He also appealed to the same blue-collar, ethnic and middle-class constituency that would later vote for Nixon, Reagan, Perot and Trump. If only he had kicked the booze habit, he might have won re-election in 1958 by appealing to these voters and exploiting the hysteria over Sputnik I by proclaiming, "I told you so!"
My impression was that he was a heavy drinker before, in the same way I was a heavy drinker before, but after his censure by the Senate, he drank himself to death.