Presenting the potations of presidents past

Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994), 37th President of the USA

The Man: Say “Nixon” to most people and they will respond “corruption,” a word which defined his entire second term. But the lingering stench of the Watergate scandal sometimes keeps us from remembering some of Nixon’s important accomplishments—the opening of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, to name but two. He was a man of contradictions—viz. being raised a devout Quaker didn’t seem to have stopped Tricky Dick from gettin’ his drink on (or, for that matter, installing a bowling alley in the basement of the White House, which is just weird, man…). And even his drink of choice, a rum and coke, doesn’t seem to mesh with his reputation.

The Vice: The rum-and-coke (aka the Cuba Librè) is another of those classic cocktails that have been messed up by the arrival of flavored beverages. Rum isn’t meant to taste like pineapple in much the same way that a perfectly marbled porterhouse isn’t meant to taste like a Vienna sausage. Start with a nice dark rum. Meyer’s says, “Add Coke. Stir.” Cocktails don’t get any easier than that.