Politicians, both well known and slightly obscure, are far more likely than the average guy to turn to a pipe for relaxation and stress-relief. In th3 fourth of our continuing series on famous pipe smokers we catalog ten notable pipe smoking politicians. If you missed the first three installments, find our lists here: Famous Pipe Smoking Actors, Smokin' Authors Here, and Famous Smokin' Thinkers.
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Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis was elected to be the first, and ultimately only president of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Prior to taking office, he was a military man, United States Senator and a cotton farmer.
Jefferson Finis Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Christian County, Kentucky.
All of Davis’ uncles and his father were veterans of the Revolutionary War. Three of his brothers fought in the War of 1812.
Jefferson Davis attended The United States Military Academy at West Point from 1824-1828. He graduated 23rd in his class.Davis fought in the Blackhawk War of 1831.
Davis left the military in 1835 because his commanding office (future President Zachary Taylor) was opposed to the engagement of his daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor, to Davis. His new bride died of malaria later that same year.
After his abrupt departure from the military, Davis studied constitutional law and made a living as a cotton farmer.
Davis was made Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce in 1853.
He ran for, and was re-elected to, the Senate in 1857.
Initially opposed to the secession of the southern states, Davis remained with the Senate until Mississippi resigned from the Union in 1861.
After briefly serving as a major general of the Army of Mississippi, Davis was inaugurated as President of the Confederacy in 1861. He set up his government in Richmond, Virginia in May of 1861.
As President, Davis has been criticized by historians for his military strategy, failed strategic choices, and for appointing his friends for military commands. Widespread belief that the Union Blockade of the Confederacy would prompt European Nations to side with the Confederacy was proved wrong. European powers remained neutral. After the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Confederate support lost nearly all appeal throughout Europe. By the end of the Civil War, The Confederate States of America had never once been recognized by a single foreign nation.
After the Civil War ended, Jefferson Davis was indicted for treason. He served two years in prison in Virginia before being released in 1867.
He believed that secession before the outbreak of the Civil War was constitutional. He continued to hold firm to controversial views regarding African American inferiority and the inner workings of slave based industry.
He was barred from serving a third term in Congress by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, though he was elected in 1875.
He remained popular throughout the American South. Speeches he gave at ceremonies helped the South accept the defeat of the Confederacy and furthered reconstruction in the decades following the war. He urged southerners to be loyal to the Union.
Regarding pipe smoking, Jefferson Davis was known to have preferred a corncob dating back long before his ties to the Confederacy. One of his pipes is on display at a museum in Virginia Beach.
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur was an American military icon who served in both World Wars. His name is still synonymous with Allied Victory in the Pacific during World War II.
The military affected MacArthur’s entire life, from his birth in 1880 to his death in 1964.
He was born on an Army base in Little Rock, Arkansas. His father, Captain Arthur MacArthur, was a decorated Union Army Civil War veteran.
During his formative years, Douglas MacArthur learned the importance of conducting himself as a scholar and a gentleman. He learned these virtues from his well -established and accomplished grandfather, Judge Arthur MacArthur.
After high school, Douglas MacArthur attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated with honors in 1903.After graduating from West Point, MacArthur received assignments that sent him to the Philippines, Mexico, and Milwaukee.
His first brush with fame came during World War I, where he was promoted to Colonel. He was the most decorated American soldier of the war. His personality, charm, appeal and demeanor were the embodiment of the idealized American war hero.
In 1930, MacArthur was promoted to General and made Army Chief of Staff during a time when the Great Depression had made a lasting crippling impact on the military. MacArthur believed, and spoke about, a looming threat that communism and fascism posed to the world. He was chosen as military advisor to the Philippines by President Roosevelt in 1935.
MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941, and became Commander of the U.S. forces in the Pacific. Over time, his name has become synonymous with Allied victory in the region.
He remained in Japan after the war, and oversaw the rebuilding of the country.
