Community Corner

Poll: Presidential Facial Hair

Which president sported the best moustache and/or beard?

Some people believe that facial hair is the sign of true manliness. If that is correct, nobody sent the memo to most of the presidents of the United States. Our nation has had only four chief executives with full beard/moustache combos, four with just moustaches and one with just a beard.

All the facial-haired presidents served from 1860 to 1912, the half-century in American history when you needed some growth on the face to get elected. Only Andrew Johnson and William McKinley lived in the White House as clean-shaven men during the hairy era, and Johnson wasn't even elected.

But since that time, the razors have been hard at work. No person with facial hair has even earned the presidential nomination of a major political party since 1948, according to the absolute authority on this subject—Nicholas Whyte. That person was Thomas Dewey of "Dewey Defeats Truman" fame. The Chicago Tribune started printing the paper early on election night with the headline that Dewey had won, but in fact Harry Truman ended up claiming victory. Those silly newspapers!

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So on this Presidents Day Weekend, Malibu Patch asks, "Which president sported the best facial hair?" Don't base your vote on who was the best president or who had the best name (would anybody beat Rutherford B. Hayes in that contest?). Vote on facial hair quality alone. So take a good look at the images in the gallery to refresh your memory from high school on what these presidents looked like.

And sorry, just beards and moustaches are eligible for this poll. I know this will upset the Van Buren Boys, whose idol Martin Van Buren had a great pair of mutton chops. But sideburns will be part of a debate for another day.

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