[INTEREST] Heads of State

Published: February 15, 2010

Op-Art
Heads of State

Hair is a language; it announces our gender, class and even our politics. George Washington rejected wigs as too aristocratic for the new Republic. He tied his long powdered hair in a “queue,” while his successors embraced unpowdered styles inspired by ancient Rome. Federalists like John Adams wore long hair, while Jefferson’s Democrats countered with shortened cuts. By the mid-19th century, beards returned after a long absence. Virile-looking and practical on the battlefield, beards were suited to the Civil War; Grant kept his when he entered the White House. The safety razor’s invention around 1900 marked the beginning of the end for presidential facial hair. For the last 100 years, there have been very few stylistic developments of note; the most significant change of late comes with our current commander in chief, whose hair has brought welcome diversity to the presidential scalp.

—PENNY HOWELL JOLLY, a professor of art history at Skidmore College and the author of “Hair: Untangling a Social History”

Hair-Portraits of the presidents. From left to right: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama.

Strands of American History

It’s a kind of calligraphy, these ringlets and waves, hair combed, twisted and pinned. A first lady’s coiffure is a pattern, chosen as deliberately as the White House china, but prey to wind and rain, especially on cold Inauguration Days. It’s also prey to public opinion, should she dare to make quixotic changes in her ’do — a sign of flippancy and flip-flopping. Notice there are no flips. In the beginning, we see a newborn empire in those Josephine curls. The mid-20th century is marcelled. And in recent decades, increasingly liberated first ladies sport more leonine locks. Interestingly, there are no bangs. Perhaps this has less to do with hair and more to do with campaign promises of marital harmony and world peace.

—LAURA JACOBS, the author, most recently, of “The Bird Catcher”

Hair-Portraits of First Ladies. From left to right: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Martha Randolph,* Dolley Madison, Elizabeth Monroe, Louisa Adams, Rachel Jackson,** Hannah Van Buren,** Anna Harrison, Letitia Tyler, Julia Tyler, Sarah Polk, Margaret Taylor, Abigail Fillmore, Jane Pierce, Harriet Lane,*** Mary Lincoln, Eliza Johnson, Julia Grant, Lucy Hayes, Lucretia Garfield, Ellen Arthur,** Frances Cleveland, Caroline Harrison, Frances Cleveland, Ida McKinley, Edith Roosevelt, Helen Taft, Ellen Wilson, Edith Wilson, Florence Harding, Grace Coolidge, Lou Hoover, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/15/opinion/20100215_OPART.html