In 1950, MacArthur was placed in charge of UN forces and drove back the invading North Korea army from South Korea. His forces were forced to retreat when China got involved.
He wanted to expand the war to include China. However, President Truman disagreed and insisted that MacArthur keep silent in regard to his opinions of the matter.
The Missouri Meerschaum Company designed a customized pipe according to General MacArthur’s specific instructions. He was an avid pipe smoker who favored a corncob. Though his deep bowled and long stemmed pipe was often used for a prop during photo opportunities, it was difficult to smoke. Therefore, MacArthur was provided other pipes to smoke at his leisure.
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin served three terms as Great Britain’s Prime Minister during the 1920’s and 30’s. He held office during the abdication crisis involving King Edward VIII, an event that was detailed in 2010 historical drama film “The King’s Speech”.
Rudyard Kipling was a first cousin of Baldwin on his mother’s side. Kipling was an English writer who authored, most notably, The Jungle Book.
Baldwin attended Cambridge University and then went into his family's’ iron mongering business.
In 1922 Baldwin was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer (The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues.)
In 1923, Baldwin became Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader upon the resignation of Andrew Bonar Law.
Baldwin again became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1924, following the demise of England’s unsuccessful Labour Government, which had briefly attained power and was backed by Liberal support.
The Labour Government returned to power in 1929, and Baldwin’s Conservative Party lost the general election.
By 1935, he would become Prime Minister for a third time.
Baldwin was Prime Minister during the abdication crisis involving King Edward VIII.
Baldwin was partially blamed for Britain’s military unpreparedness at the onset of World War II. He was blamed for not accurately estimating Germany’s military might. He had taken a conciliatory approach to the armament of Nazi Germany. Britain’s own rearmament regarding the Royal Air Force, Navy and Army was inferior and ill prepared to handle the might of the German Luftwaffe. Though he admitted that he had been wrong, Baldwin still received criticism from Winston Churchill among others. He spent a great deal of time during his retirement defending his actions and responding to negative press, letters and criticisms.
Many historians now believe that Baldwin had done all he could in the context of the time period, especially considering the fact that pacifism dominated British mainstream politics following the end of the first World War.
Allen Dulles
Allen Dulles is best known as the first civilian director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He is widely considered to be one of the creators of the United States’ modern intelligence system, and played a pivotal role in Cold War operations.
Allen Dulles’ older brother John Foster Dulles was the Secretary of State during the Eisenhower Administration. Washington Dulles International Airport was named for him in 1962.
After graduating from Princeton University in 1916, Allen Dulles became a diplomat.
After initially being assigned to Vienna, then Bern, he served as chief of the Near East division of the Department of State from 1922 to 1926.
Dulles earned a Law Degree from George Washington University in 1926. He then took a job at a firm where his brother was a partner.
He became a director of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1927. He also served as the Council’s Secretary from 1933 to 1944.
During the 1920’s and 30’s Dulles served as a legal advisor to the delegations on arms limitation at the League of Nations. He subsequently met The European leaders of the time. Upon returning, his anger with the Nazi treatment of German Jews prompted him to lead a movement to close his brother’s law firm’s office in Berlin.
During World War II, Dulles worked for the Office of Strategic Services. He gathered and worked on intelligence regarding Nazi plans and actions. He remained with the OSS in Berlin and Bern for six months following the war.
In 1952, Dulles became the first civilian Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA’s covert operations played a major role in Cold War security policy.
President Eisenhower demanded that Senator Joseph McCarthy stop issuing subpoenas to the CIA at Dulles’ request.
For nearly ten years Dulles was involved in many notable covert operations, including; the Coup in Iran, the Coup in Guatemala, and the Bay of Pigs (the failure of which led to his forced resignation). However, he has received criticism for implementing unpopular and corrupt pro-American regimes in Guatemala and Iran.
The numerous failed assassination attempts on Fidel Castro didn’t do much to help the CIA’s image with the new Kennedy Administration.
