Well, let’s not get too carried away here about left-handed Presidents as my title suggests. In reality, America has only had just over a half-dozen Presidents in history who were officially confirmed to be true Southpaws. We’ve also seen a few left-handed Vice-Presidents. And, oddly (or seemingly), the largest group of left-handed Presidents has dominated the White House just in the last 15 years. When you add to the reality of numerous Presidential candidates in general usually being left-handed–it makes you wonder if left-handed people have a mysterious nature about them that makes them more apt to become President. On the other hand (yes, I couldn’t resist), some of those left-handed Presidents weren’t always popular or had problems on their own. Considering left-handers have always been in the minority (including within all Presidents)–you can still say that right-handed Presidents probably have just as many personal problems and bad administrations than left-handed ones do.
The myths, of course, about being left-handed always continue and what left-handedness is supposed to entail in a person. Because we don’t have photographs or video evidence of the earliest Presidents–it arguably still could be possible that some of them were left-handed. The only confirmed person within our Founding Fathers to be left-handed was Benjamin Franklin. Considering his contributions to the world, it seems to live up to the stigma applied toward left-handers that they’re generally more creative people with not always perfect personalities. From all indications, Old Ben fits that bill and probably should have been President, despite being too elderly for it by 1789. (And don’t pull a Jay Leno “Moron on the Street” and say he was.) At the very least, he was President of Pennsylvania for three years back before the word “Governor” was created.
Somehow I suspect Thomas Jefferson to be a left-hander, too, considering his polymath qualities. Yet, it seems that he probably broke the myth of Renaissance men being all left-handed as Da Vinci and Michelangelo were 200 years earlier. Until photography was invented, supposedly the first President in history to be identified as left-handed was James Garfield in 1881. Actually, he was said to be ambidextrous (the best of both worlds) and could reportedly write different languages in either hand. Interesting that he could apparently write in Greek with his left, which shows the most complicated tasks can sometimes be accomplished with one’s left hand. But he also wrote Latin with his right hand–showing that right-handed people are just about equally creative with lefties.
Whether left-handedness seems to bring some kind of dark augur of things (outside of one’s own free will) is something worth pondering due to Garfield being assassinated two days before the Fourth of July in 1881. Garfield didn’t have time in his mere months in office to prove whether his left-handedness would bring a litany of mistakes, but his death seemed to put a dark cloud over this country’s first Presidential Lefty. We didn’t have another until 1929 when America was on the cusp of another dark horizon…
Herbert Hoover and the disputed notion of him being a Lefty…
It appears Herbert Hoover has, in recent years, been taken out of the equation of Presidential Lefties due to evidence on film (some of which I’ve seen myself) that he wrote with his right hand. Nevertheless, others still contend that he was ambidextrous and would use his left on occasion for various tasks. That wouldn’t be the first or last ambidextrous person to inherit the White House. It might even be argued that a lot of Lefties are actually ambidextrous. For the record, your humble writer of this article is ambidextrous, though I write and do most tasks with my left. And, to calm all fears, I have no intentions of ever running for President.
In Hoover’s case, it’s really a mystery why he was put on the Lefty Presidential list when scant evidence seems to be around that he used his left hand occasionally. Generally, people who write with their left hand are the ones designated true lefties. But the thought that we’ve had ambidextrous Presidents seems comforting when they apparently have logic and creativity sides of their brains working in tandem. Certainly Hoover needed both when, ten months into office, America plummeted into an economic depression that would last for most of the decade.
If Hoover had any Lefty in him, he ended up with the sometimes troubling nature that bedevils lefties. Even though the Great Depression would bog down any President–the right-handed logic of Franklin Delano Roosevelt swept the nation and Hoover was out, though becoming a respected statesman for the rest of his life.
The ambidexterity of Truman and Ford…
It’s said that Harry Truman had left-handed tendencies, despite the evidence being that he could throw a baseball with either hand. That’s another checkmark toward ambidexterity. In Truman’s case, a sense of logic and creativity came in handy due to him being at one of the most important crossroads America saw since the time of the Civil War. Faced with where we’d go economically and technologically immediately following WWII-we were lucky to get a President who used both sides of their brain. As much as I stand up for Lefties, I wouldn’t want one in the White House during an important time. In fact, right-handed ones aren’t so good either when creativity needs to be implemented.
