A Profile in Privilege

In his book The Cigar, Barnaby Conrad III writes that before John F. Kennedy signed the trade embargo in 1962 banning Cuban cigars he had his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, get him 1,000 cigars. Once Salinger had secured 1,100, the president said: “Now, that I have enough cigars to last awhile, I can sign this.”

Martha Stewart went to jail for far less than this but it seems that presidents, including those known to preach about “public service” and “sacrifice,” are exempt from the same moral code that applies to the rest of us.