Richard Nixon once got so drunk he wanted to nuke Vietnam
luckily other members of his administration knew he was not clear headed
otherwise it could have been the worst hangover ever
and he was not alone
many other world leaders were also legendary drinkers
even Alexander the Great is thought to have been an alcoholic
they say he would often go into battle drunk
but Winston Churchill was the ultimate drinker
even during the height of world war two
he would drink all day
basically non stop
with breakfast he would down whisky
which he called his daily mouthwash
from there he would get progressively more hammered
having champagne port and brandy with lunch
then more whisky while he did some work
and since he worked long hours that's a lot of whisky
with dinner he would throw in some more wine
and drink into the night
Churchill's favorite was Pol Roger champagne
it is estimate he drank 42 thousand bottles of it during his lifetime
god knows how much it cost to buy that much
but I guess if you're rich you might as well drink away your wealth
it seems like Churchill was born to be an alkie
in 1899 he worked as a journalist
and was sent to Africa as a war correspondent
in his luggage he took 36 bottles of wine
18 bottles of whisky
and 6 bottles of brandy
he was just 25 years old
yet somehow he was able to live a long and energetic life
it would be hard to match Churchill drink for drink
but there are many other great alcoholics from history
one of them is this man Nikola Tesla
Tesla was a genius
developing a wide range of electrical devices
a visionary ahead of his time
he believed you could use the world to amplify signals
in theory this could have given us free communication across the globe
he actually put himself into debt trying to build a tower big enough to do that
but for all his brilliance he was also a crazy person
obsessed with health and longevity
he rarely ate meat
he considered coffee and tea to be bad for you
but thought highly of alcohol
drinking whisky every day
he at one point literally called alcohol an elixir of life
among other scientists his drinking sessions were legendary
even as he got into his late 70s
in 1932 he published an article claiming that even chewing gum was more deadly than alcohol
he argued that alcohol is neither a drug nor a poison
and that it was good for thought speech and physical exercise
he even claimed it could prevent disease
the logic behind this is not as crazy as it sounds
alcohol does kill bacteria
hence why it's been used as a cleaning product
so in theory
consuming large quantities of it can kill all the bad bacteria in your body
it's an interesting idea
and if it were true Ireland would have the world's longest living people
but long story short
no
at the time prohibition was still in effect
and as a law abiding citizen Tesla had not had a drink in years
in those days he found himself falling ill more often
he was 76 years old at the time
but that's obviously not why his health was failing
it's the lack of whisky
large cities were highly polluted and full of smog
but Tesla believed consuming alcohol could filter out some of the badness in the air
one year later he would have his wish granted
with prohibition being repealed
and so Tesla continued to binge drink like a maniac
his goal was to live to 150
and believed heavy drinking could help him reach it
clearly he never achieved this goal
but did get more than halfway
many great writers too were ridiculous drinkers
from Stephen King to Mark Twain to Edgar Allen Poe
Ernest Hemingway was known for the mantra
Write drunk edit sober
and he was rumored to bring a pitcher of martinis to work every morning
in reality he preferred to write sober
but most of his spare time he spent drunk
in fact he drank so much his liver could eventually be seen poking out of his body
at one point he was drinking three bottles of liquor a day
Hemingway drank in part to deal with his chronic pain
throughout his life he survived all kinds of traumatic events
anthrax, pneumonia, cancer
malaria, diabetes
a ruptured spleen and kidneys
two consecutive plane crashes
a broken skull
and hereditary liver problems
yes
Hemingway was almost impossible to kill
but with his apparent immortality came long term pain
so on a regular basis he drank a mixture of gin tomato juice
and champagne to ease his suffering
I don't know if it worked
but Hemingway never stopped drinking
he once got so drunk he stole a urinal from his favorite bar
so that's fun
if you ask me the funniest
and therefore best alcoholic is Boris Yeltsin
Russia's first leader following the collapse of the Soviet Union
he spent most of his time as president drunk
often he would ramble
or stumble around while making public appearances
on his first visit to the United States he stayed at the White House
the first night of his visit
Yeltsin got so drunk he wondered out into the street half naked
when secret service agents found him
he was in his underwear shouting for a taxi
because he wanted to go buy pizza
the next night he got so drunk White House security thought he was an intruder
on another state visit he got so drunk he horrified a group of Irish diplomats
and again
if you're too drunk for the Irish, something is very wrong
at one point he got so drunk he tried to conduct an orchestra
despite having no idea how to do so
by the end of his time in power
his approval rating was just 2 percent
the people of Russia saw him as a major embarrassment
a corrupt alcoholic on death door
and I think that explains why Vladimir Putin remains so popular in Russia
because if nothing else
at least he has control over himself
but Yeltsin was more fun