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 $450 in 2015 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!”

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credits: gerald ford presidential library, mental floss magazine