My blog a couple of days ago mentioned Greg Raymer considering a run for Vice President. I thought it’d be interesting to see if we could find some ghosts for him get a game with over at the White House.
Warren G. Harding played poker. Based on his scandal ridden term in office, he may also have been the first poker cheat. He played twice a week and is supposed to have lost a complete set of White House china in a game. He played so often his cabinet was nicknamed ‘The Poker Cabinet’.
General Sherman reported that Grant played poker throughout the war and in the White House.
Another noted player was Harry S. ‘The buck stops here.’ Truman. Harry loved the wild card games. He wasn’t one to bluff — a thing General McArthur found out to his chagrin.
Harry is either all in or going for a smoke.
F.D.R. and Eisenhower played. So did L.B.J. But the most interesting of the recent crop was Nixon. He was brought up in an anti-gambling Quaker household. He played in the service to be one of the guys and on discharge had $8,000 in winning