In 1963, Dulles was appointed as one of seven commissioners of the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of the U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Considering the fact that Kennedy himself had forced Dulles to resign as Director of the CIA, this move by Lyndon Johnson was met with a bit of criticism.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower was the Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. He oversaw the D-Day invasion and was later elected President of the United States in 1952.
After graduating from the army's Command and General Staff School in 1926, Eisenhower served as the legendary General Douglas MacArthur’s aide in the Philippines. He returned to the United States in 1939 and became Chief of Staff of the Third Army.
Eisenhower became chief of the War Plans Division of the U.S. Army General Staff at the onset of World War II in 1941.
In 1942 he became Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in May of 1942.
On June 6, 1944(D-Day) Allied forces successfully invaded Normandy under Eisenhower’s command. Later that year he was promoted to Five Star General.
After Germany’s unconditional surrender in 1945, Eisenhower was made military governor of the U.S. Occupied Zone. Following his return home, he was made U.S. Army Chief of Staff.
In 1950, Eisenhower accepted an offer from President Truman to command NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
Although he had never previously expressed an interest in politics, Eisenhower ran for President as the Republican Party candidate in 1952 and won by a wide margin. He was re- elected in 1956.
After his initial election, Eisenhower effectively campaigned for an armistice to end the Korean War.
Eisenhower strongly supported the Civil Rights Movement. He signed laws that enforced desegregation in schools, and in 1960 made resistance to desegregation a federal offense.
Andrew Jackson
With a long standing reputation as a war hero, Jackson was a veteran of the American Revolution and the War of 1812. During his political career, he was named the first provincial Governor of Florida and served as the seventh President of the United States.
At thirteen years old, Jackson joined a local militia as a courier during the American Revolution. He and his brother were captured by the British in 1779. Both brothers contracted smallpox while in captivity. Robert Jackson died soon after their release.
Andrew’s mother died of cholera later in 1779. At fourteen years old, he was an orphan. He would go on to be raised by his uncles in North Carolina.
Jackson became a lawyer in 1787. In 1796, Jackson was a member of the convention that established the Tennessee Constitution and was elected Tennessee's first representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. The following year he was elected to the Senate. He resigned a year later and was elected judge of Tennessee’s superior court.
In 1812, he was later chosen to head the state militia, when war again broke out with Great Britain.
His leadership during the war earned him the reputation of a national war hero.
While acting as Commander of the Army’s Southern Forces, Jackson captured Spanish posts at St. Marks and Pensacola. Florida would become part of the United States a few years later in 1821.
By 1824 Jackson’s popularity had earned him a Presidential nomination as well as a seat in the Senate. Entangled in a five way race when no candidate received a majority of electoral votes, Jackson lost to John Quincey Adams when the election was left up to the House of
Representatives. Many of Jackson’s supporters criticized this move as “corrupt.” Jackson would resign from the Senate soon after.
In 1828, Jackson was elected as the seventh President of the United States. His supporters and opponents would form two emerging political parties, the Democratic Party and the Whig Party. His presidency came at a pivotal moment in American history.
Jackson’s Presidency was most notable, perhaps, for his action against South Carolina when the state “adopted a resolution declaring federal tariffs passed in 1828 and 1832 null and void and prohibiting their enforcement within state boundaries.” Jackson was credited for preserving the Union by sending troops into South Carolina to enforce federal laws.
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger
As the first President of South Africa, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger oversaw the most prosperous state on the African Continent.
Kruger had almost no formal education beyond his reading of the Bible. Even as an adult, he claimed that the Bible was the only book that he’d ever read. Because of his interpretations of the scripture, he believed that the earth was flat.
Kruger and his family took part in the Great Trek. Discontentment with British rule led many Dutch speaking Afrikaner emigrants to move to the interior of modern day South Africa from the British ruled Cape Colony.
Kruger and his family became impressed with the idea of a sovereign Boer Republic.
