The United States could have been the world’s top cigar producer. According to historians, around 1854 US diplomats assigned to Europe presented the Ostend Manifesto (aka the Ostend Circular) to William Pierce, the 14th President of the United States. The plan strongly suggested that the United States purchase Cuba from Spain for approximately $120 million dollars, and if the Spanish refused the US should take Cuba by force. If the proposal had succeeded, this would have made the United States the cigar capital of the world.