton was clearly unbalanced (the Monica Lewinsky affair).

[Jim's Son]

Keep in mind that 200 years ago drinking was far more prevalent than it is today. People, or many of them, thought alcohol was healthy, keep you warm, improved your digestion and other benefits. John Quincy Adams started every day with a draft of hard cider. I don't think anyone seriously regards him as a hard drinker but what would we say if Obama or Romney did the same. Also water was not always healthy, it was often polluted and germ theory wasn't well understood. People drank more because experience had taught them that the fermentation of alcohol killed germs.
http://www.history.org/foundation/jo...ay07/drink.cfm

My understanding is that James Monroe had some problems with alcohol although he got a grip on the problem. Grant was certainly forced out of the Army before the civil war, he was stationed in an isolated outpost, hated his commanding officer and was separated from his wife. He had some binges during the civil war during moments when there was nothing going on and he was separated from his wife.

[Loach]

Originally Posted by jtgain

Wasn't he about 3/4ths of the way shitfaced when he grabbed Merkel by her shoulders at the meeting in Germany? IIRC, there was a beer in front of him at the table.

I have never seen any indication that he drank anything after the age of 40. I can't say for certain he has never touched a drop in private (though I would doubt it) but I can say that due to his well publicized past there is no way he would drink alcohol in public.

[River Hippie]

Not conclusive proof by any means but the pictures of GWB at the Olympics, being helped into or out of his seat by Secret Service agents sure look like he's hammered.

Google Image search Bush drunk at olympics.

[Guinastasia]

Originally Posted by Jim's Son

Keep in mind that 200 years ago drinking was far more prevalent than it is today. People, or many of them, thought alcohol was healthy, keep you warm, improved your digestion and other benefits. John Quincy Adams started every day with a draft of hard cider. I don't think anyone seriously regards him as a hard drinker but what would we say if Obama or Romney did the same. Also water was not always healthy, it was often polluted and germ theory wasn't well understood. People drank more because experience had taught them that the fermentation of alcohol killed germs.
http://www.history.org/foundation/jo...ay07/drink.cfm

My understanding is that James Monroe had some problems with alcohol although he got a grip on the problem. Grant was certainly forced out of the Army before the civil war, he was stationed in an isolated outpost, hated his commanding officer and was separated from his wife. He had some binges during the civil war during moments when there was nothing going on and he was separated from his wife.

Doesn't mean they weren't alcoholics.

[VOW]

Didn't Bush Sr puke in the Japanese Prime Minister's lap?


~VOW

[from_a_to_z]

Originally Posted by Speak to me Maddie!

All three of his sons died in childhood. The oldest survived to age 11 when he was decapitated in a train derailment while Pierce and his wife watched. There is obviously much speculation that this event sent him into a downward spiral. It clearly ruined his wife's mental health.

Pierce biographer Peter Wallner has a different account of the accident:

It tumbled down the embankment, onto a rocky embankment, about 15, 20 feet, rolled over, landed on its roof on a rocky ground. And nobody knows even exactly what killed Benny. All they know is something hit his head, and Franklin Pierce, when he shook himself -- the cobwebs out after the accident, he looked around for Benny and found him lying on the ground, and he thought he looked fine. He went over, thought he was stunned or unconscious. He went over and picked him up and found that the back of his head had been crushed, and he had been killed instantly.

See http://booknotes.org/Watch/184075-1/Peter+Wallner.aspx in the transcript or the video.

[madmonk28]

Originally Posted by Wesley Clark

.....I think we all know about Jimmy Carter and his addiction to whippets, so lets not even go into that one.

What? I've never heard anything like that, what is the source?

[C. Montgomery Burns]

Recovered alcoholics are still alcoholics, therefor George W. Bush was and still is an alcoholic. Whether he still ever drinks alcohol is beside the point. Bill Clinton, his "didn't inhale" dodge aside, smoked marijuana. Barack Obama used cocaine. So did George W. Bush. Both probably used marijuana as well. Obama is a heavy smoker. Kennedy was addicted to painkillers. Reagan was most likely in the very, very early stages of Alzheimer's disease when he left office. Most presidents are probably addicted to caffeine, as well. Does it matter? Not really, unless it impairs their judgement while in office.

[SeldomSeen]

Originally Posted by C. Montgomery Burns

Bill Clinton, his "didn't inhale" dodge aside, smoked marijuana.