During the 1830’s the “Voortrekkers” met resistance from offshoots of the Zulu Kingdom. Fighting broke out numerous times. Kruger’s family settled at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountains in the Transvaal. Kruger himself fought in three battles before his thirteenth birthday, and more so as his teen years waned.
Pioneer life hardened young Kruger. He was gruff, stern and fearless.
In addition to Dutch, Kruger could speak English and several African languages fluently.r
In 1863 Kruger was elected commandant general of the Transvaal government. Transvaal “is a geographic term associated with land north of (i.e., beyond) the Vaal River in modern-day South Africa.”Disputes within the government ultimately led to civil war.
After political stability somewhat returned to the region, Kruger was a favorite to win the presidential race of 1877. Due to British annexation, the election never happened.
After diplomatically opposing the British annexation in London, Kruger led Transvaal during the war of independence, after which independence was restored to the region.r
In 1883 Kruger was elected President. He made it his mission to restore complete independence to the region. He succeeded, and the "Zuid-Afrikaansche" republic was born.
“Within a few years Kruger presided over the most prosperous state in Africa.”
Much of Kruger’s presidency involved opposition to and conflict with Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes was preoccupied with spreading British influence and made attempts to incorporate Transvaal economically with the British Territories.
War again erupted when Britain refused to accept Kruger’s conditions regarding the full franchise status of British subjects in the region.
The South African Republic was again annexed by the British Empire in September of 1900.
Kruger was exiled and continued to raise support for the Boer cause. He died in exile in Western Switzerland in 1904 at the age of 78.
The Oom Paul tobacco pipe was originally named after Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
Fiorello La Guardia is a New York City political icon. Three times elected the mayor of the city, he made it his mission to fight organized crime and corruption, improve the police and fire departments, and improve infrastructure projects.
Fiorello La Guardia was born in New York City and raised in Arizona. At sixteen he moved with his family to Italy.
He worked at consulates in Hungary and Croatia before returning to the United States in 1906.
He studied Law at the prestigious New York University, and was admitted to the bar in 1910. While in school, he worked as an interpreter at Ellis Island.
He ran politically, as a progressive republican, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1916. His term in office was interrupted by World War I, where he would serve as a pilot.
He returned to Congress in 1918, and was re-elected to the House of Representatives in 1922.He was elected four more times. He is noted for having supported child labor laws and women’s suffrage. He also opposed prohibition.
“He cosponsored the Norris–La Guardia Act (1932), which restricted the courts’ power to ban or restrain strikes, boycotts, or picketing by organized labour.”
He successfully ran for Mayor of New York City in 1933. He ran on a reform platform, backed by the Republican Party and the City Fusion Party. His support base wanted to unseat Tammany Hall and do away with its corrupt practices.
La Guardia spent a lot of time and effort fighting organized crime. He also improved police and fire departments and expanded social welfare programs.
He undertook building projects included numerous roads and bridges, as well as the La Guardia Airport.
“After being reelected twice, La Guardia in 1945 refused to run for a fourth term as mayor. He was appointed director of the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense (1941) and director general (1946) of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.”
Ronald Reagan
With a career that began in Hollywood and ended in the White House, Ronald Reagan has become a legend of the GOP for his post-recession economic policies.
His father nicknamed him “Dutch” when he was a child.
During school, Reagan was a naturally gifted athlete. At Eureeka College, he played football, ran track, captained the swim team.
Having always had an interest in film and theatre, Ronald Reagan signed a seven year contract with Warner Brothers in 1937.
As a Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan appeared in more than fifty films from 1937 to 1964. His most notable were perhaps 19442’s “Kings Row” and 1951’s “Bedtime for Bonzo.”
From 1947 until 1952, he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. During this time he met actress Nancy Davis. The two were married in 1952.
Reagan first achieved political notoriety when he gave a televised speech for Republican candidate, Barry Goldwater in 1962.
