Noah S. Sweat | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives | |
| In office 1947–1949 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Noah S. Sweat Jr. October 2, 1922 |
| Died | February 23, 1996 (aged 73) Alcorn County, Mississippi, US |
| Occupation |
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| Known for | If-by-whiskey speech |
Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat Jr. (October 2, 1922 – February 23, 1996) was an American judge, law professor, and state representative in Mississippi, notable for his 1952 speech on the floor of the Mississippi state legislature concerning whiskey. Reportedly the speech took Sweat two and a half months to write.[1] The speech is renowned for the grand rhetorical terms in which it seems to come down firmly and decisively on both sides of the question. The speech gave rise to the phrase "if-by-whiskey", used to illustrate such equivocation in argument.