Not a refutation, but interesting: At one point during the Clinton presidency I recall hearing an interview with someone who had been close to Bill Clinton during his college days. This person, whose name I cannot remember, was somewhat hostile toward Clinton, but said in effect; "When Bill Clinton said he tried Marijuana but didn't inhale he was probably telling the truth. In those days he was so chronically plagued by allergies and borderline asthma that if he had taken an honest hit it probably would have choked him".
SS

[VarlosZ]

I'm pretty sure we can discount the possibility of George W. Bush drinking while in office. First, the evidence for any given "incident" is laughably thin. (A still photograph that seems to show Bush having lost his balance? Or, from the wiki cite above, we hear about the pretzel incident from a guy who claims to have been contacted by some unknown other guy who, in turn, talked to a group of other guys who allegedly gave him some information of unknown provenance.)

That said, yes, it's well within the realm of possibility that Bush drank alcohol more than zero times while in office (a recovering alcoholic who injures himself by collapsing to the ground raises eyebrows, sure), but the odds that Bush suffered a meaningful relapse, or drank alcohol regularly, are basically zero. The potential cost to him and his administration would be huge, and word would have gotten out eventually if it was true.


I also don't think it's fair to call Bill Clinton "clearly unbalanced." Incorrigible poon-hound? Yeah. Unreformed lecher? Sure. Possible sex addict? Maybe. But "unbalanced" has a rather different (and inappropriate) connotation.

[Clothahump]

Originally Posted by Jim's Son

Keep in mind that 200 years ago drinking was far more prevalent than it is today. People, or many of them, thought alcohol was healthy, keep you warm, improved your digestion and other benefits.

Not so much for those reasons; people drank more because they didn't have clean water. The boiling and fermentation process killed off germs, which is why light levels of alcohol ("small beer", etc.) were so popular.

[robert_columbia]

Originally Posted by C. Montgomery Burns

Recovered alcoholics are still alcoholics, therefor George W. Bush was and still is an alcoholic. Whether he still ever drinks alcohol is beside the point. Bill Clinton, his "didn't inhale" dodge aside, smoked marijuana. Barack Obama used cocaine. So did George W. Bush. Both probably used marijuana as well. Obama is a heavy smoker. Kennedy was addicted to painkillers. Reagan was most likely in the very, very early stages of Alzheimer's disease when he left office. Most presidents are probably addicted to caffeine, as well. Does it matter? Not really, unless it impairs their judgement while in office.

I think FDR was noted for his habitual cigarette smoking. He was known for smoking with a cigarette holder. I also believe that Grant was known to be a heavy cigar smoker and that his death (cancer) is believed to have been caused by smoking.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

...U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant smoked cigars heavily, an estimated up to 12 a day. In late 1884, Grant was diagnosed with an oral cancer consisting of malignant squamous cell carcinoma. With his health failing, Grant devoted his time to his autobiography; five days after finishing it, he became the only U.S. president to die of cancer....

[Exapno Mapcase]

Originally Posted by C. Montgomery Burns

Recovered alcoholics are still alcoholics, therefor George W. Bush was and still is an alcoholic. Whether he still ever drinks alcohol is beside the point. Bill Clinton, his "didn't inhale" dodge aside, smoked marijuana. Barack Obama used cocaine. So did George W. Bush. Both probably used marijuana as well. Obama is a heavy smoker. Kennedy was addicted to painkillers. Reagan was most likely in the very, very early stages of Alzheimer's disease when he left office. Most presidents are probably addicted to caffeine, as well. Does it matter? Not really, unless it impairs their judgement while in office.

You're comparing too many apples to oranges to kumquats. Just as one example, marijuana is not addictive. Smoking it once says nothing about any future behavior. Cocaine is potentially addictive, but it can be used without addiction. For that matter, alcohol can be used without addiction and the vast majority of presidents were drinkers and far more of them drank to the point of impaired judgment than ever used illicit drugs to the point of impaired judgment. Nixon certainly was known to be sloppy drunk in office but he was far more dangerous when sober. Illnesses have occurred to many presidents and we have little idea exactly how they affected any of them, but almost certainly several had periods in which they were more incapacitated than Reagan. Depression (mentioned earlier) is so common that not being depressed at any point in one's life may be the more abnormal condition.

