There have been a fair share of historical moments between US presidents and coffee. Here are interesting, random coffee factoids for US presidents 21 through 30.
21) President Chester A. Arthur
He was one of the more forgettable presidents of the US, probably because of his over the top language. Here’s a quote from him addressing Congress about coffee prices going up in Brazil
I have alluded in my previous messages to the injurious and vexatious restrictions suffered by our trade in the Spanish West Indies. Brazil, whose natural outlet for its great national staple, coffee, is in and through the United States, imposes a heavy export duty upon that product.
He was one of many presidents who found push back from the American people when coffee prices went up too much. Take note current and future US president- we love our coffee!
22) Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland was a fan of booze while his wife was a member of the temperance movement. No, this is not a sitcom. He never publicly said anything to contradict her efforts, but would talk about warm drinks or coffee for when alcoholic drinks might be offered, as seems to be the case during his “Goodwill tour of 1887.” Coffee may or may not have been code language for booze.
23) Benjamin Harrison
President Harrison attempted to protect jobs by raising tariffs against other nations. He brought about the development of a “reciprocity provision” for taxing things like coffee (and sugar and molasses) where if it seemed another country was placing unfair taxes on those goods, that the United States of America would then go and do the same thing.
Unfortunately, this just led to higher prices overall, and we know how much the people loved their cheap coffee.
24) Grover Cleveland (again)
Grover Cleveland is the only president to serve to non-consecutive terms. One can only wonder if it was because the price of coffee were higher under Harrison than Cleveland. Until somebody definitively proves otherwise, this will remain our stance between these two presidents and coffee.
25) William McKinley
While sergeant and in charge of the commissary during the Civil War’s Battle of Antietam, without orders, he personally commanded all men be served “hot coffee and warm food.” At a time during a brutal war and without much in the way of food, this likely left a positive impression on many of his men, a full 30 years before he ever became president.
26) Theodore Roosevelt
Some sources say he drank up to 1 gallon of coffee per day. It is also said that Maxwell House derived it’s slogan “good to the last drop” when Teddy Roosevelt once said this after finishing a cup of their coffee.
27) William Howard Taft
Every morning not only did he have coffee filled with milk and sugar, he also had a 12 ounce steak with it and 2 oranges for breakfast. Everyday. Except when his doctor would complain about his steak and possum amounts and worried about his health, in which case he would occasionally cut back to 6 or 8 ounce steaks everyday for breakfast.
28) Woodrow Wilson
There was a British blockade of many European goods during his presidency, which also had the effect of keeping goods from the American people. There were some holes in the blockade, fortunately, and 121,000 pounds of coffee still managed to make it through.
29) Warren G Harding
“Copious amounts of coffee” was a noted favorite beverage of Harding. He washed down some of his favorite foods with coffee, including: chicken pot pie, corn muffins, and waffles.
30) Calvin Coolidge
During the years of “Silent Cal” is when the US really started protecting its investments in Nicaragua. Private individuals had invested in coffee, lumber, mining, and bananas in Nicaragua. However, in the developing country, naval protection was sometimes required to be able to get the products out safely. This eventually led to simply becoming a weapons dealer for Nicaragua.
And that does it for this post. Be sure to check out our other posts on US Presidents and coffee to see what your favorite presidents did with this awesome liquid.
