Famous Beards In Politics (SLIDESHOW)

This past week, there was much ado about facial hair between declaring 2008 the year of the mustache, Bill Richardson's missing beard and Obama's admission in 2006 that he can't grow facial hair at all.

A 2001 Slate article analyzing Al Gore's beard, entitled Beards: Why are they such a turnoff?, states:

Not surprisingly, democratically elected politicians have tended to follow fashion trends. The first U.S. president to sport a beard, Abe Lincoln, did so only after his election in 1860, and even then it did not rise above the lower lip... Moustaches--a compromise between primeval assertiveness and civilized cooperation--became popular in the mid-20th century (think Thomas Dewey and Dean Acheson) and unruly beards became popular in the '60s and '70s but only among the counterculture...

An article in The Hill, entitled Capital Living - Voters Want Their Pols Clean Shaven also contemplates beards in Washington:

Men in Congress have varying opinions on facial hair. Some claim they would feel naked without it, that it's part of who they are.

But political consultants, image consultants and etiquette experts say research shows that politicians who wear mustaches and beards don't poll well. Voters don't trust a candidate with facial hair. Think Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein and Genghis Khan.

On the other hand, not all hairy types are unappealing; think Abraham Lincoln, Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds, the late Captain Kangaroo and Santa Claus.

Despite poll data and strong advice suggesting voters favor cleanshaven pols, at least 41 members of the House have whiskers of some sort.

Here are some men who have (mostly) worn it well in years past:

• • • • • • • • • • Abe Lincoln

Read an interview with Wolf Blitzer in which he talks all about his beard.

Comments

[donorman]

01:16 PM on 12/10/2008

Bill looks like the guy who sold pot in my old neighborhood.

[LMPE]

12:35 AM on 12/08/2008

Who was the last president to sport a beard (or at least a moustache)?

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

02:00 AM on 12/08/2008

I think that would be TR.

[amcg50]

10:40 PM on 12/07/2008

doesn't Charlie Crist have a beard? Oh that is what he calls a fiancee

[AnotherHuddy]

09:42 PM on 12/07/2008

I saw that Clinton picture and I couldn't stop laughing

[puffthedragon]

09:33 PM on 12/07/2008

I grew up in the 60's and 70's so this may excuse me, but I think Bill Clinton looks REALLY HOT!

[ccmd]

01:21 PM on 12/08/2008

second

[suzina22]

09:03 PM on 12/07/2008

We here in the Land of Enchantment have no idea why Richardson shaved his beard. The best thought I have heard on this was, "I've seen hairy asses that look better than that beard." For all of the us who have had him as the Governor for the last few years, we just say, "adios."

[larry278]

08:53 PM on 12/07/2008

Those of you who want BH Obama to grow a beard aren't going to get your wish. BHO says that he can't grow facial hair. While BHO aspires to be a Lincoln like leader; he won't try to grow a beard, not even if trolls call him a bald faced liar.

[demrepub]

08:43 PM on 12/07/2008

Don't forget Hillary.

http://rackjite.com/archives/1362-Hillary-Clintons-Beard-Photo.html

[eden4barack08]

11:12 AM on 12/08/2008

Ok, that was funny.

[YouDisgustMe]

07:18 PM on 12/07/2008

does anyone else think abe lincoln looks like he could've been part black...like an octoroon?....i read that there were such rumors during his presidency but this pic makes me wonder if those rumors might have some truth to them

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

02:01 AM on 12/08/2008

Aren't we all part black?

[YouDisgustMe]

10:57 PM on 12/08/2008

really?

[kellygrrrl]

07:17 PM on 12/07/2008

sorry, I thought this would be about Larry and Charlie's beards.

[Steamboater]

06:40 PM on 12/07/2008

Richardsn would have never shaved all that off if Obama hadn't insisted he do it. The beard made Richardson's face look thinner and the triple chin disappear so he should have kept it; he looked much more handsome that way. What's Obama afraid of? That Richardson might look too Hispanic or too radical? This the 21st century and practically evry guy you see has a beard, stache or goatee or all three.

[Dupree]

10:46 PM on 12/07/2008

To Steamboater:

Why do you assume out of thin air that Obama insisted that Richardson shave his beard? You know him personally to suggest that he did not do this on his own? Keep in mind long before Obama even offered him a position in his cabinet...Richardson showed up on Morning Joe with his new look....right after Obama won the election. Morning Joe teased him about trying to get a job with the new adminstration. And on top of that, at the news conference when Obama announced his selection of Richardson.....Obama stated that he was disappointed in Richardson shaving off his beard and that he thought his new look was "working" for him. Now what evidence that you have that would suggest otherwise that you are so convinced that is is YOUR version and not the other way around? This is how rumors get started when people thinks something and then spin it into a reality that they themselves created.

[Carsy]

05:00 PM on 12/07/2008

Lincoln wasn't a handsome man, but there is something so striking about his face.

[drock973]

06:12 PM on 12/07/2008

"Graphic art was powerless before a face that moved through a thousand delicate gradations of line and contour, light and shade, sparkle of the eye and curve of the lip, in the long gamut of expression from grave to gay, and back again from the rollicking jollity of laughter to that far-away look." - Lincoln's face as described by John G. Nicolay, his private secretary.

[Dupree]

10:49 PM on 12/07/2008

TO: Carsy:

I happen to agree with you. Licoln is not your typical handsome man but his face is definitely striking in character and there is something that just makes you pause and appreciate his looks.

[bmwracer]

04:53 PM on 12/07/2008

LOL, Clinton's beard and giant hair is a crack up.

[antaeus]

04:44 PM on 12/07/2008

Who is the most famous beard in recent American politics?

[Steamboater]

08:48 PM on 12/07/2008

Florida Gov. Crist's and Larry Craig's wives! LOL

[DogTown]

09:08 PM on 12/07/2008

LOL

[drock973]

09:35 PM on 12/07/2008

Don't forget Dina McGreevey.

[Cheesemelt]

03:20 PM on 12/07/2008

AH?