I agree with your comment that the only concern is impaired judgment while in office, but all the statements leading up to it are so loose and ill-informed that they undercut your conclusion.

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by ralph124c

Bill Clinton was clearly unbalanced (the Monica Lewinsky affair).

Being a horndog often causes guys to do stupid things, but it is not a mental illness.

Originally Posted by SeldomSeen

Not a refutation, but interesting: At one point during the Clinton presidency I recall hearing an interview with someone who had been close to Bill Clinton during his college days. This person, whose name I cannot remember, was somewhat hostile toward Clinton, but said in effect; "When Bill Clinton said he tried Marijuana but didn't inhale he was probably telling the truth. In those days he was so chronically plagued by allergies and borderline asthma that if he had taken an honest hit it probably would have choked him".
SS

It might have been Christopher Hitchens. The two of them were at Oxford at the same time, although they weren't close, and Hitchens wrote in his autobiography that Clinton rarely smoked but that he enjoyed pot brownies.

Originally Posted by VOW

Didn't Bush Sr puke in the Japanese Prime Minister's lap?

He had the flu.

Originally Posted by C. Montgomery Burns

Obama used cocaine. So did George W. Bush. Both probably used marijuana as well.

Obama wrote about using marijuana in his memoir. He described his cocaine use as only occasional, and it doesn't sound like was ever a big-time user of either one.

Obama is a heavy smoker.

He quit a couple of years ago.

[Sister Vigilante]

I think G. Bush Sr. had food poisoning that day he puked on the guy?

And I also thought Reagan was pretty far gone even before he left the presidency and that his wife was purportedly using astrologists to make his presidential decisions for him.

Any of that true?

[Qin Shi Huangdi]

Andrew Johnson was quite an alcoholic even showing up drunk in public.

[astro]

Jefferson purchased and stockpiled positively epic amounts of fortified wine. The amount of money he spent on wine both while President and afterwards was stupefying. There was a lengthy article on this once but I cannot recall where I saw it. There is no record of him being a drunkard.

[The Second Stone]

Originally Posted by VarlosZ

I also don't think it's fair to call Bill Clinton "clearly unbalanced." Incorrigible poon-hound? Yeah. Unreformed lecher? Sure. Possible sex addict? Maybe. But "unbalanced" has a rather different (and inappropriate) connotation.

Now you're just bragging.

[Wesley Clark]

Originally Posted by madmonk28

What? I've never heard anything like that, what is the source?

I thought it was common knowledge. Maybe not. I have heard stories that when he was with habitat for humanity he would sometimes disappear into an unfinished bathroom and come out with blue lips laughing hysterically.

[IAmNotSpartacus]

Originally Posted by Wesley Clark

I thought it was common knowledge. Maybe not.

This thread is the second result for searching jimmy carter whippets on Google. Just sayin'

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by Sister Vigilante

I think G. Bush Sr. had food poisoning that day he puked on the guy?

Actually - at least according to the Wikipedia page about the incident, and yes, it does have its own entry - he said he had a 24-hour flu, and earlier the same day he'd perhaps overexerted himself playing tennis with some other diplomats. So it could be the flu plus dehydration, or either one individually.

Please tell me you people are playing along and aren't taking that whip-it joke seriously.

[Guinastasia]

Originally Posted by VOW

Didn't Bush Sr puke in the Japanese Prime Minister's lap?


~VOW

As Marley said, he had the flu. I think he fainted right after that.

[The Second Stone]

Originally Posted by Marley23

Please tell me you people are playing along and aren't taking that whip-it joke seriously.

Don't you remember the story of Willie Nelson and Jimmy Carter smoking doobies and doing whippets on the roof of the White House?




(Of course it is a joke. But someday soon the internet will use this thread as a cite for the truth of the matter.)

[Derleth]

Originally Posted by The Second Stone

Don't you remember the story of Willie Nelson and Jimmy Carter smoking doobies and doing whippets on the roof of the White House?




(Of course it is a joke. But someday soon the internet will use this thread as a cite for the truth of the matter.)

Here I thought he was addicted to the dog breed because they could keep the aquatic rabbits away.

[Leo Bloom]

Originally Posted by The Second Stone

...Someday someone will use this thread as a cite for the truth of the matter.)

