Secret Formula

January 3, 1994
The Coca-Cola Company's secretive top executive, Robert Woodruff, threw his support behind presidential candidate Lyndon Johnson, then spurned the loser, Richard Nixon, when he applied for a job at Coca-Cola. Nixon later became senior partner in Pepsi-Cola's outside law firm, while President LBJ, a close ally of Coca-Cola, arranged political favors for the company. These are among the charges presented in this highly entertaining history of a firm that traces its origins to Confederate war hero John Pemberton and his Yankee business partner Frank Robinson, who developed the soft drink in the late 1880s. The book provides a juicy look at wheeling-dealing, litigation, global hustling, cola wars and the marketing savvy that carved a niche for Coke in the American social psyche. CNN commentator Allen charts Coke's fortunes through two world wars, European anti-American backlash and the civil rights era, and tells how Woodruff, though a plantation-owning Georgian, supported desegregation in Atlanta with an eye toward selling Coke to people of color around the world. Photos not seen by PW.