Presidential Beards?

It seems like the beard is making a come-back. I've been noticing mostly-well-groomed beards being worn by trendy 20 somethings that I've seen as I walk on the street, watch TV and view Instagram. I guess it's a hipster thing here in the U.S. but It's also been a strong trend for a while in Europe. So, being the big-picture guy that I am, I've been wondering: When will we have the next bearded U.S. President? There have been a scant few U.S. Presidents with noticeable facial hair (mutton chops, mustaches, etc) but only four who have had full beards* (I'm including Lincoln in that group even though he did not sport a mustache).

And I should note that there was a notable string of several Roman emperors who wore full beards beginning with Hadrian. So, just from a historical perspective, it's possible that the furry facial fashion could come back in style for a future chief denizen of the White House. 

But I'm not holding my breath. For one thing, a President is known for having a grueling daily schedule. Good beard grooming can actually take more time that being clean shaven. That includes the possible application of treatments to hide gray whiskers which might be a priority in our youth-obsessed culture.

So I'll just have to be content with just imagining beards on past clean-shaven Commander-in-chiefs … like on JFK whose photo I doctored above.

* Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Garfield

2019 UPDATE: A Terrific map of countries with leaders that have facial hair!:  

Great idea for a map! Love that mustaches are actually geographically concentrated. World leaders by facial hair 2019. Source: https://t.co/wsguUcfinC pic.twitter.com/SicslcRCs6

— Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) November 1, 2019

 


A more somber remembrance of JFK