Prof. Brian Kalt reports:
I thought you might be interested in the following ironclad law of American presidential politics. I call it Kalt’s Law: “Under the modern two-party system, if a candidate has facial hair, the Republican always has as much, or more, than the Democrat.”Some notes.
1. It would be the case that the Republican always has more, but for 1904 in which both the Republican Roosevelt and the Democrat Parker had mustaches.
2. This goes by coverage, not amount of hair as such (e.g., 1872: a full but short beard (Grant) is more than a long “neck beard” (Greeley). In 1904, Parker had a longer mustache than Roosevelt, but it doesn’t look like it covered more (see #1).
3. Here is a full table of pairings, Republican vs. Democrat:
1856, Frémont (beard) and Buchanan (nothing)
[in 1860, Lincoln didn't grow his beard until after the election]
1864, Lincoln (no-mustache beard) and McClellan (mustache)
1868, Grant (beard) and Seymour (neck beard)
1872, Grant (beard) and Greeley (neck beard)
1876, Hayes (beard) and Tilden (nothing)
1880, Garfield (beard) and Hancock (vandyke)
1884, Blaine (beard) and Cleveland (mustache)
1888, Harrison (beard) and Cleveland (mustache)
1892, Harrison (beard) and Cleveland (mustache)
[1896 and 1900 featured no facial hair]
1904, Roosevelt (mustache) and Parker (mustache)
1908, Taft (mustache) and Bryan (nothing)
1912, Taft (mustache) and Wilson (nothing)
1916, Hughes (beard) and Wilson (nothing)
[1920 through 1940 featured no facial hair]
1944, Dewey (mustache) and Roosevelt (nothing)
1948, Dewey (mustache) and Truman (nothing)
[1952 through 2008 featured no facial hair]4. No Democrat ever had a full beard.
5. Starting with their very first candidate, Frémont (and overlooking Lincoln’s quickly rectified lack of a beard in 1860), every Republican until 1896 had a beard. Besides McKinley, every one of them until 1920 had some facial hair.
6. Why would this be? Some amount of coincidence, surely. And some playing fast and loose with the terms (see 1904). But there may have been some difference in regional styles — other than Roosevelt and Dewey, the Republicans were all from the relative hinterlands (California, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana).
Sam says:
Dewey was born in Michigan and lived there until he went to law school in New York.
March 17, 2010, 8:49 amBrian Kalt says:
True–the folks up the road in Owosso are very proud of Dewey being from there. I’m not sure when he grew the mustache, though.
And that raises the issue of Gerald Ford’s sideburns (Ford was born in Nebraska, moved to Michigan). On that note, I also left out Nixon’s 1960 five o’clock shadow.
March 17, 2010, 9:13 amuh_clem says:
If Sarah Palin gets the nomination in 2012 wouldn’t Kalt’s law be proven false? Granted, Obama doesn’t have a beard of mustache, but he probably gets 5 oclock shadow at the end of the day and that’s more than Ms Palin.
So, assuming Kalt’s law is correct, this implies that Palin won’t be the nominee. I’m guessing it’ll be Billy Gibbons.
March 17, 2010, 9:28 amkiwi dave says:
I think the most interesting part is that no major-party presidential candidate since 1948 has had facial hair. Just like no president since JFK has habitually worn a hat in public.
March 17, 2010, 9:31 amkiwi dave says:
Republicans could maintain adherence to Kalt’s Law by nominating Chuck Norris.
March 17, 2010, 9:32 amTim J. says:
What of Al Gore? Granted, this was after he lost the race, but he had quite a beard going for a while.
March 17, 2010, 9:33 amBD says:
So now we know the last prez with facial hair was Taft, nearly 100 years ago.
Bonus question: Who was the last veep with facial hair? (I know the answer.)
March 17, 2010, 9:39 amkiwi dave says:
According to the photos on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Vice_Presidents_of_the_United_States) it was Charles Curtis, who was Hoover’s Veep. Right?
March 17, 2010, 9:41 amBrian Kalt says:
Tim J: It was then that we knew he wouldn’t be competing for the 2004 nomination. Also note that during his recuperation, Woodrow Wilson reportedly grew a beard.
March 17, 2010, 9:44 amBD says:
Kiwi Dave is correct: It was Charles Curtis.
March 17, 2010, 9:58 amSarcastro says:
[As to cause, I'm going with regional styles and urban/rural constituencies.]
March 17, 2010, 10:09 amDoc Merlin says:
Lincoln didn’t have the beard during the campaign.
March 17, 2010, 10:53 amDoc Merlin says:
Lincoln didn’t have the beard during the campaign.
March 17, 2010, 10:53 amEMB says:
Clearly, in the last election Biden should have grown a giant mustache…
March 17, 2010, 10:54 amPeteP says:
Things are getting pretty hairy around here …..
March 17, 2010, 11:13 amsnarky snark says:
Charlie Crist acquired a beard when he was angling to be McCain’s VP pick.
March 17, 2010, 11:13 amCurious passerby says:
Lincoln didn’t have the beard during the campaign.
He didn’t have one in the 1860 campaign, he had one in the 1864 campaign.
