A Greek immigrant from Laconia ran a peanut cart outside the White House for decades and became one of the most unlikely...

A Greek immigrant from Laconia ran a peanut cart outside the White House for decades and became one of the most unlikely figures in American political history. Nicholas Stefanos Vasilakes, known as "Steve," left Lygereas in Laconia in 1910 and eventually set up his cart on White House property, listing his business address as 1732 Pennsylvania Avenue. He sold to Presidents Taft, Wilson, and Harding, but his closest relationship was with Calvin Coolidge. According to the White House Historical Association, Coolidge stopped at the cart almost daily and reportedly called Vasilakes his "contact" with the American people. When Washington police tried to remove the cart over traffic concerns, Coolidge personally intervened so he could stay. Not every president was a customer. Vasilakes was blunt about Herbert Hoover: "He's a good man, but he never buys peanuts. He just passes by in his car. I say hello and he goes on." His contributions went well beyond peanuts. During World War I he donated his entire daily earnings to the Red Cross for stretches at a time, becoming one of the organization's most generous individual donors according to 1917 newspaper records. In World War II he sold $50,000 worth of war bonds from the cart, launching the campaign on October 28, 1942, two years to the day after Italy's invasion of Greece, under the slogan "Make a monkey out of Mussolini." House Speaker Sam Rayburn was the first buyer. Vasilakes died in 1943. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt sent red carnations to his grave at Cedar Hill Cemetery. The White House Historical Association notes that no peanut vendor has ever been licensed on the White House grounds since. The Library of Congress holds a 1929 photograph of him standing beside his cart near East Executive Avenue. #GreekHistory #GreekDiaspora #WhiteHouse