Lyndon B. Johnson Loved This Drink So Much That He Had A Delivery Button On His Desk For It
It's safe to say that being the President of the United States comes with some pretty cool perks. Sure, you have the weight of the entire world resting on your shoulders, and the fact that four or eight years in the office ages you like you took the wrong grail in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." But you get to sleep in the same bed as Abraham Lincoln, you have your own bowling alley, and you can get a special little button for your desk that will get you any drink you want. Most recently, Donald Trump made use of this privilege to get an endless stream of Diet Coke, but Lyndon B. Johnson used his button to fetch a different Coca-Cola product: Fresca, a grapefruit-flavored soda you may know from its frequent appearances on "The Boys."
It is, admittedly, weird to imagine Lyndon B. Johnson liking Fresca. He was a tall, tough-as-shoe-leather senator from Texas, with a penchant for bullying his colleagues into toeing the party line and an absolutely filthy mouth. He did not seem like the sort of person who would happily imbibe a fruity little soda. And yet, along with a button for summoning coffee, the Resolute desk during the Johnson administration had a button for Fresca, which Johnson usually savored with chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. Bear in mind that Fresca only debuted in 1967, near the end of Johnson's presidency, and in that relatively short period of time, he managed to acquire a taste for the soda strong enough to give it its own dedicated button.
Read more: Things You Should Never Say When Ordering A Drink At A Bar, According To Bartending Experts
Fresca was far from Lyndon B. Johnson's only vice — in fact, it ranks among his most harmless indulgences. In addition to other soft drinks (he had a particular fondness for root beer), his favorite cocktail was a scotch and soda made with Cutty Sark scotch. Although he would reportedly ask for his drink to be made weaker than the drink of whichever senator he was meeting with in order to take advantage of any alcohol-induced weakness (classic LBJ), there was no question that he liked the strong stuff. When he was at his ranch in Texas, he would drive around the property drinking from a Styrofoam cup, only occasionally extending his arm out the window so a Secret Service agent could refill it with scotch.
Upon urging from his wife, Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, he eased off the liquor (and smoking) somewhat, after dealing with heart and gallbladder issues. (In this respect, he was not unlike Bill Clinton, another Democratic president from the South who set aside his beloved Egg McMuffins and got healthier after a heart scare.) Fresca was a way to both satisfy his desire for a cold drink and to keep his itch for nicotine at bay. And, in fairness, we bet it would taste great along with some barbecue, which Johnson enjoyed serving to foreign dignitaries.
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