While obviously scientifically arguable–I believe in ambidextrous Presidents generally being the best kind. It probably isn’t any coincidence that Truman was highly popular when his two terms were up in 1952. Eisenhower was a right-handed President, if you must know, and was fortunate to be a President during a fairly calm decade.
Apparently Gerald Ford was this country’s next ambidextrous President–and one of a different color, to be figurative about it. He reportedly wrote left-handed when sitting down–and then right-handed when standing up. I’ve never really heard of that happening often, but I’ve recently likened Ford to being smarter than he was given credit for during and after his Presidency. Because he was also a klutz, it gives Lefties a field day when putting Ford on our exclusive list. We Lefties still remind people that the term originated with the French (“gauche”)–because left-handed people had more of a tendency to fall into the Left Bank in France. Fortunately, Ford only had Air Force One steps to trip on.
The 1992 Presidential election: The Three Amigos…I mean Lefties…
One of the strangest occurrences in Presidential election history happened when Lefties Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot all ran for President (or re-election for Bush) and had some of the best-known prime-time debates in many a year. And, yes, all three did write with their left hand, so they qualify significantly. The only mystery is how left-sided (and I don’t mean politically) Bill Clinton was/is. From all indications, he’s a true Lefty from every aspect and was obviously the smartest (i.e. the most creative) of the Three Amigos during those 1992 debates. Bush and Perot were possible examples of being more centered rather than being inclined to be left-sided for everything, and also fit the typical bill of some Lefties who lust for power. Obviously, Clinton was the same way–yet had more of a down-to-earth nature with his smarts that made him the perfect specimen to represent the Lefty community.
Others who look at the dangerous side of Lefties probably shook their head in disbelief that we had THREE Lefties to choose from that year as President. Perhaps because some Lefties have a tendency to screw up things (as H.W. did), some probably felt a little concerned about what Bill Clinton would do in the White House while being a Lefty. It’s almost eerie that his left-handed nature put him into the doghouse five years later. Because Clinton fell under the more charismatic bracket of Lefties (who also had a smart collection of accomplishments under his belt–literally and figuratively)–the respect was still there and continues to this day. It isn’t much dissimilar to Da Vinci and Michelangelo who weren’t loved by everyone in their time (and had double the vices Clinton had)–yet their work endured.
By the way, the Clinton Administration was the most left-handed administration ever. That’s right, Al Gore was also left-handed. Gore possesses every aspect of a typical left-handed person (both positive and negative traits).
Keep in mind that Ronald Reagan was said to be left-handed too. That’s been brought down in recent years based on the evidence he wrote with his right. He supposedly would occasionally write (and do other tasks) with his left. If he was truly left-handed, then the Republicans win in a landslide for most Southpaws within the history of American politics.
Obama vs. McCain? Lefty vs. Lefty?
Hold onto your hats, folks (with either your left hand or right), because at the time of this writing–it’s very possible we’ll have two Lefties running for President again for the 2008 election. Everything is all abuzz now that both Barack Obama and John McCain are left-handed. If we have some kind of pattern going on here, though, a race with two Lefties usually had the left (meaning the political left) winning. In the case of a Righty going head-to-head with a Lefty (Al Gore vs. George W. Bush in 2000)–the right (meaning the political right) won. Yep, Hillary Clinton is a Righty.
The pattern of left-handed Presidents might be alarming to some people out there–especially when we seem to be getting them all at once. I have no doubt, too, that some out there consider it a sign getting so many left-handed Presidents and figure that Lefties are turning into something as exclusive as the Order of Skull and Bones at Yale. It’s also odd that some political offspring (notably John F. Kennedy Jr., and Caroline Kennedy) were and are Lefties when their father and mother were not.
One thing to think about: We’ve never had a President who was left-handed and also leaned strongly left as Barack Obama does. Frankly, in a balanced universe–Bill Clinton should have been ambidextrous to mirror his political philosophy.
Well, maybe a left-handed Republican gives away a subtle secret that McCain is actually more left as some people contend (and conservatives hate). If Lefties are supposedly more creative (something I think is wrong)–at least either Obama or McCain would provide America with a more creative brain…that differs quite a lot from what we’ve had in the White House for far too long…
