Would you believe that Richard Nixon, a professed hater of marijuana, once acted as a drug mule for Louis Armstrong? Nope, a lot of people wouldn’t, which is what makes the story so unbelievable in the first place. In fact this is all hearsay to be honest but it’s still a great story to tell since it carries a bit of humor to it. In 1958 Louis Armstrong was serving as the Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department and had just landed in Idlewild Airport. He’d been told he needed to go through customs, which might have led to a problem since he was carrying three pounds of marijuana in his suitcase.
At that point President Nixon came into the picture and, seeing a photo op in the making started talking to Armstrong. He asked why he was standing in the line, and good old Satchmo told him why. When Nixon heard this he had the vice president carry his bags and proceeded to pass him right through customs without being checked. Can you imagine how big the smile on Armstrong’s face must have been at that point? He’d just unintentionally made the POTUS his own personal drug mule without even trying. Later on when it was relayed to Nixon just what had happened he couldn’t believe that Satchmo liked marijuana. It had to come as a unique shock since Nixon was so firmly opposed to the drug. It seems safe to say that he wouldn’t ever be picking up Armstrong’s baggage after that point.
Honestly, diplomats and those in office seem to get a little too high-handed at times when it comes to the safety of the country and what gets brought in from other places. While it’s important to know what’s coming in from just about anywhere, especially out of country, those in office and diplomats of any kind shouldn’t ever be excluded from having to go through customs. With the right permits and licenses anyone should be able to pass through customs without much of a struggle. But then again, if someone’s trying to pass through and has something to hide the checks that take place are there for a good reason. No one, not even the POTUS, should be above those checks. You can just bet that Armstrong got a good laugh out of this when he was blazing up but was also aware that Nixon showing up like he did was a stroke of luck that he wouldn’t always be able to count on.
There’s no surprise really that Satchmo allowed Nixon to do this for him. One, you don’t tend to deny help from the POTUS so long as it’s something that you can readily agree with, and two, it was probably the only way he was ever going to get by customs without getting busted for the three pounds of maryjane in his suitcase. Even with the laws the way they are now three pounds is kind of excessive for personal consumption. Right now a lot of places wouldn’t even let you get close to carrying a pound on your person legally.
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