Cavalry Charger
Major
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2017
It has been said recently that U.S. Grant was a "masculine" President. I had never thought of Grant as being masculine per se, but did a little digging around to see what others thought.
Facial hair seems to tip the balance for some:
"It has been over a century since we had a president with beards. The last bearded president was Benjamin Harrison. In the 1840s, the Victorian Style for men was to have a beard. It was a symbol of masculinity and male courage." There is a lovely colorized image in this link which declares that Grant, the 18th President of the United States, was the first with a "rocking full beard".
Another commentary on political beards gives a description of Grant's beard by a staffer and also quotes a recent study on the phenomenon:
"In 1863, six years before Grant became president, a Union Army staffer wrote a description of the general's facial hair: "The beard was worn full, no part of the face being shaved, but, like the hair, was always kept closely and neatly trimmed."
In a study this year, Oklahoma State University political science professor Rebekah Herrick ran an experiment which found that “pictured members of Congress with facial hair were perceived by our student subjects as more masculine.”
President Abraham Lincoln's beard also goes under the microscope with a neat little tale about how he came to grow it:
"Perhaps the most famous example is Honest Abe, who first grew his beard in response to a letter he received in 1860 from an 11-year-old girl named Grace Bedell suggesting the idea. She wrote, in part: “I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you. You would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President.” Several months later when stopping by her home town in New York, Lincoln made a point of meeting Bedell in person—now with a full beard.
There is also the suggestion that winning the Civil War and writing his memoirs while dying of throat cancer make Grant a stand out in terms of his masculine qualities.
Personally, although I have never thought of him as "masculine", I think of him in many ways which endear me to him including his humility.
I wonder what other people think of Grant and the notion of his masculinity. There's no doubt he was a man among men. Was it just his beard?
Facial hair seems to tip the balance for some:
"It has been over a century since we had a president with beards. The last bearded president was Benjamin Harrison. In the 1840s, the Victorian Style for men was to have a beard. It was a symbol of masculinity and male courage." There is a lovely colorized image in this link which declares that Grant, the 18th President of the United States, was the first with a "rocking full beard".
14 Famous Presidents With Beards and Mustaches
Check out the list of presidents with beards and mustaches among all the U.S presidents who went with facial hair instead of clean-shaven rites.
beardstyle.net
Another commentary on political beards gives a description of Grant's beard by a staffer and also quotes a recent study on the phenomenon:
"In 1863, six years before Grant became president, a Union Army staffer wrote a description of the general's facial hair: "The beard was worn full, no part of the face being shaved, but, like the hair, was always kept closely and neatly trimmed."
In a study this year, Oklahoma State University political science professor Rebekah Herrick ran an experiment which found that “pictured members of Congress with facial hair were perceived by our student subjects as more masculine.”
President Abraham Lincoln's beard also goes under the microscope with a neat little tale about how he came to grow it:
"Perhaps the most famous example is Honest Abe, who first grew his beard in response to a letter he received in 1860 from an 11-year-old girl named Grace Bedell suggesting the idea. She wrote, in part: “I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you. You would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President.” Several months later when stopping by her home town in New York, Lincoln made a point of meeting Bedell in person—now with a full beard.
Paul Ryan and the Long History of Political Beards
A visual history of the Washington hirsute.
www.politico.com
There is also the suggestion that winning the Civil War and writing his memoirs while dying of throat cancer make Grant a stand out in terms of his masculine qualities.
Personally, although I have never thought of him as "masculine", I think of him in many ways which endear me to him including his humility.
I wonder what other people think of Grant and the notion of his masculinity. There's no doubt he was a man among men. Was it just his beard?