The Two Classic Cocktails That Were A Favorite Of JFK

The culinary inclinations of U.S. Presidents frequently embed themselves in the American public's general consciousness. It's common knowledge (or at least the kind of trivia fact you can pull out at parties) that Lyndon B. Johnson had a Texas-sized love for barbecue, that Richard Nixon ate his cottage cheese with ketchup, and that George H.W. Bush hated broccoli so much that White House chefs were banned from serving it to him. However, a job as stressful as being the leader of a large country lends itself to a libation or two, and the favorite cocktails of U.S. Presidents are also a part of the country's lore. Harry Truman favored bourbon (even sometimes in the morning) and Dwight D. Eisenhower was a Scotch man — but their successor liked his drinks mixed and trendy. The 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy preferred a daiquiri or a Bloody Mary.

John F. Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, before becoming a representative, a senator, and finally in 1960, the president. Throughout his political career, he was seen as charismatic and charming, glamorous and handsome. Both coming from very well-connected and wealthy families, he and First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis were the young, modern elite. So, it stands to reason that his cocktails of choice would deviate from the unadorned alcohol of his predecessors and instead reflect his affluent peers' modern tastes.

When John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in 1960, he celebrated the win with a daiquiri made for him by his wife. The traditional recipe for a daiquiri is quite uncomplicated — all you need is rum, lime juice, and sugar. The cocktail may have been created by an American mining engineer named Jennings Stockton Cox in 1898 when he visited Daiquiri in Cuba. It also could have been a joint effort with another engineer, Francesco Domenico Pagliuchi. It also may have been the recipe of bartender Emilio González. But, regardless of the drink's true origins, the daiquiri made its way from Cuba to the U.S. in the early 1900s and, once World War II rationing was over and rum was readily available in the 1940s, solidified itself as one of the most popular cocktails of all time.

A simple drink like this one was bound to see creative modifications — like Ernest Hemingway's favorite additions of grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur — and Jackie Kennedy, too, gave it her own little twist on inauguration night. The Kennedy daiquiri takes two ounces of rum, one ounce of fresh lime juice, two ounces of limeade, and a few drops of Falernum, which is a sweet Caribbean syrup liqueur with hints of spice and almond. Since this version was the presidential preference and the First Lady's personal design, Jackie's handwritten recipe was taped to the White House kitchen wall.

The Bloody Mary was another beloved cocktail of John F. Kennedy's generation, and it was well-suited to the casual way that JFK did politics. The drink probably began its life in the late 19th century as a similar (but nonalcoholic) libation called the Oyster Cocktail — and the vodka might have been added in the 1920s when socialite and actor George Jessel needed a hangover cure and accidentally spilled the mixed drink on a friend, who proclaimed herself "Bloody Mary" as a result of the mess. Fernand Petiot, head bartender at the Saint Regis Hotel, was also a part of the recipe creation — whether aware of Jessel or not — and helped the drink rise to popularity as a mix of tomato juice, vodka, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, and Worcestershire sauce. By the time JFK was established in the White House, the Bloody Mary was a classic savory drink and favorite breakfast cocktail.

It also became a staple of JFK's new political culture and was regularly served to cabinet members at his poolside meetings and his sailboat deck discussions. The president was known to drink multiple Bloody Marys in a single night and demand them during particularly stressful (although still waterfront) briefings.