Shortly after the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy summoned his press secretary Pierre Salinger to the presidential office. “I need a lot of cigars,” the President explained.

“How many, Mr. President?” Salinger asked.

“About 1,000 Petit Upmanns.”

“And, when do you need them, Mr. President?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

Salinger spent the night driving from one cigar store to the next buying up as many of the Petit Upmann cigars as he could find. He returned to the White House the next morning and reported that he had acquired 1,200. President Kennedy smiled, pulled a sheet of paper from his desk, and signed it at the bottom. It was an Executive Order banning the sale of any and all Cuban imports in the United States.

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