From political advisors down to the vending machines at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Coca-Cola and Pepsi have had their foot in the Oval Office since Eisenhower. Presented here is a brief history of the cola wars and the White House.
Nixon - Before becoming President, Tricky Dick worked for Pepsi’s law firm and acted as their international ambassador, jet-setting around the world expounding on the wonders of the world’s #2 cola. Pepsi’s boss Don Kendall took a page out of Woodruff’s book and started grooming his man for the presidency, and went with Dick straight to the White House. Ford - Gerald took everything over for Tricky Dick after Watergate, Pepsi insiders included. Coca-Cola took advantage, running commercial spots during Nixon’s resignation and Ford’s acceptance speeches, to remind the nation what a Pepsi man had done to the country.
Reagan - Regan brought Pepsi back to the White House, vending machines and all. And Pepsi helped keep the Gipper in office, sending their best men to do his 1984 campaign ads. Riding each other’s coattails to the top, Reagan and Pepsi were the choice of a New Generation.
86 Bush I - This former CIA chief and VP to the Gipper made sure everyone knew he was continuing the Legacy. To prove it, his inauguration parade was led by Pepsi trucks handing out free samples. Just think about that for a second.
Eisenhower - The only Republican on this list to choose The Real Thing, Ike showed his Coke love from the beginning of his presidency. After Ike used Army resources to parachute cokes to troops in World War II, Coca-Cola boss man Bob Woodruff supported Ike’s bid for the White House, and remained his close confidant, advisor and golf buddy. Kennedy - Camelot was the beginning of the two-party, two-cola system. Coke boss Woodruff kept himself in the White House by having Kennedy appoint Coca-Cola insiders as presidential advisors. The President even offered Woodruff an ambassadorship. He demurred, accepting an autographed JFK photo instead.
Johnson - LBJ carried on JFK’s mission, and his rolodex. In fact, he was closer to Coca-Cola’s boss than even Ike was. The night Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated, LBJ and Woodruff were drinking together in the White House. Only it wasn’t coke. Though it was a Coka-Cola jet that LBJ ordered to have Corretta Scott King taken to the funeral.
Carter - This Georgia politician was a Coke man all the way: best buds with Coke’s prez, he flew in Coke jets, rode in Coke limos, and hired Coke ad men. He then installed Coke vending machines in the White House, Coke executives in his cabinet, and signed Coke tax breaks into law.
Clinton - Bill’s political mentor owned a Coke bottling plant, so it’s no surprise he brought Coke back to the White House. He chugged Cokes around the world, from McDonalds to overseas bottling plants, Bill used Coke photo-ops to prove he was an average American and a business-friendly Democrat.
Bush II - Ever the renegade and lover of big business, Dubya bucked all previous trends, rules and laws attached to the presidency. When it came to the Cola Wars, Bush didn’t choose sides, he chose to take large sums of money from both cola companies, and fought for corporate tax loopholes domestically and abroad for both corporations.
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