An unscientific study (we conducted ourselves) has proven 61% of all U. S. presidents smoked tobacco or are still smoking it. We have compiled pictures and information from various
presidential websites, historical societies and a very helpful article
we dug up from an old issue of Cigar Aficionado (we also stumbled across an interesting compilation of political cigar boxes at Cigar History) to discover more presidents than not take part in one of America's favorite (though fleeting) past times: Smoking.
This shouldn't come as a suprise. Several presidents of the last century were notorious smokers who lit up constantly in the White House even while regulating tobacco themselves (like Spitzer's crusade against prostitution,--we'll get to Clinton in a bit). As the legendary story reveals John F. Kennedy gave orders to Press Secretary Pierre Salinger to round up as many Corona cigars (JFK's favorite) before signing the Cuban trade embargo. Salinger later reported 1,200 Coronas in his possession. It was not until the Clinton administration when an absolute no-smoking policy was implemented in the White House and Hillary happily removed all the ashtrays from the premises. So where might Barack Obama sneak a smoke? It's rumored that Willie Nelson fired up on the White House roof when invited to spend a night, though we doubt it was tobacco he was smoking.
The Smokers:
2. John Adams, 1797-1801 A cigar man
4. James Madison, 1809-17 Also a stogie-lover
6. John Quincy Adams, 1825-29 Yet another cigar man
7. Andrew Jackson, 1829-37 Liked a cigar, but more so chewing tobacco
8. Martin Van Buren, 1837-41 All about the pipe
9. William Henry Harrison, 1841 Pipe guy too
10. John Tyler, 1841-45 Cigars
12. Zachary Taylor, 1849-50 Cigars too
17. Andrew Johnson, 1865-69 Liked cigars
18. Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-77 Cigar fiend, rumored to smoke 20 stogies a day
21. Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-85 Cigars
22. Grover Cleveland, 1885-89 Chew
23. Benjamin Harrison, 1889-93 Cigar
24. Grover Cleveland, 1893-97 Continued to chew
25. William McKinley, 1897-1901 Obsessive secret smoker of cigars behind closed doors
27. William Howard Taft, 1909-13 At 300 hundred pounds he quit cigar smoking when he reached office, which may have resulted in even further weight gain
29. Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-23 Cigars
30. Calvin Coolidge, 1923-29 Liked to use cigars as a prop to punctuate political discussions
31. Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-33 Incessant smoker of high-end cigars
32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-45 Finally, a cigarette guy and our first chain smoker president
34. Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-61 Cigarettes
35. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-63 Cigars and cigarettes (loved Cubans) and it's reported Jackie O went through 3 packs of Salems a day
36. Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-69 Cigars and the occasional rolled cigarette
37. Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-74 The occasional cigar
38. Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr , 1974-77 Nonstop pipe smoker
42. William Jefferson Clinton, 1993- 2001 Yeah, you know it
43. George W. Bush, 2001- 2009 There's no proof of W. smoking but come on, the guy was an alcoholic who must have puffed something, yet with no proof we couldn't include him in our survey
44. President Elect Barack Obama - Now we all know this guy was and maybe still is a smoker, but that picture passed around the internet was a fake:
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