List of left-handed presidents of the United States

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Barack Obama signing with his left hand

At least seven of the 45 men who have held the office of United States president have been left-handed.[1][2] Only one U.S. president prior to the 20th century was known to be left-handed.[3] Since World War II there have been fourteen different U.S. presidents[1] and six of them have been left-handed.[4][5]

Various theories about why left-handers are overrepresented among U.S. presidents have been proposed. Biologist Amar Klar studied handedness and determined that left-handed people, "...have a wider scope of thinking".[5] In a 2019 Journal of Neurosurgery article Nathan R. Selden argued that since left-handed people are right-hemisphere–dominant individuals, this might make presidents, "more effective leaders or at least more effective political candidates".[6] A University of British Columbia psychology professor, Stanley Coren, authored the book The Left-Handed Syndrome, in which he claimed that "left-handers actually have a profile that works very well for a politician".[7] In a 2021 Business Insider article titled, "From Barack Obama to Julius Caesar, here are 12 world leaders who were left-handed" reporters Alexandra Ma and Talia Lakritz state, "According to some research, lefties may be more creative, be better at 'divergent thinking' — generating new ideas based on existing information — and face challenges better."[8][9]

Medical researcher Jonathan Belsey argued that, given a 13% prevalence of left-handedness, the long-term average is not statistically high, but rather has a p-value of 0.77, and that even the post-1881 prevalence has a 0.10 likelihood of occurring by chance.[2]

Left-handed presidents of the United States

  • James A. Garfield (March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881) was ambidextrous;[10] he was the only known left-handed president prior to the 20th century.[3]
  • Harry S. Truman (April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953) was left-handed as a child,[3] he wrote with his right hand and used his left for most other activities.[11][12]
  • Gerald Ford (August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977) was left-handed.
  • Ronald Reagan (January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989) was naturally left-handed but wrote with his right hand.[11][8]
  • George H. W. Bush (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993) was left-handed. All three major candidates for president in 1992 were left-handed: Bill Clinton won.[5]
  • Bill Clinton (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001) is left-handed.[13]
  • Barack Obama (January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017) is left-handed.[14][15]

Other presidents who demonstrated left-handed ability

  • Thomas Jefferson (March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809) was right-handed but after an injury to his right wrist, he wrote with his left hand.[16] He was said to have been ambidextrous, and he could write equally well with either hand.[17]
  • Woodrow Wilson (March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921) was right-handed but after a stroke Wilson was able to use his left hand to write "perfectly legible well-formed characters". His ability was called "remarkable neurologically".[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Chronological List of Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents of the United States". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 25, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Belsey, Jonathan (July 22, 2008). "Trend in left handed presidents may be due to chance". BMJ. 337: a915. doi:10.1136/bmj.a915. ISSN 0959-8138. PMID 18647785. S2CID 5394307.
  3. ^ a b c Slauer, Shelby (August 6, 2018). "8 presidents you had no idea were left-handed". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 22, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  4. ^ Wang, Sam; Aamodt, Sandra (July 6, 2008). "A Vast Left-Handed Conspiracy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Donaldson James, Susan (April 14, 2009). "Four Out of Five Recent Presidents Are Southpaws". ABC News. Archived from the original on August 27, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  6. ^ Selden MD, PhD, Nathan R. (April 26, 2019). "Right brain? Hemispheric dominance and the United States presidency". Journal of Neurosurgery. 131 (1): 321. doi:10.3171/2019.3.JNS19510. PMID 31026837. S2CID 135463727. Archived from the original on March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  7. ^ Roth, Melissa (January 30, 2000). "The Nation: Digital Revolution; Forget Left-Wing. Say Hello to Left-Handed Politics". New York Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Ma, Alexandra; Lakritz, Talia (August 13, 2021). "From Barack Obama to Julius Caesar, here are 12 world leaders who were left-handed". Business Insider. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  9. ^ Erhardt, Rhoda Priest (2012). Hand preference : theory, assessment, and implications for function. Maplewood, MN.: Erhardt Developmental Products. p. 11. ISBN 978-1930282667. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  10. ^ Pruitt, Sarah (September 1, 2018). "The First Left-handed President Was Ambidextrous and Multilingual". A&E Television Networks, LLC. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  11. ^ a b McManus, I. C. (2002). Right hand, left hand: the origins of asymmetry in brains, bodies, atoms, and cultures. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 323. ISBN 978-0674016132. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  12. ^ McCullough, David G. (1992). Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 32, 68. ISBN 978-0671869205. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  13. ^ Smits, Rik (2011). The puzzle of left-handedness. London: Reaktion Books. p. 284. ISBN 978-1861898739. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  14. ^ Chung, Andrew (March 2, 2008). "Odds are next U.S. president will be left-handed". Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. Archived from the original on August 19, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  15. ^ "Top 10 Lefties". Time. August 13, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  16. ^ Nelson, Lyle Emerson (2004). American presidents : year by year. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference. p. 44. ISBN 978-0765680464. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  17. ^ Eleroy Curtis, William (1901). Thomas Jefferson. Gilbert Stuwart. p. 349. ISBN 9780722286975. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  18. ^ Weinstein, Edwin A. (1981). Woodrow Wilson, a medical and psychological biography. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0691614960. Retrieved March 22, 2022.

Further reading

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