White Coke

File:RIAN archive 2410 Marshal Zhukov speaking.jpg

Zhukov was introduced to Coca-Cola during, or shortly after, World War II by his counterpart in Western Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was also a fan of the drink.{{Cite news |newspaper=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19550067 |title=Who, What, Why: In which countries is Coca-Cola not sold? |author=Cordelia Hebblethwaite |date=11 September 2012 |access-date=12 September 2012 }}

As Coca-Cola was regarded in the Soviet Union as a symbol of American imperialism,{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/15/business/viewpoints-a-brief-history-of-coca-colonization.html |title=Viewpoints; A Brief History of Coca-Colonization |author=Mark Pendergrast |author-link=Mark Pendergrast |date=15 August 1993 |access-date=12 September 2012}} Zhukov was apparently reluctant to be photographed with or reported as consuming such a product.

According to journalist Tom Standage, without corroborating sources, Zhukov later asked whether Coca-Cola could be manufactured and packaged to resemble vodka.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0t1nFKe0ZgC |title=A History of the World in Six Glasses |author=Tom Standage |author-link=Tom Standage |isbn=9780385660877 |publisher=Doubleday Canada |year=2006 |access-date=12 September 2012 |page=256}}

Marshal Zhukov reportedly made this inquiry through General Mark W. Clark, commander of the US sector of Allied-occupied Austria, who passed the request on to US President Harry S. Truman. The President's staff contacted James Farley, chairman of the Board of the Coca-Cola Export Corporation. At the time, Farley was overseeing the establishment of 38 Coca-Cola plants in Southeast Europe, including Austria. Farley delegated Zhukov's special order to Mladin Zarubica, a technical supervisor for the Coca-Cola Company. Mladin Zarubica was the a son of an immigrant to the US from Yugoslavia, and had been a wartime PT boat commander. He had been sent to Austria in 1946 to supervise establishment of a large bottling plant. Zarubica found a chemist who could remove the coloring from Coca-Cola.

The colorless version of Coca-Cola was bottled using straight, clear glass bottles with a white cap and a red star in the middle.{{cite news |newspaper=The Santa Fe New Mexican |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-fe-new-mexican/2005-10-02/page-100 |page=100 |title=Raise a glass to the civilizing influences of what we drink |author=Marion Loeb |date=2 October 2005 |access-date=12 September 2012}}{{cite book |pages=118–119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U1RojDSCCr0C |title=Globalization and the American Century |author1=Alfred E. Eckes, Jr. |author2=Thomas W. Zeiler |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780521009065 |access-date=25 September 2012}} The bottle and the cap were produced by the Crown Cork and Seal Company in Brussels. The first shipment of White Coke consisted of 50 cases.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSAChoqpnHUC |title=For God, Country and Coca-Cola |author=Mark Pendergrast |author-link=Mark Pendergrast |isbn= 9780465054688 |publisher=Basic Books |year=2000 |pages=210–211 |access-date=25 September 2012}}

One unusual consequence for the Coca-Cola Company was a relaxation of the regulations imposed by the occupying powers in Austria at the time. Coca-Cola supplies and products were required to transit a Soviet occupation zone while being transported between the Lambach bottling plant and the Vienna warehouse. While all goods entering the Soviet zone normally took weeks to be cleared by authorities, Coca-Cola shipments were never stopped.

• Coca-Cola Clear
• Crystal Pepsi
• Tab Clear

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{{Varieties of Coca-Cola}}

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Category:Coca-Cola cola brands

Category:Food and drink in the Soviet Union

Category:Soviet Union–United States relations