What President Gerald Ford Smoked.

[JimInks]

I'm listening to the audio version of Thomas DeFrank's book on Gerald Ford, Write It When I'm Gone. Very early in the book, DeFrank notes that Ford is smoking Edgeworth (I assume it's the Ready Rubbed). As we've always heard that he smoked Field & Stream, I thought this was worth a mention.

 

[perlasca]

Interesting, Field and Stream is what I thought (Probably this forum).
When I think of Presidents, Ford is the only I think of that smokes a pipe.

 

[JimInks]

Nixon smoked a pipe. Dunno what his tobacco of choice was. Kennedy occasionally smoked a pipe, but he was more of a cigar smoker.
Interesting thing about this book so far, in regard to pipe smoking, is that the writer always mentions when Ford is smoking. Ford must have smoked a lot, or that is the impression I am getting.

 

[huntertrw]

In "The Ultimate Pipe Book" author Richard Carleton Hacker stated that, "Former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford is a lifelong pipe smoker. He prefers '...a small, easy to carry pipe,' and his favorite tobaccos are Field & Stream and Walnut, both traditional American blends, appropriately enough."
In a personal e-mail message to me Mr. Hacker indicated that President Ford gave him one of his pipes, and that it now resides in his personal collection.

 

[newbroom]

I seem to recall descriptions of GRFord's fingers as being nicotine stained from chain smoking cigarettes.

Been there. My Drum hand rolled's used to do that to my fingers. I no longer smoke cigs.

 

[mso489]

If future presidents smoke, we'll never know, because they would know not to elicit the furies of the anti-smoking folks, and not to be a deleterious influence on children, and so forth. I liked Ford, voted for him, admired him for picking up the trashed presidency and giving it stature again in the face of an inflation ridden economy. The Nixon pardon, which looked like a nasty sweetheart deal at the time, proved to be a grace note of wisdom. Gerald was just a smart, warm, human guy with a lot of strength, toughness, and sense. I think a lot of the folks who laughed at his stumbling on airplane stairs would have dove down the stairs headfirst if they could have had Ford's college football career. One of the best President athletes, maybe only after Teddy Roosevelt, and a more natural athlete than Teddy who did it all by force of will.

 

[deathmetal]

Up until recently, 0bama was still sneaking smokes. Made him seem more human and less Hollywood.

 

[aldecaker]

I saw him smoking cigarettes. Still didn't strike me as human.

 

[stanlaurel]

I thought Obama was a polesmoker.

 

[pylorns]

It would be nice if we had future presidents who said screw you, and smoked in the oval office.. or even while giving a speech.

 

[didimauw]

Right? He's the Damn president! He wants to smoke? Let him smoke!

 

[shutterbugg]

If Nixon was seen smoking a pipe I suspect it was for publicity photo ops, because he was known as a cigarette smoker. Ford was the only real piper that I know of, and it doesn't suprise me he kept American drugstore blends like F&S and Edgeworth on his desk conspicuously, as those were in keeping with the "All-American everyman" image he tried to project.

 

[deathmetal]

Still didn't strike me as human.

Do dogs freak out around him? Might be a Terminator, one of the new T-1040EZs.

 

[JimInks]

Hunter: well, it looks like Ford must have switched around from time to time. DeFrank was very definitive in saying he smoked Edgeworth during the time he covered him as VP and President. Since Hacker obviously was in contact with him, and mentions two blends, maybe Ford went through cycles? Now, I'm curious if his tobacco gets mentioned again in the book. Wish he had mentioned what pipe tobacco Nixon smoked. Anybody know how to contact the writer?

 

[jpmcwjr]

I can't imagine that a number of our Presidents pre-Eisenhower did not smoke a pipe. But as it wasn't unusual long ago, few would make note. I have no evidence to back this up; only a supposition.

 

[JimInks]

Shutterbug: since DeFrank covered Nixon while he was still in office, I won't doubt his claim that he saw Nixon smoke a pipe. I also believe there's more than one photo of him doing so on the 'net, too. Scroll here and you'll see an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford Of course, I don't doubt he smoked cigs, but he was a pipe smoker, too.
jpmcwjr: I agree. I think Teddy Roosevelt did as I seem to recall a photo of him with one, but couldn't find one. I did see a pic of Herbert Hoover smoking one, circa 1900. FDR, too, early on. And there's a staged photo of Warren G. Harding smoking a peace pipe. Ronald Reagan pics with a pipe and cigs are on the net, too.

 

[mikestanley]

My guess would be that President Ford was gifted most, if not all of his tobacco and pipes as President, if not VP as well. It would explain the different blends. I suspect he would have wanted to "promote" all of the various American made blends with equal use.
Mike S.

 

[perdurabo]

Obama :rofl:
I think Moochelle made him stop that nasty habit. Last time I heard he's still eating hamburgers.
I would bet Trump smokes a cigar. He doesn't count yet, but a potential.
Hillary smokes Crack....No, That doesn't count either. Say, I bet she has a close relationship with cigars. That may count, potentially!

 

[ithelouniverse]

So this is off the beaten path here, but he was a president and I feel like bragging. My area of history is from start of WW1 to the end of the Cold War, with an emphasis on the years in between WW1 and WW2. I took a class from a well respect professor at my university who was a curator at the Eisenhower Library, and he brought in a photo copy of A few of his speeches that had Eisenhower own notes and adjustments in the margins. Was SO SO cool. He's by far my favorite president, and I'm sure I'll get some flak for this, but we could use another like him right about now...
"The middle of the road is all the usable area..."

 

[JimInks]

Political comments will get this thread closed down.