PRESIDENT TO SET EXAMPLE, ABSTAIN FROM LIQUOR
Rawlins, Wyoming (JFK+50) On June 26, 1923, Evening Star reporter David Lawrence learned that President Warren G. Harding "feels very deeply that as chief executive he should set an example of restraint" and totally abstain from alcohol.
Mr. Lawrence points out in his front page story that Mr. Harding had "violated no law in taking an occasional drink in the White House."*
During his administration, however, "no liquor has ever been served...for official guests."
*Stocks of liquor acquired before the passage of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act, as is true at the Executive Mansion, are not illegal.
SOURCE
"Harding Sets National Example By Total Liquor Abstinence," by David Lawrence, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 26, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
