How much were these brilliant men drinking?

I can answer on Churchill because his drinking habits are well recorded. He would start the day with an large breakfast and a glass of Hock. Afterwards, he liked to keep a glass of scotch and soda by his side for most of the day and would sip at it for hours as a thirst quencher. It was not a strong drink, consisting of a mere thimble of whisky and lots of soda. A Private Secretary, John Colville, informed Martin Gilbert that Churchill’s whisky sodas were “really a mouthwash. He used to get frightfully cross if it was too strong”.^(1) He disliked scotch neat, and would tell people who liked it that they “are not likely to live a long life if you take it like that”.^(2) Churchill's favourite drink was champagne, which he would consume with lunch and again with dinner. He would drink from imperial bottles (twenty ounces) over meals that lasted for hours. According to another private secretary, John Peck, he would “never have got through an entire bottle…even if he had a glass or two by himself”.^(3) Finally, he usually indulged in a glass of his second favourite drink, brandy, after lunch and dinner.

While this is considerable quantity of booze, Churchill seems to have been able to handle it well. The consensus of historians is that he drank slowly and ate sufficient food that he was rarely affected by it. For example:

​

The overwhelming evidence is that Churchill loved alcohol, drank steadily by sipping, had a hardy constitution and was only very rarely affected by it.^(4)

And

While Churchill’s alcohol consumption has been a popular subject, there is no evidence that Churchill’s alcohol consumption affected the performance of his duties; in fact, Churchill remained focused and productive.^(5)

And:

Two things seem clear about Churchill’s relationship with alcohol. His use of spirits differed little from that of members of his class…. Second, Churchill enjoyed his various drinks, and felt they added to the conviviality of his dinner parties. But he never allowed drink to impair his judgment. One of Churchill’s most famous quips seems to have been true – that he had taken more out of alcohol than it had taken out of him^(6)

Cita Setlzer, in her book Dinner with Churchill: Policy-Making at the Dinner Table has a chapter on Churchill's drinking habits which discuss them in more detail.^(7) She quotes a number of people who knew/met Churchill who describe Churchill as being able to hold his drink:

• Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister of Canada, wrote in his diary in 1941 that “Churchill talked very freely to me at dinner about many topics and also fully with respect to any I brought up. He took a good deal of wine to drink at dinner. It did not seem to affect him beyond quickening his intellect and intensifying his facility of expression.”
• FDR’s speechwriter, Robert Sherwood, also noted that Churchill’s “consumption of alcohol continued at quite regular intervals through most of his waking hours without visible affect”.
• Michael Reilly, head of presidential security, was “open mouthed in awe” at “the complete sobriety that went hand in hand with [Churchill's] drinking”.
• John Peck wrote to Churchill's biographer, Martin Gilbert, that “personally, throughout the time I knew him, I never saw him the worse for drink.”

There are other examples of the same sentiments which she doesn't quote, for example:

• Alexander Cadogan, the Permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, wrote that at Yalta in February 1945 Churchill “seems well, though drinking buckets of Caucasian champagne which would undermine the health of any ordinary man” ^(8)
• Marian Holmes, one of his wartime secretaries, wrote that “He was a regular drinker. He drank quite a lot of brandy after a huge meal. He drank with food. That was the point… He never drank to the point of being worse for wear. I remember him once saying, ‘I have taken more out of alcohol, than alcohol has taken out of me.’ And that really summed it up.” ^(9)

That said there were a handful of occasions during the Second World War when he was definitely inebriated. On the 30th of November 1943 he and Stalin got drunk together at Churchill's birthday party.^(10) Another instance was the 6th of July 1944, when Alanbrooke described Churchill as in a "maudlin, bad tempered, drunken mood".^(11) However these appear to have been the exception rather than the rule.

So in conclusion, Churchill drank a lot, and started drinking early in the day, however due to pacing himself, drinking with meals and years of practice he was very rarely affected by it.

Sources

1 Richard M. Langworth, Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality: What He Actually Did and Said (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2017), p.87

^(2) Ibid., p.88

^(3) Ibid.,p.89; his preferred brand was Pol-Roger, who have returned the favour Churchill showed them over the years

^(4) Andrew Roberts, Chuchill: Walking with Destiny (London: Penguin Books, 2019 edn.) p.45

^(5) Terry Reardon, Winston Churchill and Mackenzie King: So Similar, So Different (Toronto: Dundurn, 2012), p.100

^(6) Cita Stelzer, Dinner with Churchill: Policy-Making at the Dinner Table (London: Short Books, 2011)

^(7) Ibid., Chap. 11

^(8) Geoffrey Best, Churchill and War (London Hambledon, 2006 edn.), p.198

^(9) Chris Wrigley, Winston Churchill: A Biographical Companion (London: ABC-CLIO, 2002),p.13

^(10) Langworth, Op. Cit., p.87

^(11) Roberts, Op. Cit., p.830; According to Cita Stelzer Alanbrooke rarely criticised Churchhill's drinking although he often criticized other aspects of the PM. He also outright labelled American Admiral King, Australian C-in-C General Blamey and Soviet General Voroshilov as drunks in his diary.