He became Governor of California by a landslide in 1966, and was re- elected in 1970.
“Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush.” Due to a weak economy and the recent Iran Hostage Crisis, Reagan easily defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter.
At sixty nine years old, Reagan became the oldest President elect in the nation’s history.
Early on in his presidency, Reagan was shot, but recovered quickly. His poise and wit during the ordeal earned him even more popularity with the American people.
Due to his economic plan, dubbed “Reaganomics” the nation began to temporarily recover economically. He reduced social programs, limits on business and implemented tax cuts.
“In 1981, Reagan made history by appointing Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
During his second term in office, Reagan began a diplomatic relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev, chairman of the Soviet Union. “In 1987, the Americans and Soviets signed a historic agreement to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles.”Later in Reagan gave a speech at the Berlin Wall, and challenged Gorbachev to tear it down. Twenty nine months later, Gorbachev allowed the people of Berlin to dismantle it, thus ending Soviet control over East Germany.
In 1990, after the end of his second Presidential term, Reagan went back to Berlin and took several symbolic swings with a hammer at a remaining section of the wall.
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States an unprecedented four times. He displayed unparalleled strength in leadership qualities as the world was at war for a second time in barely two decades.
Franklin Roosevelt’s family was rather wealthy. They made their fortune in the real estate and trade businesses.
Young FDR was an only child and enjoyed a childhood marked with privilege and self- importance. He was educated by tutors and governesses until he was fourteen years old.
After high school, Roosevelt attended Harvard University.
During his senior year at Harvard, Roosevelt met and became engaged to his fifth cousin, Eleanor.
After supporting Woodrow Wilson during the 1912 National Democratic Convention, Roosevelt was made Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the same position that his hero Theodore Roosevelt had held prior to his own presidential bid.
Roosevelt contracted Polio while on vacation in the summer of 1921. Although he battled his illness with numerous therapies and a great deal of effort, he never regained the use of his legs. For a while, he believed that his political career was over.
Due to encouragement from his wife, Eleanor and his longtime political confidante Louis Howe, Franklin Roosevelt continued his political career in 1924. By that time he had taught himself to walk brief distances with braces on his legs, and was sure to never allow photos of him in a wheelchair to surface publicly.
In 1932, Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover and became the 32nd President of the United States.
By the time Roosevelt took office, the nation was in peril. Thirteen million Americans were unemployed.
Immediately after taking office, Roosevelt proposed a plan for economic relief and reform. His “New Deal” successfully helped the country get out of the Great Depression. By 1936, the country’s economy began to improve.The same year, Roosevelt was elected President for a second term.
Since World War I, America adopted an isolationist policy in regard to participating in foreign wars. The sentiment began to wane at the onset of World War II. Any hope of staying out of World War II ended on December 7th, 1941 when the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. At the time, Roosevelt had begun serving his unprecedented third term as President.
Roosevelt displayed great military prowess as Commander in Chief during the War. He helped bring an end to Nazi rule in Europe through a series of invasions and strategy. At the same time, America was on the verge of winning the war in the Pacific.
During the later years of World War II, Roosevelt promoted the creation of the United Nations.
In 1944, Roosevelt was elected President for a fourth time. After returning from a conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin regarding post-war reorganization, Roosevelt suffered a massive Cerebral Hemorrhage and died in April of 1945. His vice President, Harry Truman, became President afterwards.
Roosevelt’s death shocked Americans. His leadership had led them through an unprecedented economic crisis and a Second World War. America had established itself as a leader on a global stage thanks, in part, to his effective leadership.
Chris Hopkins is our resident tobacco expert and pipe aficionado. As a writer, Chris spends most of his time nestled behind a computer screen. Chris began his pipe smoking career when a friend encouraged him to invest in a cheap estate piece. In no time, he was running his own tobacco critique blog (
honors that tradition by continuing to produce historically accurate and fully functioning corn cob smoking pipes.
