Hours before enacting the 1962 trade embargo against Cuba, what did President JFK desperately force his staff to do?

The Last-Minute Cigar Run

In February 1962, President John F. Kennedy asked his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, to buy as many Cuban cigars as he could find. Salinger later recalled returning with about 1,200 cigars. Kennedy then signed the proclamation that barred imports from Cuba.

The timing gave the story its punch line: before closing the door on Cuban goods, Kennedy made sure he had a personal stock of one of the island’s most prized exports. The request was urgent because, once the ban took effect, legally buying more Cuban cigars in the United States would no longer be possible.

From Trade Policy to a Personal Exception

The embargo was part of Washington’s escalating confrontation with Fidel Castro’s government. It prohibited imports of Cuban goods, rather than simply targeting cigars, and made ordinary commercial access to Cuban products unavailable to Americans.

The cigar run did not change the policy. It exposed its immediate, human-scale consequence: a familiar luxury was about to become scarce. Kennedy could sign a sweeping measure with national consequences, but first he asked an aide to secure a supply for himself. The contrast between the presidential order and the hurried shopping trip is what made the anecdote endure.