7. The Truth About FDR Serving Nathan’s Hot Dogs

President Franklin Roosevelt with visiting King George VI. Photo via Wikimedia Commons from FDR Presidential Library & Museum.

Legend has it that back in 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt served Nathan’s Famous hot dogs to the King and Queen of England. In fact, Nathan’s own website reiterates this claim and goes as far as to say the famous dogs were sent to the Yalta Conference as well. Sadly, the popular belief is wrong. On May 20, 2011, the New York Times corrected a previous story of theirs claiming the legend to be true. Reed Abelson, author of the article, stated that the hot dogs actually “came from Swift & Company, not from Nathan’s.” Though it has yet to be verified, the claim that Nathan’s hot dogs made an appearance at Yalta is also doubtful, given the debunking of the first encounter.