# Smokin' Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245 "2000-02-14T17:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ben42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@ben42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ben42)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/1 "2000-02-14T17:05:00Z")
Who was the last cigarette-smoking president of the United States? I know (all too well) that our current chief executive smokes the occcasional cigar, but I can’t picture any president with a cigarette except for FDR. ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/2 "2000-02-14T17:07:00Z")
I would say LBJ. WAG, but it seems logical. If not, maybe Ike? Not sure about JFK, but Jackie smoked. Quite a bit. Pat Nixon, too if I recall. * * * Then we’ll turn our tommy guns on the screaming ravaged nuns and the peoples voice will be the only sound. -P. Sky ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/3 "2000-02-14T17:21:00Z")
Depends on how you look at it. IIRC, Ronald Reagan smoked, but quit before he became prez. LBJ smoked while he was in office. On the former: I remember a vintage commercial for cigarettes with RR doing the pitching. This was when he was still a B-actor, before he was a b-politician. 😃 * * * What would Brian Boitano do / If he was here right now / He’d make a plan and he’d follow through / That’s what Brian Boitano would do. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/4 "2000-02-14T17:27:00Z")
Anyone know what brand LBJ smoked? I woulda said Harry Truman, although the last one I remember SEEING smoking (in photos and newsreels) was FDR. LBJ was in office when I was just a sprout,and I don’t remember seeing him smoke…although I remember him crashing and burning. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![ben42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@ben42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ben42)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/5 "2000-02-14T17:34:00Z")
I woulda said Harry Truman, although the last one I remember SEEING smoking (in photos and newsreels) was FDR. \*\* [/QUOTE] So, did presidents (and other public figures) stop smoking in public at a certain point? Was it related to the Surgeon General’s report on tobacco? Not sure of the year, but I think was 1964. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/6 "2000-02-14T20:28:00Z")
IIRC, Lyndon Johnson smoked three packs a day (don’t know the brand) up until he had major heart surgery in the mid-'50’s. Following the heart surgery, he quit smoking, which lasted until about 1967. He started smoking again in response to the pressures of the office (and especially of Vietnam), and was back up to three packs a day very shortly. * * * JMCJ This is not a sig. ---
**Author:** ![Court\_Jester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Court\_Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Court_Jester)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/7 "2000-02-14T20:40:00Z")
## Gerald Ford smoked a pipe. I recall a picture of him sitting in front of a fireplace wearing a cardigan, reading something with a pipe in his mouth. I also recall the mini-furor when one of the findings published after his annual physical was tobacco stains on his teeth. A hat with bells on is not funny, it is the jester underneath. ---
**Author:** ![Lawrence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Lawrence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawrence)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2000, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/8 "2000-02-15T02:08:00Z")
My personal guess is the last cig-smoking Pres is Clinton, though I bet it’s a mild habit and that he doesn’t do it around Hilllary. He was photographed with a cig while he was at Oxford. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2000, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokin-presidents/7245/9 "2000-02-15T05:12:00Z")
Clinton does several things with cigars, including smoking them.