An Ounce - For Your Consideration
Discover hidden stories from history—bite-sized, clever tales that challenge what you thought you knew. At An Ounce, we uncover the little moments that quietly changed everything, surprising truths, and fascinating facts you won’t hear elsewhere.
I’m Jim Fugate—retired firefighter, lifelong learner, and an outside-the-box thinker who loves sharing history’s hidden gems. These quick, engaging stories don’t take themselves too seriously, won’t steal your precious time, and might just make you feel a little bit smarter.
I hope you’ll join a community of curious minds who enjoy a fresh take on history—where conversation is always open and everyone’s invited.
An Ounce - For Your Consideration
The Military Might of Pepsi
This is a rather strange tale from history, and the military industrial complex. A story that illustrates that when there is a will, there is a way, and sometimes that creates some rather odd results.
The story begins in 1959 when, then Vice President Nixon, and Soviet Premier Nikita – pound the shoe on the table while saying “we will crush you” – Khrushchev, met in Moscow, about two years after the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile had been successfully tested by the United States. The venue – The American National Exhibition in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park.
The pair, both with strong convictions and personalities, began to discuss the virtues of communism and capitalism. It was clear the two were not like-minded, and the conversation was quickly heating up.
Before the quickly escalating exchange came to a head, the President of Pepsi International, Donald Kendall, offered both a nice cool drink of Pepsi – and a Soviet National Love affair began.
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