How FDR Considered Hot Dogs A Meal Fit For A King (Literally)
If you were hosting a king for dinner and you served him hot dogs, you wouldn't be the first (or the most famous) person to do it. In fact, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) gave so-called glizzies to British royals in the 1930s.
The recipients of those hot dogs were King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939 — and notably, it was the first time that reigning British royals had visited the United States. They were at FDR and his wife Eleanor's home in the Hudson Valley, and alongside the hot dogs, they were served beer, making it an all-American welcome. The details about how the hotdogs were made, or what was on them — mustard or ketchup — seem to have been lost to history, as the menu just noted "Hot dogs (if weather permits)." That said, it's known that they were served on silver plates.
To be fair to FDR, the event was not a buttoned-up, state dinner-esque affair (and he presumably didn't serve cheap and nasty hot dogs). The New York Times reported on the dinner at length at the time, noting that it was an informal gathering, with King George wearing a sport jacket and also going for a swim with the president. As for the dinner itself, the Times billed it as a "picnic," but a little fancier, with actual dining tables and no paper plates to be seen. Beyond the beer and hot dogs, the picnic also featured roasted turkey, salads, orange-lime soda, and iced tea.
And what was the reaction?
While there are no direct reports of monarchs' opinions on the hot dogs, it seems safe to guess that King George likely enjoyed them. The Times report on the picnic noted that the king said he'd been anticipating "sampling the favorite American snack" prior to the picnic, and that he asked for more after. (That said, considering the British royals' focus on etiquette and manners, they'd be unlikely to comment if they hated them.)
There are faint signs that Queen Elizabeth perhaps found the situation a little uncouth: She asked FDR how to eat hot dogs, and his instructions were rather blunt. "Very simple. Push it into your mouth and keep pushing it until it is all gone," he was widely reported as saying" (via Smithsonian Magazine). In response to that, she ate her hot dog with a knife and fork. That said, according to the Times, she did describe the whole trip as an "idyllic experience," so the hot dogs can't have been truly traumatizing.
Perhaps the biggest objections came from FDR's mother Sara, who was firmly against her son's idea of serving wieners to royals. But other accounts seem to suggest it was no real problem: FDR's cousin Daisy Suckley later recalled the media obsession around the hot dogs as "all so silly" (via New York Times). Meanwhile, another attendee, Angier Biddle Duke, a by-marriage relation of the Roosevelts, described the meal as "all very natural," and something that was only made into a big deal by the media.