The 405 Aired Mar 6th, 2026

0:00Juan again, welcome you to the 405 coffee break. Get you cup of coffee. Glad I see bottle water the weekend's coming. Let's see what's happening out there. Stringweight, $5.70 a bushel, $550. Steercalf, $505 per pound, a butcher hog in Iowa, $6.1 a pound, and a hundred pound, lamb, that's fat, in billing. I'll fetch you $2.72 a pound, but guys, there's more, much more. Okay, guys, you remember back, way back, did you always enjoy it as much as I did after a long week in school? And the teacher would say, students, it's Friday, I'm letting you out early. Well, it is Friday, and for that matter, we have a good Friday coming up in about four weeks, and I loved it when the teacher let us out early. And here's a Friday Bible verse, and it's a good one for good Friday, and I'm a month early. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not

1:05what they do. Luke 2335. Okay, I've got another sweet tooth today. So today, what's it going to be jelly belly, the White House, and the Cold War? What about that heading? Listen now, in the 1960s, a young California, California politician named Ronald Reagan was trying to quit smoking. He replaced cigarettes with jelly beans, not just casually. He reportedly ate them constantly during his time as governor of California. Now, the candy company, which was later rebranded as jelly belly, noticed the publicity and quietly sent him regular shipments. When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, things escalated. Jelly belly created a custom jar

2:08for the oval office bearing a presidential seal. Now, at its peak, the White House, listen, guys, was ordering 3.5 tons of jelly beans a year. They were placed in meeting rooms aboard Air Force One and in diplomatic settings. It even got more interesting for Reagan's inauguration, jelly belly created a brand new flavor blueberry. Now, why'd they do that? I'll tell you why, to match the red, white, and blue theme. They reportedly experimented with about 40 formulations before getting the color right. This wasn't just candy branding. It was public diplomacy. Jelly beans became part of the visual imagery of the Ronald Reagan White House. Understand this. Jelly beans were sometimes offered to foreign diplomats visiting during

3:09Dantedada cold war negotiations. Think about it. In meetings involving nuclear arms discussions between the United States and the Soviet Union, there was what? A bowl of jelly beans on the table. Now, it sounds small, but soft touches matter and diplomacy. Food, lowers defenses. It humanizes rooms full of people negotiating weapons and their policies. Candy became a subtle soft power tool. So always remember and never forget a small. Colorful candy helped a future president quit smoking. And that candy became an oval office fixture. Jelly beans were present during cold war diplomacy and became part of American political symbolism. Not bad, not bad for a sugar bean. The weekends near go out and enjoy. I'm gonna let you out

4:11early. So until next time, as you go out there, remember now. Don't be bitter.