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The majority of men who have held the office of President of the United States have been clean shaven, including the Founding Fathers.[1] Between 1861 and 1913, however, all but two presidents wore either beards or mustaches during their tenure in office.
John Quincy Adams (1825–29) was the first U.S. President to have notable facial hair, with long sideburns.[2] But the first major departure from the tradition of smooth-faced chief executives was Abraham Lincoln (1861–65),[3][4][5] who was supposedly (and famously) influenced by 11-year old Grace Bedell to start growing a beard shortly before he was elected.[6][7] After Lincoln, all but two presidents over the next 50 years sported facial hair, the exceptions being Andrew Johnson (1865–69) and William McKinley (1897–1901).[8]
The most recent president to have facial hair was William Howard Taft (1909–1913), who wore a mustache.[9][10][11][12][13] The last major party candidate to wear a beard was Charles Evans Hughes, who was defeated in 1916.[14] The last major party candidate for President to have facial hair was Thomas E. Dewey, who had a mustache, in 1944 and 1948.[15][16] Some pundits even claimed that public disapproval of Dewey's mustache contributed to his two electoral defeats.[17][18][19][20]
Social scientists have researched the effect of facial hair on the electability of Presidential candidates, and currently consider facial hair to have a negative effect on candidates.[10][21][22] Today, the existence of facial hair on potential presidential candidates is regularly noted (albeit somewhat jokingly) as a harmful factor.[23][24]
Following is a list of American presidents who had facial hair at any time during their tenure.[25]
Ulysses S. Grant, American Civil War, Indiana, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States
Frederick W. Dallinger, Samuel Lathrop, Isaac C. Bates, William B. Calhoun, Horace Mann
Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States
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Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, United States Army, United States
Hawaii, White House, United States presidential election, 1888, United States presidential election, 1904, United States presidential election, 1920
Hair, Beard, Shaving, Regular haircut, Judaism
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Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton
Handedness, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman