WHITE HOUSE HEROES, PART II

The Hayes White House was dry. No alcohol of any kind was to be served, not even wines at state dinners. This early attempt at prohibition led to the nickname of “Lemonade Lucy” for the First Lady. Then Representative James A. Garfield sarcastically wrote in his journal of a state dinner where the “water flowed like wine.”

Wine was actually served at one White House function during the Hayes administration. In April 1877, when the Hayes family had been in the White House just barely a month, the United States hosted the Grand Duke Alexis, the son of the tsar of Russia. At the state dinner in the Grand Duke’s honor, wine was not only served but served in abundance. It was Webb Hayes who ordered the six fine wines (one for each course of the dinner) as well as the three liqueurs from New York. Austine Snead, who wrote a gossip column in the New York Daily Graphic and the Boston Herald under the pen name Miss Grundy, wrote that “A lively topic of discussion has been opened here as to whether or nor Mrs. Hayes really means to banish wine from state dinners…” They soon found out. That was the last time any kind of alcoholic drink was served during the entire Hayes tenure in the White House.

Webb also found himself in the middle of a political controversy. President Hayes had been careful to select blacks for certain offices, as a sign of his support. He had appointed Frederick Douglass to be marshal of the District of Columbia. The main function of the marshal was to act as master of ceremonies at city functions, as well as those at the Capitol and the White House. Douglass and others complained that while he served in this position, Hayes did not have him making the introductions in the receiving line at the President’s receptions. President Hayes was accused of intentionally withholding this honor from Douglass because he was a black man.

The charge against Hayes was not entirely fair. The marshal had not made the introductions in the receiving line at Presidential receptions for twenty years. In the 1850s, the marshal had been a man named Major French. He had so enjoyed making the introductions that when he was promoted to commissioner of public buildings, he simply kept the role of introducing people in the reception line. Public Buildings Commissioners after him continued

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