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John F Kennedy snagged 1200 Cuban cigars before ordering US trade embargo on Cuba - VIDEO

Had press secretary Pierre Salinger purchase stockpile

By
KERRY O’SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Thursday, February 9, 2012, 8:21 AM
Updated Thursday, February 9, 2012, 8:21 AM

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President John F Kennedy secured for himself 1,200 Cuban cigars just hours before enacting the Cuban trade embargo in 1962
President John F Kennedy secured for himself 1,200 Cuban cigars just hours before enacting the Cuban trade embargo in 1962
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President John F Kennedy secured for himself 1,200 Cuban cigars just hours before enacting the Cuban trade embargo in 1962. Before signing the embargo, Kennedy requested his head of press, Pierre Salinger, to get him “1,000 Petit Upmanns.”

The Daily Mail reports on the story, which Salinger commented on to Cigar Aficiando magazine in 1992. This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of JFK signing the Cuban trade embargo.

Salinger recalls Kennedy calling him into his office to see if he could provide 'some help' in securing 'a lot of cigars' by the following morning. In hindsight, it is evident that Kennedy wanted to stockpile the Cuban products before he legalized the ban of their trade.

“The next morning, I walked into my White House office at about 8am, and the direct line from the President's office was already ringing. He asked me to come in immediately,” said Salinger.
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Kennedy was pleased to learn that Salinger was successful and had gotten him 1,200 Cuban cigars.

Salinger remembers, “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.”

The story of Kennedy’s cigars reemerges as the United States rolls into its fiftieth year of trade embargo with Cuba. The decision as to whether or not the embargo should remain is split today.

Supporters believe that the trade restriction is justified as Cuba continues its “repressive” form of government, while critics are vocal that it has ailed the Cuban population rather than the government itself.

JFK was also in the news recently as Mimi Alford, a nineteen year old intern at the White House in 1962, published her book ‘Once Upon an Affair,’ which recounts her affair with the married president that continued from 1962 until his assassination in 1963.

Here, watch a video of Salinger recounting his cigar mission:

​
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7 Comments

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merefalow | Feb 12, 2012, 05:28 PM EST
its called thinking ahead,

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bob40wil | Feb 12, 2012, 01:45 PM EST
pilib04, not to mention some of those classic cars the Cubans have kept running all these years.

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stmungo | Feb 10, 2012, 01:42 PM EST
The lades voice on the video of Castro visiting Moscow, sounded an awful lot like Maggie Smith. Could that be possible?

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pilib04 | Feb 09, 2012, 08:11 PM EST
The embargo on Cuba should be ended. We need the cigars, baseball players, sugar and another vacation spot.

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Mercenary | Feb 09, 2012, 02:34 PM EST
I remember that this was alluded to in the West Wing episode in which Bartlett extended an olive branch to Castro.

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snakehips | Feb 09, 2012, 12:43 PM EST
So what? You guys have to get some sort of life. JFK is so powerful over some people's lives even decades after his death. This in itself is amazing! He was something special whether some like it or not. Will they remember your useless journalism and choice of story lines decades after you die? Most likely not.

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bob40wil | Feb 09, 2012, 12:32 PM EST
Good for him, Cubans are great cigars. Had some when I was in Ireland.

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