In 1975, Dick Cheney Complained That Donald Rumsfeld Drank Too Much Coffee

Young Dick Cheney, it seems, did not look kindly upon coffee addictions. When he was Deputy Chief of Staff in Gerald Ford’s White House, the future Vice President sent a terse memo regarding Donald Rumsfeld’s coffee consumption. In September 1975, the then-Chief of Staff had spent more than $100 on coffee in a month—adjusted for inflation, about $500 in today's dollars. And it appears this wasn’t the first time. 

“Can you please tell me what’s going on?” a 34-year-old Cheney wrote to Staff Secretary Jim Connor. Rumsfeld’s nine-person staff (and their guests) had consumed a whopping 200 pots of coffee—about 50 pots per week.

In a handwritten note, Connor laid out the facts: “They are drinking too much coffee and have too many people drinking it!”

Not even the president’s right-hand men need to be that perky—according to Dick Cheney, anyway.