Watergate Salad
I keep getting a Kraft ad on my smartphone for Watergate Salad, and it made me curious,about the origin.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_salad
...."The origin of the name “Watergate salad” is obscure: Kraft says "There are several urban myths regarding the name change, but we can’t substantiate any of them."[9] Several competing explanations exist.
Kraft Corporate Affairs said, "We developed the recipe for Pistachio Pineapple Delight. It was in 1975, the same year that pistachio pudding mix came out."[10] Kraft, however, didn't refer to it as Watergate Salad until consumers started requesting the recipe for it under the name. "According to Kraft Kitchens, when the recipe for Pistachio Pineapple Delight was sent out, an unnamed Chicago food editor renamed it Watergate Salad to promote interest in the recipe when she printed it in her column."[10] Neither the article nor editor has been tracked down, however.
The Denver Post, in the Empire Magazine of June 27, 1976, published a recipe for Watergate Salad. Rumor has it that Watergate salad was a concoction thought up by a sous chef at the Watergate Hotel, and it was then served at brunch on most weekends. Watergate Salad took off in popularity during and after the presidential scandal which shares the same name. However, the Denver Post article does not verify this rumor, noting like most sources that the origins of the name are obscure.
Syndicated household advice columnists Anne Adams and Nan Nash-Cummings, in their "Anne & Nan" column of October 9, 1997, reported that name came from the similar "Watergate Cake" (which shares most of the same ingredients):[11] "The recipes came out during the Watergate scandal. The cake has a 'cover-up' icing and is full of nuts. The salad is also full of nuts." [12] Both cake and salad were part of a trend for satirically-named recipes such as Nixon's Perfectly Clear Consomme and Liddy's Clam-Up Chowder.[13]......"
= new reply since forum marked as read
knew what it was or even thought to search for the origins. It always looked like a dessert instead of a salad to me and based on the recipe, it still seems that way. I love that trend for catchy Watergate era recipe names. We don't have a food column in our newspaper--in fact, I wouldn't really even call it a newspaper. My late husband would have called it a bi-weekly wiper (a nearly obsolete reference to newspaper--frequently found in outhouses of yore.)
Thanks for the great history lesson! 
Went to look up a couple of recipes and found this on Amazon:
And from Food.com, here's the recipe for Watergate Cake With Cover-Up Icing.
http://www.food.com/recipe/watergate-cake-with-cover-up-icing-190069
Apparently lemon-lime soda in the batter and pistachio pudding mix (try finding that these days) in the icing give it a green tinge.
