Were Stalin and Churchill Alcoholics?

Question

I am told that sometimes they would only be sober for around 2 hours a day. Is this true?
When did this Alcohol addiction start?
Did it progress with the World War?
How did it effect the people they ruled?
I was told that Soviet Russia during WWII was mostly ruled by "Lazar Kaganovich", Stalin's Right Hand Man, and that it was he who committed the majority of crimes by the USSR. Are these things true?

Answer 1

No, they were not. Churchill certainly drank a great deal, especially by modern American standards, but he was never seen to be drunk.



Stalin was too calculating, too manipulative and too cautious to get drunk often, he enjoyed vodka and Georgian wines and brandy.

He often held late night "meetings" which would go on to the early hours, where everyone would be plied with vodka, there were often songs and bawdy jokes told at these meetings, but Stalin nearly always remained sober. Whilst the others were drinking vodka, he was drinking water. He would occasionally use information that slipped from his drunken comrades' mouths as ammunition against them.



Stalin did not drink much during WWI, as he may be called upon at all hours of the day and night, and needed to be clear headed.



Kaganovich supervised many of Stalin's policies, but it is not true to claim that the USSR "...was mostly ruled by "Lazar Kaganovich"".

Most of the crimes of the Stalinist period were committed by Yezhov and, before him, Yagoda - the heads of the NKVD.

Answer 2

Churchill Alcoholic

Answer 3

Nope, he could put it away though! Churchill being 60 odd years old simply couldn't have done his job if this was so, the burden on his shoulders must have been enough to crack a healthy man 30 years his younger. The idea that he was an alcoholic comes from German propaganda - not the most reliable source

Stalin like most Russians liked a drink (it was a major problem in the Red Army) although himself never to excess, he would serve plenty of alcohol when with his generals etc. often drinking water himself while sitting back & using what ever was said during these long nights against people in the following days, this of course could mean death.

Answer 4

Churchill certainly enjoyed alcohol, and drank a lot of it. You would need a medical expert to give an opinion on whether he was an alcoholic (addicted). He also enjoyed smoking cigars and lived to a ripe old age (95? Died 1965).



Russians were noted for drinking heavily, especially at any sort of formal meal or celebration - visiting British officers in WW2 found such occasions wearisome. As the leader Stalin certainly made sure that everyone, including himself, drank all the toasts.



Sorry, I know nothing about Lazar Kaganovitch.

Answer 5

Both are well known to be heavy drinkers but I don't know about the 2 hours sober a day though, they both would have died of liver failure and much younger than they did.

Stalin was a paranoid tyrant and always was, alcohol didn't affect that, but his diseased brain surely affected the people he ruled.

Churchill was a great leader drunk or sober, but certainly did make mistakes. At least he wasn't a paranoid freak like Stalin.

Answer 6

to My learned 3 thumbs down try this for an education this is My response



The problem with many of the quotes used are from a different era. Agreed Churchill drank and enjoyed a drink along with millions of other people, but I have never seen a report or spoken to any one that has seen him drunk, so just where did this drunk business come from.



Now as we grow older we are all inclined to put on a bit of weight but it not seem to slow him down any. now for an alleged drunk he wrote a large number of books, did some great paintings, taught him self brick laying, wrote and delivered some of the worlds all time great speeches, was good politician and parliamentarian, he a good grasp of world events and for saw trouble looming long before many other people, he was soldier of some note and also a war correspondent of even a bigger note.



For those he would like to stand there and have a go about him all i can say if YOU can do just a fraction of what managed then I will listen to what you have to say



this a ctop from 2002-11 Military-Quotes.com



Most historians reject the commonly held belief that Churchill was an abuser of alcohol.



Perhaps "abuser" is a too broad a word. Professor Warren Kimball of Rutgers, editor of the WSC-FDR correspondence and several erudite books on the two leaders, maintains that Churchill was not an alcoholic -"no alcoholic could drink that much!"- but "alcohol dependent," citing his occasional glass of hock with his breakfast and his heavy imbibing at mealtimes.



A doctor attending him after he was knocked down by a car New York in 1931, Otto C. Pickhardt, actually issued a medical note that Churchill's convalescence "necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at mealtimes," specifying 250 cc per day as the minimum



Still, if he were truly dependent, it seems he would have had a hard time winning his 1936 bet with Rothermere that he could abstain from hard spirits for a year - which apparently he did.



The story of what his daughter calls the "Papa Cocktail" (a smidgen of Johnnie Walker covering the bottom of a tumbler, which was then filled with water and sipped throughout the morning),



is confirmed by so many observers that it could hardly be untrue. WSC's observation that he learned this habit as a young man in India and South Africa (in My Early Life) appears to be literally true: the water being unfit to drink, one had to add whisky and, "by dint of careful application I learned to like it." The concoction he grew to like was, Jock Colville said, more akin to mouthwash than a highball. It barely qualifies as "scotch and water."



I don't Know about stalin But churchill never was



I know that His Visit to the Troops In North africa there was No alcohol on the Aircraft But alcohol was served with Meals



and No alcohol in VIP quarters



Note I was in the RAF working on the Queens Flight and Churchill was Often a passenger on the Flight and One Of My Jobs was security before the Flight and after the Flight of the Safes and the wet bar and on One Flight and return with winston on board No alcohol was consumed By him or any of His Ministers



I am Prime source On this one



Note He did Live to 95 without any Major Health or Liver problems



and I dont care what people Think i was Honered to Listen to winston during WW2 and had an evengrater Honor to serve in the EAF whilst he was Prime Minister



and acording to the planet he was selected the Greatest man of the 20 th century and the Most decorated by the International comunity



so Great was the admiration for Winston Spencer Churchill that USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy commissioned 10 March 2001 Churchill is the only U.S. Navy vessel to have a Royal Navy Officer permanently assigned to the ship's company.



The U.S. Navy had a permanent U.S. Navy Officer on the Royal Navy ship, HMS Marlborough, until its decommission on 8 July 2005. Churchill is also the only U.S. Naval vessel to fly a foreign ensign. The Royal Navy's White Ensign is flown as well as the Stars and Stripes



so i dont believe that the US Navy would celibrate a drunk do You ???? No Of course Not just tall stories from the Uneducated

Answer 7

Is the Pope a GERMAN Catholic?