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As we gear up for tomorrow night's excitement, one crucial element has been omitted from all historical commentary that I have seen on the history of presidential elections:
Facial hair.
Or beards and moustaches anyway, sideburns are a bit of a grey area.
Facial hair.
Or beards and moustaches anyway, sideburns are a bit of a grey area.
The Republicans have historically been the hairier party. Every Republican candidate from 1856 to 1892 (with the arguable exception of 1860) had a beard, with a later run of moustaches in 1904 and 1912 followed by a final beard in 1916 (and a last moustache in 1944 and 1948).
Grover Cleveland was the only Democrat winner with facial hair, and it was just a moustache. He won the popular vote three times running in 1884, 1888 and 1892. (But lost the electoral college in 1888 to Benjamin Harrison, so far the last American President with a proper beard.)
The Democrats have never had a properly bearded candidate. Their losing candidates in 1864, 1868 and 1872 had really stupid beards, and moustaches lost in 1864, 1880 and 1904.
More detail follows.
More detail follows.
John Fremont in 1856 was the first ever Republican candidate and the first ever bearded candidate. He lost to clean-shaven James Buchanan.
Abraham Lincoln did not grow his famous beard until after winning the 1860 election. All three other major candidates were also clean-shaven, but Herschel Johnson, running mate of Stephen Douglas, had a beard. They came fourth.
In 1864 Lincoln's beard was better than his opponent George McClellan's rubbish goatee. But McClellan's vice-presidential candidate, George Pendleton, made a decent effort.
In 1868 everyone had beards, Ulysses S Grant and his running-mate Schuyler Colfax (Republicans) defeating Horatio Seymour (whose beard was pretty poor) and Francis Blair (Democrats).
In 1872 Grant, and his beard, were re-elected with a clean-shaven running mate. His opponent Horatio Greeley had the worst beard in presidential history, lost the election and died shortly after. Greely's running mate, Benjamin Gratz Brown, had a much better effort to show.
The only beard in the controversial 1876 election was that of Republican candidate Rutherford Hayes; he was declared the winner after losing the popular vote, as the result of a squalid process of sorting out white people's politics at the expense of former slaves.
1880 was another hairy year. Winner James Garfield had a beard; his Veep (and successor after his assassination) Chester Arthur had a luxurious moustache. Loser Winfield Scott Hancock had a decent enough 'tache, and his running-mate William English had the full beard.
1884 saw the first victory for the Democrats since 1856, with Grover Cleveland and his moustache. Republican loser James G Blaine had a beard, and his running mate John Logan a pretty good moustache.
As previously noted, bearded Benjamin Harrison and his well-whiskered Veep Levi P. Morton lost the popular vote but won the electoral college in 1888 against Cleveland and his new bearded running-mate Allen Thurman.
1892 brings a veritable forest, with Democrats Cleveland and Adlai Stevenon (both with moustaches) defeating Republican incumbent Harrison (beard) and running-mate Whitelaw Reid ('tache) and also Populists James Weaver ('tache) and James Field (beard), who won five states.
But that's the high water mark. In 1896 both main candidates were clean-shaven, but their running mates had moustaches - Garret Hobart (Republican, won) and Arthur Sewall (Democrat, lost).
Same in 1900, when McKinley and Bryan re-matched, still clean-shaven, with new running-mates with moustaches - well, one we'd seen before and one we'll see again. Theodore Roosevelt (R) beating Adlai Stevenson (D).
1904 saw moustache v moustache at the top and beard v beard for VP, with Roosevelt and Carles W. Fairbanks defeating Alton Parker and 80-year-old Henry Gassaway Davis.
1908 saw the last Presidential win for a moustache, William Howard Taft (R). The losing VP candidate, John Kern, had a beard.
1912 is complicated. Clean-shaven Woodrow Wilson and his running-mate Thomas Marshall ('tache) beat two moustaches - ex-President Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Taft, whose VP died a week before the vote and was replaced at the last minute by Nicholas Murray Butler ('tache).
In 1916 Wilson and Marshall ('tache) won again, this time against the last ever fully bearded slate, Republicans of course: Charles Evans Hughes and ex-Veep Charles Fairbanks.
1920 was a completely clean-shaven election. In 1924, the losing VP candidate for the Dems, Charles G. Bryan had a moustache (his clean-shaven older brother had lost the presidency in 1896, 1900 and 1908).
1928 saw the last success for facial hair, with the election of Vice-President Charles Curtis (incidentally the only person of Native American descent to make it to the top of the Executive branch). He lost his bid for re-election in 1932.
The last hurrah for a candidate from a major party was Thomas Dewey, the Republican candidate in 1944 and 1948, beaten by FDR and then Truman. A discreet moustache; the glory days are gone.
BUT!!!! That's not quite the end. In 1996 H. Ross Perot had a second run at the presidency, and chose as his running-mate mild-mannered economist Pat Choate. He has a decent beard and is very much still alive. So there is some hope. /ENDS
