Historian Taylor Branch’s newly published book, “The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President,” is based on some 70 taped interviews of Bill Clinton, taken between 1993 and 2001. One of the must amusing incidents revealed in this book concerns deceased former President Boris Yeltsin, who was infamous for his ‘passion’ for vodka. According to Clinton, during a 1995 visit to the White House, a drunken and hungry Yeltsin was discovered by Secret Service agents attempting to flag down a taxi on Pennsylvania Avenue. Clad only in his underwear, Yeltsin explained that he just wanted a pizza.

Unbelievably, the irrepressible Yeltsin again evaded security forces the next night, when he climbed down the back stairs of the Blair House basement (his temporary living quarters). Taking the drunken Russian president for an intruder, a security guard detained Yeltsin until Russian and U.S. agents arrived on the scene and escorted him back to his room.

Yeltsin’s drunken determination to eat pizza, at any cost and by any means necessary, is proof positive that a slice is in fact the internationally endorsed drunk-food du jour. Yeltsin did not risk life, limb, and international embarrassment for a late night snack of lo mein, falafel or borsht. No, Yeltsin wanted some pizza, pants be damned.

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