LBJ Canada Dry

[sodapops]

The story I got is that he got the bottle for the BBQ in 63 for Kennedys vist. But when the Kennedy thing went down LBJ then became president and he ordered them destroyed because the had Vice President on them and was now the prez. I heard LBJ was pretty arrogant about that.[8|]

 

[acls]

I have heard/read about that version too sodapops. For some reason the info about these being "Bottled for the Honorable Lyndon B Johnson" in appreciation for agreeing to be the keynote speaker at the Bottlers National convention in Dallas is always left out. The info I got concerning this comes from an article by a political memorabilia collector named Max Noe. Noe personally interviewed WD Matthews back in 1993. Matthews was the owner of the Canada Dry Bottling Company of San Antonio, Texas in the 1960s. He was the man who came up with the idea to create the LBJ bottles. He ordered them from LGW in SC, bottled and capped them at his plant, and personally delivered them to the ranch.

 

[morbious_fod]

ORIGINAL: acls

It is my understanding that these bottles were a gift to LBJ for agreeing to be the keynote speaker at the National Bottlers convention in Dallas of 1963. Upon receiving this gift he planned to use them specifically for a Bar-b-que at his ranch that was cancelled due to President Kennedy's assassanation.

Pretty much what I said but with some embellishment.

 

[acls]

Sort of morbious, but the reason I was trying to make the distinction boils down to why were these bottles ever produced in the first place? When I first learned about these bottles I wondered why on earth would there be a Canada Dry bottle made specifically for LBJ. For years the story I got was that these bottles were produced so Johnson could use them at a BBQ he was throwing in Kennedy's honor. According to Noe that's not accurate. These bottles were not produced for a BBQ. These bottles were created because WD Matthews wanted to thank LBJ for agreeing to be the keynote speaker at the National Bottlers Convention. When LBJ received the bottles he decided to debut them at his BBQ.

 

[sdmike]

Hi acls. Did Mr. Matthews say how many of the bottles were produced? In an article I read a couple years ago, it said a couple phone company employee's off duty I guess dug on the ranch property and recover a bunch of these bottles. I have one in my collection and have seen a couple others, and none of them looked to have been buried for several decades. Thanks, Mike

 

[acls]

He did Mike. He said he ordered 100 cases from the manufacturer in South Carolina. However, he felt he may have been shorted in that some of the bottle line employees at Laurens Glass Works may have taken some off the line for souvenirs during production.

 

[sdmike]

Wow, that would make it 2400 bottles. That is a pretty low run. Thanks for all the information....Mike

 

[morbious_fod]

Fair enough.

 

[Falcon]

ORIGINAL: sdmike

Hi acls. Did Mr. Matthews say how many of the bottles were produced? In an article I read a couple years ago, it said a couple phone company employee's off duty I guess dug on the ranch property and recover a bunch of these bottles. I have one in my collection and have seen a couple others, and none of them looked to have been buried for several decades. Thanks, Mike

An additional piece of puzzle to this story is this, back in about 1974, I saw one of these bottles, empty, owned by a local dealer, and the bottle dealer said just that, that they were dug up at the ranch by phone / construction workers. So they could have been in the ground for about 10 years or even less.
I bought my bottles from an estate sale about 10 years ago.
In 1974, if I remember correctly, the dealer wanted something like 275.00 for it. An amazing sum for a 14 year old boy. It spent about 25 years before it came off my wish list.

 

[mbjacobs]

FYI one of these bottles is now on sale at eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181072028648?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649