Eisenhower smoked 4 packs of cigarettes per day

TIL Eisenhower smoked 4 packs of cigarettes per day

— Ryan Petersen (@typesfast) December 18, 2021

Indeed he did.

In March 1949, Eisenhower's friend and personal physician, Dr. Howard Snyder, told Ike he would have to cut down his smoking from four packs of cigarettes per day to one pack: 

After a few days of limiting his smoking, Eisenhower decided that counting his cigarettes was worse than not smoking at all, and he quit. He never had another cigarette in his life. ... Eisenhower was frequently asked how he did it; he replied that it was simple, all he did was put smoking out of his mind. It helped, he would add with a grin, to develop a scornful attitude toward those weaklings who did not have the will power to break their enslavement. He [remarked]: "I nursed to the utmost ... my ability to sneer."

He also drank two coffee pots per day

— Dmitry Alexin.eth 🍊 (@dmitry_alexin) December 19, 2021

Ulysses Grant smoked 20 cigars a day.

— Danny Huz (@dan_hues) December 18, 2021

Smoking multiple packs a day was uncommon then and photos at the time showed it. Walt Disney was also a heavy smoker. News anchors smoked ON AIR. Now, though, editors choose only photos or videos without cigarettes so folks are surprised to learn of it.

— Barmijo (@barmijo) December 18, 2021