Complex sentence: As First Lady, Hayes brought her zeal for temperance to the White House and supported her husband's ban of alcoholic beverages at state functions, excepting only the reception for Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia in 1877, at which wine was served.
Split into simpler sentences: As First Lady, Hayes brought her zeal for temperance to the White House. She banned all alcoholic beverages at state functions, excepting only the reception for Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia in 1877, at which wine was served.