Absolutely. And post it in Wiki, which will then be cited.

The sel-referential world of Internet bullshit.

[Diceman]

Originally Posted by Sister Vigilante

And I also thought Reagan was pretty far gone even before he left the presidency and that his wife was purportedly using astrologists to make his presidential decisions for him.

Only people with an axe to grind say anything like this. The general view is that he showed signs of the early stages of Alzheimers in the latter years of his presidency.

[Machine Elf]

Originally Posted by Diceman

Only people with an axe to grind say anything like this. The general view is that he showed signs of the early stages of Alzheimers in the latter years of his presidency.

Can't speak to his Alzheimers disease, but it's been fairly well-documented that Nancy Reagan worked with an astrologer to influence her husband's schedule:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Eventually, this protectiveness led to her consulting an astrologer, Joan Quigley, who offered insight on which days were "good", "neutral", or should be avoided, which influenced her husband's White House schedule.[114] Days were color-coded according to the astrologer's advice to discern precisely which days and times would be optimal for the president's safety and success.[8] The White House Chief of Staff, Donald Regan, grew frustrated with this regimen, which created friction between him and the First Lady. This escalated with the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair, an administration scandal, in which the First Lady felt Regan was damaging the president.[115] She thought he should resign, and expressed this to her husband although he did not share her view. Regan wanted President Reagan to address the Iran-Contra matter in early 1987 by means of a press conference, though Nancy refused to allow Reagan to overexert himself due to a recent prostate surgery and astrological warnings.[116] Regan became so angry with Nancy that he hung up on her during a 1987 telephone conversation. According to former ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson, when the President heard of this treatment, he demanded—and eventually received—Regan's resignation.[117] In his 1988 memoirs, Regan wrote about Nancy's consultations with the astrologer, the first public mention of them, which resulted in embarrassment for the First Lady.[118] Nancy later wrote, "Astrology was simply one of the ways I coped with the fear I felt after my husband almost died... Was astrology one of the reasons [further attempts did not occur]? I don't really believe it was, but I don't really believe it wasn't."[119]

[Gray Ghost]

Reagan's son, Ron, wrote a memoir last year with some claims that President Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's towards the end of his presidency.

“My father might himself have suspected that all was not as it should be. As far back as August 1986 he had been alarmed to discover, while flying over the familiar canyons north of Los Angeles, that he could no longer summon their names.”

Ron Reagan writes that there is “no evidence that my father (or anyone else) was aware of his medical condition while he was in office.”

“Had the diagnosis been made in, say, 1987, would he have stepped down? I believe he would have.”

Further, when the ex-President suffered a horse riding accident in 1989, he required surgical attention to relieve cranial pressure. Upon doing so, the doctors noticed "probable signs of Alzheimer's Disease." I don't know whether they noticed it from a brain tissue stain, a spinal fluid test, or if his brain had sufficient plaques to be noticeable just from gross visual examination of the brain surface. Perhaps his Alzheimer's progress accelerated after he left office? Then again, he did live until 2004.

FWIW, his biographer, Edmund Morris, disagrees with Ron Reagan's statements about the President suffering from Alzheimer's during his Administration, as do Reagan's other son, Michael.

My guess? I think he did have it, and it was noticeable, from about 1986 on. From the Morris cite:

During one unhappy period, when the Iran-contra scandal coincided with prostate problems, the president was so withdrawn and confused that papers were surreptitously drawn up by staffers concerned that he might have to be declared “disoriented” and disabled under the 25th Amendment.

I can't see staffers drawing up papers like that on a whim, or a feeling that the President might not be O.K. I'd think you'd have to be pretty certain he wasn't.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by ralph124c

Bill Clinton was clearly unbalanced (the Monica Lewinsky affair).

If enjoying sex makes someone "clearly unbalanced", call the men in white coats and lock me up.

[Derleth]

Originally Posted by kayaker

If enjoying sex makes someone "clearly unbalanced", call the men in white coats and lock me up.

I suppose you could argue that having sex in such a clearly inappropriate and dangerous fashion is a sign of some unbalance, but humans do stupidly dangerous shit all the time and, in particular, using power to get sex is so common it alone can't be taken as diagnostic of anything beyond being human.

[Dogzilla]

According to a movie trailer I saw the other night, Abe Lincoln also hunted vampires in his early, pre-White House years.