March 17, 2010, 11:25 amAssistant Village Idiot says:
Regional differences provides significant explanatory power. See David Hackett Fischer’s Albion’s Seed for the discussion of the regions and their political impact.
March 17, 2010, 11:26 amBrian Kalt says:
EMB: Vice-presidential candidates are a whole other matter altogether. In 1864, 1868, 1872, 1880, 1888 (close call), 1904, 1908, and 1924, the Democratic VP nominee had more facial hair coverage. In 1896, 1900, and 1912, it was a tie (in 1912, the Democrat VP nominee had more until right before the election, when the GOP VP candidate died and was replaced by someone who had an equal amount to the Democrat). Only in 1884, 1892, 1916, and 1928 did the GOP VP nominee have more than the Democratic VP nominee. So if we reverse the rule for VPs, it applies in 11 out of 15 cases. Call it ticket balancing, I guess.
March 17, 2010, 11:31 amDeezRightWingNutz says:
Go Alan Keyes! Now that this has come to light, the primary votes and delegates will surely nominate him. Finally!
March 17, 2010, 11:36 amDeezRightWingNutz says:
What about Larry Craig? Was he ever the GOP nominee? His beard is over 5 feet tall and north of 100 pounds. That’s easily the largest beard in recent political memory.
Also, now that McGreevey has lost his beard, he fits in better in the Democratic party.
March 17, 2010, 11:39 amCJColucci says:
We have a winner!
March 17, 2010, 12:21 pmDuffy Pratt says:
So, since women got the vote, no presidential candidate has had a beard, and only one man has had a mustache (Dewey, a loser). I doubt this is a coincidence, and I knew there was a reason the franchise should never have been extended.
March 17, 2010, 12:55 pmSkyler says:
This brings up an often missed point of American history.
Some say the civil war was fought over slavery. Others say it was fought over states rights.
The truth is that the men got tired of shaving, so they went out and lived in the woods for four years and grew beards. Note that beards came in fashion for presidents at that time and stayed in fashion only while civil war veterans were around.
Just remember the next time your wife or girlfriend gives you grief for not shaving on a Saturday that more than 600,000 men died for your right to grow a beard.
March 17, 2010, 1:05 pmGil Gilliam says:
The rule would definitely be broken if 2012 is between Palin and H. Clinton
March 17, 2010, 1:14 pmCrunchy Frog says:
Do unibrows count?
March 17, 2010, 4:01 pmAnonymous EE student says:
The fact that there are years featuring no facial hair contradicts note #1: zero is not greater than zero.
March 17, 2010, 4:38 pmBrian Kalt says:
CF, I think that electoral realities have prevented that issue from arising, but maybe at some point they would count. Analogously, consider the knotty question of sideburns, which surely start to count as facial hair at some point (in that vein, I will concede that Democrat Martin Van Buren would have disproven Kalt’s Law, had he been running against Republicans instead of Whigs).
EE, you are leaving out the restriction in the Law (“if a candidate has facial hair”), which modifies note 1 as well.
March 17, 2010, 4:56 pmleo marvin says:
Neck beards are creepy.
March 17, 2010, 5:24 pmsnarky snark says:
Hey CJ Colucci – are you awarding to Deez? Was I too subtle?
March 17, 2010, 5:38 pmgrog says:
What about Larry Craig? Was he ever the GOP nominee? His beard is over 5 feet tall and north of 100 pounds. That’s easily the largest beard in recent political memory.
Ouch. But really, really funny.
March 17, 2010, 11:04 pmMilhouse says:
uh_clem wrote:
I think Palin will get the R nomination, but the law will not be broken, because Obama will not get the D nomination. By 2012 Obama will be at least as unpopular as Carter was in 1980, and Clinton has one huge advantage over Kennedy: as far as we know she hasn’t killed anyone.
I further predict that Palin’s running mate will be Jindal, and Clinton’s will be a black man to be named later (I had thought Harold Ford, but his political career seems to be stalled). No white men need apply to either major party ticket.
March 18, 2010, 4:08 amleo marvin says:
Kennedy who?
March 18, 2010, 4:30 amNickM says:
Leo – he was making a comparison to the Carter-Ted Kennedy primary (’80).
snarky – you weren’t too subtle, but the 5 feet and 100 lb. parts give him the edge.
Nick
March 18, 2010, 10:55 amCJColucci says:
Sorry, snarky snark, just missed it.
March 18, 2010, 12:18 pmRich Rostrom says:
Hmm. I wrote on this subject myself once, and I now discover I was wrong about Greeley and Hancock.
Greeley’s bizarre “neck-beard” is confusing, to be sure. It leaves his chin and cheeks completely bare, and is jammed in under his collar.
Also, Hancock had a full “van dyke” when he was younger, but in 1880, he had only an “imperial” (a small beard between lower lip and chin). In this picture the imperial is barely visible under the huge moustache. And his hair had turned white, so it doesn’t show against his skin as much.
As for Lincoln: He had no beard when nominated, nor as late as October, when he received the famous letter from Grace Bedell urging him to grow whiskers. But apparently he decided to follow her suggestion almost immediately, as his beard was full grown in February, when he called on her on his way to Washington.
March 18, 2010, 3:52 pmleo marvin says:
;)
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