presidential blunders

While not necessarily a blunder, here's an incredible story about a president using special knowledge for his own benefit. The late Pierre Salinger, then President Kennedy's press secretary, was summoned to the Oval office one evening. There, according to Salinger in a story that appeared in Cigar Aficionado, Kennedy asked him for a personal favor: "I need a lot of cigars." The president asked Salinger to bring him a thousand Petit Upmann Cuban cigars. Salinger recounts what happened next:

I shuddered a bit, although I kept my reaction to myself.

"And when do you need them, Mr. President?"

"Tomorrow morning."

I walked out of the office wondering if I would succeed. But since I was now a solid Cuban cigar smoker, I knew a lot of stores, and I worked on the problem late into the evening.

The next morning, I walked into my White House office at about 8 a.m., and the direct line from the president's office was already ringing. He asked me to come in immediately.

"How did you do, Pierre?" he asked, as I walked through the door.

"Very well," I answered. In fact, I'd gotten 1,200 cigars. Kennedy smiled, and opened up his desk. He took out a long paper which he immediately signed. It was the decree banning all Cuban products from the United States. Cuban cigars were now illegal in our country.