US Presidents #11-20 and their bewildering coffee associations (Part 2 of 5)

Alright guys, so you enjoyed our first post about presidents?  Well, that was child’s play, and we’re just getting warmed up.  Welcome to our 2nd part of a 5 part series, outlining the quirky connections between coffee and past POTUSes.  Lets get started:

11) James K Polk: is said on many accounts to have been the most boring of all of the US Presidents, ever.  Not only is he said to have never danced, a couple sources have reason to believe that he never drank coffee, and he and his wife were labeled overly prudish by many.

12) Zachary Taylor: although labeled a conspiracy theory, it is said to be on good authority by multiple people that Zachary Taylor’s sudden death from an intense stomach flu (cholera morbus) was actually due to purposeful poisoning of the brown sugar that went into his coffee.  It is said that many in the southern slave states didn’t take kindly to his ways, and would rather take their chances with Millard Fillmore.

13) Millard Fillmore: the national treasury at the time was nearly bankrupt and tried to right itself by raising an emergency tariff on tea and coffee, which Fillmore promptly vetoed.

14) Franklin Pierce: there was concern during his presidency about trade with Brazil being so lopsided- not only did they ship way more goods to the US than vice versa, but Brazil added on 11% in taxes before shipping it to the US, while the US continued to receive it duty-free both from Brazil and to the American people.

15) James Buchanan: Buchanan, despite being against the free market, pushed for keeping teas and coffees completely tax free.   Keeping tea and coffee tax-free seems to be common among many presidents, and likely stems from the Boston Tea Party days of the American Revolution.  So it seems he had his priorities straight despite (or in spite?) of being the only president to remain a lifelong bachelor.

16) Abraham Lincoln: was considered largely indifferent to food in general, except for being fond of apples and hot coffee.

17) Andrew Johnson: Johnson turned down all gifts during his presidency, except for a fancy coffee and tea set.

18) Ulysses S Grant: he was a notorious alcoholic, but he never offered booze to his visitors.  The visitors were only ever offered coffee, tea, or water.

19) Rutherford B Hayes: when he was a colonel there was a time where his troops had next to no food and just small amounts of water, and when they got re-supplied with coffee, it was said to have been one of their most joyous moments.

20) James A Garfield: while in the midst of fearsome battles, Garfield’s troops across the land could be seen frying bacon and heating up kettles of coffee, as this was their typical meal, yet was said to have seemed like a feast of the gods to them.

Tune in next time, as we tackle presidents #21-30.

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