h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The first person to take that oath was an alcoholic. But it's not the presidential oath... Who was the first congressman?

No
and you did not get for nameing Bush the other bit

Lyndon Johnson, being caught off guard by the assassination of John F Kennedy.....

As the assassination was not expected, LBJ had been on the sauce, and was therefore not really in a sober state to take the oath of office!!!!



GT

Or how about J Edgar Hoover?

No to both of you

Or Mr Volstead?

Who ?????

Originator of the Volstead Act, the eighteenth amendment, the prohibition of alcohol in America.

No? The interesting thing about the Volstead act was that it made it illegal to produce alcohol, and to sell it, and to transport it, but not to drink it.

"It's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it and, if you're the proprietor of a bar, it's legal to sell it. It's legal to carry it, which doesn't really matter 'cause -- get a load of this -- if the cops stop you, it's illegal for them to search you."

Henry Kissinger. Its not a drunken slurring it's a dyspeptic German!

And maybe interesting enough for a bonus? is that the official language of the United States of America could have been German. A vote was taken on this issue quite early in the Nation's life when a large proportion (perhaps 40% of the population) were german speakers.

The other option was English. For some reason they appear to have compromised with oompa loompa speak.

Was it Nixon ?

I was wondering about the stammering George VI although it doesn't quite fit...

I think that the link to 1. USA and 2. Strong, drink is established go with that chaps

Was it Nixon No Todaymueller Have you any evidence he was a drinker whailst working? A QI points possibility

Hi pebblederook

And maybe interesting enough for a bonus, Oh yes... is that the official language of the United States of America could have been German. A vote was taken on this issue quite early in the Nation's life when a large proportion (perhaps 40% of the population) were german speakers.

If true +6 DGI for that one

I have checked the German as potential official language statement and it is a myth!

I quote:
"On reflection, it is ridiculous to think that German might have become the official language of the US. At no time in its early history was the percentage of Germans in the United States ever higher than about ten percent, with most of that concentrated in one state: Pennsylvania. Even in that state, at no time did the number of German-speaking inhabitants ever exceed one-third of the population. Any claim that German might have become the main language of Pennsylvania in the 1790s, when over 66 percent of the population spoke English, is absurd."

So a QI for the myth maybe, but definitely not for the original statement. That's the trouble with QI without reference to anything but memory!!!!!!!

Ok If true +3 DGI for the myth and +2 DGI for the research and debunking your own myth.

Are we specifically looking for a president?

I'm thinking that it would have had to been a while ago for someone not to remember .... and I'm thinking that maybe it wasn't the Main Man ... was it a Vice President?

There's something in the back of my brain that I'm trying to grab hold of

Keep grabing away there Feisor