Have you ever wondered how many presidents were or are left-handed? We will take a look at those men who were not only southpaws but became presidents at well. First, we’ll see why many presidents before the early twentieth century may have been left-handed but never known because of stigmas against left-handedness. Most left-handers before the twentieth century were forced into right-handedness because of the stigma.
Why was Left-handedness Considered Bad?
Left has a long history as evil. But why? Today, the word sinister means evil or malevolent. The word sinister comes from a Latin word meaning on the left side. It appears that associating left with evil comes from a right-hand majority population. In the biblical text, God is described as saving those on the right but not the left.
The Book of Mattew tells that God will divide the nations. It says as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. He set the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Those on the right go to Heaven, but those on the left go to the devil or hell.
It appears that left as evil or sinister only became so as Christianity became prevalent. The ancient Celts worshipped the left side. They also associated the left with femininity and a fertile womb.
No matter how the left became known as evil or wrong, we’ve come a long way to make it less so. Left-handed children are no longer forced to become right-handed anymore. You aren’t considered evil or considered a witch if you are left-handed these days. Even though the word sinister now means terrible or evil, the original meaning was merely on the left side.
During the seventeenth through the earlier twentieth-century, left-handedness was considered a disability fixed only by forcing the left-handed person to become right-handed. I’m glad I was born in 1969 when left-handedness was more accepted. However, I did have two teachers over my grade school years that wanted to make me right-handed. My mother never allowed it and told one teacher in so many words that what she’d do to her if she even attempted it.
These days they know that those born left-handed are that way biologically.
Now, with this little history lesson out of the way, we can move on to our left-handed U.S. presidents.
Why Are There Only Eight U.S. Presidents Listed?
There are only eight because, before the twentieth century, most children were forced into right-handedness, so any president born before the first part of the twentieth century may have been born left-handed but then coerced into right-handedness. A couple of men on our list are examples of this but were born left-handed.
On a different note, it’s good to mention that many of the losing presidential candidates were left-handed as well.
What is impressive is that eight of the last twelve presidents were left-handed. That’s quite a big thing considering left-handers make up only ten percent of the population. Some scientists believe lefties have a broader scope of thinking. This theory is used to explain the high percentage of lefty Nobel Prize winners, writers, and left-handed painters. Brain scientists and evolutionary biologists believe that handedness is due to brain lateralization, though there are no definite conclusions as neuroscience is a young study field.
Eight Left-Handed U.S. Presidents
James Garfield
James A. Garfield was sworn in on March 4, 1881, making him our 20th president. Before becoming president, he was an educator, lawyer, and major general in the Union Army during the Civil war. After that, he was elected to the Ohio State Senate and later to the U.S. Congress. His Presidency ended when he was shot by an assassin and died eleven weeks later from complications of that wound. He was born November 19, 1831, and died September 19, 1881. It was said that this left-handed president was also ambidextrous and could write in two languages simultaneously – Greek with the left hand and Latin with the right.
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover became an international success as a mining engineer and gained worldwide gratitude as The Great Humanitarian, who fed those in war-torn Europe during and after World War I before he became our thirty-first president.
He was born in 1874 Iowa to Herbert Clark Hoover, a Quaker blacksmith. He grew up in Oregon. He went to Stanford University when it first opened in 1891 and graduated as a mining engineer. He died at 90 on October 20, 1964, in New York City.
Harry S. Truman
Truman’s parents forced him into right-handedness.
Harry Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, in 1884, but grew up in Independence. He prospered for twelve years as a farmer.
During World War I, he was a captain in the Field Artillery. When he returned home, he married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace and opened a haberdashery in Kansas City.
He was the president who decided to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
He retired to Independence, Missouri. After a stubborn fight to live, he died December 26, 1972, at eighty-eight years old.
Gerald Ford
On August 9, 1974 Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office. He stated, “I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances. This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.”
He was the first vice president chosen under Amendment 25 of the constitution. This act was due to the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon’s involvement.
Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1948, he married Elizabeth Bloomer.
Ronald Reagan
School teachers were the ones to force Ronald Reagan to write right-handed.
On February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, Ronald Reagan was born to John and Nelle Reagan.
A screening test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades, he appeared in 53 films.
Ronald Reagan was married twice, first to Jane Wyman and then to Nancy Davis. He had two children with each of these women.
Reagan took office on January 20, 1981. Only sixty-nine days later, an assassination attempt was made on his life. Due to the quick thinking of his secret service detail, he survived. One of the agents was shot and nearly died.
He died June 11, 2004.
George H.W. Bush
On June 12, 1924, George H. W. Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts. On his eighteenth birthday, George enlisted in the Navy. When he received his wings, Bush was the youngest pilot in the Navy. George flew 58 combat missions during World War II.
He married Barbara Pierce in January of 1945. They had six children– George, Robin (who died as a child), John (known as Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy.
He was president during Desert Storm.
George H. W. Bush died on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94.
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton wasn’t born a Clinton; he was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. Bill was born three months after his father died in a traffic accident. His mother married Roger Clinton when he was four years old. When Bill was in high school, he took the Clinton name.
He married Hillary Rodham in 1975. They have one child, Chelsea, who was born in 1980.
Due to his indiscretions with a young woman White House intern, Clinton was the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives.
Barack Obama
Barack is the only president on our list who stated he’s left-handed. Obama joked, “That’s right, I’m a lefty, get used to it.” as he signed his first executive order. He appears to be quite proud to be a lefty.
There was a huge stink over Obama’s birth certificate and whether or not he was a U.S. citizen. However, that seems resolved.
On August 4, 1961, Obama was born to Barack Sr., a Kenyan economist, and Stanley Ann Dunham. Both his parents were students in Hawaii, where Obama was born. Obama’s father, Barack Sr., a Kenyan economist, met his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. Barack’s parents later divorced, and Barack’s mother married a man from Indonesia. Obama spent his early childhood in Indonesia. Before the fifth grade, he returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents and attend Punahou School on scholarship.
Conclusion
There isn’t much about these men and their left-handedness, but I added some highlights about them. It’s sad to think that left-handedness was considered evil or wrong, but it’s incredible to know that we’ve had at least eight presidents who were left-handed even though they may use their right hands when you see them in videos. There may have been more presidents who were left-handed. We’ll never know, though, because of the bad connotations made about lefties. So many who were left-handed before the early twentieth century were forced to become right-handed.
I hope this article has satisfied any curiosity you’ve had about left-handed presidents and who they are or were. Let us know how we did on this article or add any comments you have about it below. We’d love to hear from you.