Fascination

Fascination

Our fascination with JFK continues long after his death. The man was the first modern president. His TV debates with his opponent, Richard Nixon, assured his win of the 1960 election.

One of the things about which he is remembered is his strong position against Cuba, the island nation just south of Florida which had adopted a communist form of government.

What Americans didn't generally know about their tough commander-in-chief was that he had a fondness for Cuban cigars.

Petit Upmann was his brand and he was going to smoke those cigars: embargo or none! Just hours before signing Proclamation 3447, which would ban all Cuban products from the United States, President Kennedy asked his head of press, Pierre Salinger, to acquire for him 1,000 Cuban cigars of the aforementioned brand.

Salinger delivered 200 more cigars than the president had asked him to obtain, and JFK signed the agreement shortly after being notified that the cigars had been acquired.