List of heights of United States presidential candidates

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This is a list of heights of United States presidential candidates.

Contents

[edit] Myth and reality

The list was created to compare the folk wisdom about U.S. presidential politics that the taller of the two major-party candidates always wins or always wins since the advent of the televised presidential debate, since 1900, etc.

  • An example of this view is included in a 2003 essay by New York Times writer Virginia Postrel about artificially increasing the height of growth-stunted children: "Still, being short does, on average, hurt a person's prospects...The tall guy gets the girl. The taller presidential candidate almost always wins."[1]
  • A 1988 article in the Los Angeles Times fashion section about a haberdasher devoted to clothing shorter men included a variation of the tale: "Stern says he just learned that Dukakis is 5 feet, 8 inches. 'Did you know,' he adds, noticeably disappointed, 'that since 1900 the taller of the two candidates always wins?' "[2]
  • A 1997 book called How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You discusses the issue in a section about the importance of height, "What about height? One assumes the taller the better, because our culture venerates height. In fact, practically every president elected in the United States since 1900 was the taller of the two candidates."[3]
  • "I remember the subversive effect the observation had on me that in every U.S. presidential race, the taller of the two candidates had been elected. It opened up space for a counterdiscourse to the presumed rationality of the electoral process." [4]
  • A 1975 book called First Impressions: The Psychology of Encountering Others notes, "Elevator Shoes, Anyone? One factor which has a far-reaching influence on how people are perceived, at least in American society, is height. From 1900 to 1968 the man elected U.S. president was always the taller of the two candidates. (Richard Nixon was slightly shorter than George McGovern.)"[5]
  • Another book discussing height, The Psychology of Person Identification (published 1978) states, "They also say that every President of the USA elected since the turn of the century has been the taller of the two candidates (Jimmy Carter being an exception)."[6]
  • A 1999 book, Survival of the Prettiest by Nancy Etcoff, repeated a version of the legend in a section on the power of heights, "...Since 1776 only [two Presidents,] James Madison and Benjamin Harrison[,] have been below-average height. The easiest way to predict the winner in a United States election is to bet on the taller man: in this century you would have had an unbroken string of hits until 1968 when Richard Nixon beat George McGovern."[7]

In reality, for the 46 elections in which the height of which both candidates is known, the taller candidate won 26 times (approximately 57 percent of the time), the shorter candidate won 17 times (approximately 37 percent of the time) and the candidates were the same height three times (about seven percent of the time). Therefore, the taller candidate has won the majority of elections, but the tall-short margin of victory is by no means overwhelming.

It should be noted however that in three of the cases where the shorter candidate won, the taller candidate actually received more popular votes but lost in the Electoral College; this happened in 1824, 1888, and 2000 (the other time that the electoral vote winner was not the popular vote winner was in 1876, for which we do not know the height of the loser). So the taller candidate has won the popular vote in 63 percent of the cases for which we have data, and the shorter candidate only about 30 percent of them.

[edit] List

 TALLER candidate won   SHORTER candidate won 
 Candidates same height   Comparison data unavailable 
Year Winner Height
(Imperial)		 Height
(Metric)		 Runner-up
(by electoral vote count)		 Height
(Imperial)		 Height
(Metric)		 Difference
(Imperial)		 Difference
(Metric)
2004 George W. Bush 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m John Kerry 6 ft 4 in 1.93 m 5 in 0.13 m
2000 George W. Bush 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m Al Gore 6 ft ½ in 1.84 m 1½ in 0.04 m
1996 Bill Clinton 6 ft 1½ in 1.87 m Bob Dole 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m 1½ in 0.04 m
1992 Bill Clinton 6 ft 1½ in 1.87 m George H.W. Bush 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m ½ in 0.01 m
1988 George H.W. Bush 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m Michael Dukakis 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m 6 in 0.15 m
1984 Ronald Reagan 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m Walter Mondale 5 ft 10¾ in 1.80 m 2¼ in 0.02 m
1980 Ronald Reagan 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m Jimmy Carter 5 ft 9 in 1.75 m 4 in 0.10 m
1976 Jimmy Carter 5 ft 9 in 1.75 m Gerald Ford 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m 4 in 0.10 m
1972 Richard Nixon 5 ft 11½ in 1.82 m George McGovern 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m 1½ in 0.03 m
1968 Richard Nixon 5 ft 11½ in 1.82 m Hubert Humphrey 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m ½ in 0.02 m
1964 Lyndon Johnson[8] 6 ft 3½ in 1.92 m Barry Goldwater 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m 3½ in 0.09 m
1960 John F. Kennedy 6 ft 0½ in 1.83 m Richard Nixon 5 ft 11½ in 1.82 m 1 in 0.01 m
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower 5 ft 10½ in 1.79 m Adlai Stevenson 5 ft 10 in 1.78 m ½ in 0.01 m
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower 5 ft 10½ in 1.79 m Adlai Stevenson 5 ft 10 in 1.78 m ½ in 0.01 m
1948 Harry S. Truman 5 ft 9 in 1.75 m Thomas Dewey 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m 1 in 0.02 m
1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m Thomas Dewey 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m 6 in 0.15 m
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m Wendell Willkie 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m 1 in 0.03 m
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m Alfred Landon 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m 6 in 0.15 m
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m Herbert Hoover 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m 3 in 0.08 m
1928 Herbert Hoover[9] 5 ft 11½ in 1.82 m Al Smith 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m 1½ in 0.03 m
1924 Calvin Coolidge 5 ft 10 in 1.78 m John W. Davis 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m 2 in 0.05 m
1920 Warren G. Harding 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m James M. Cox 5 ft 6 in 1.68 m 6 in 0.15 m
1916 Woodrow Wilson[10] 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m Charles Evans Hughes 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m 0 in 0 m
1912 Woodrow Wilson[10] 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m Theodore Roosevelt[11] 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m 3 in 0.08 m
1908 William Howard Taft 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m William Jennings Bryan 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m 0 in 0 m
1904 Theodore Roosevelt[11] 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m Alton B. Parker 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m 4 in 0.10 m
1900 William McKinley 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m William Jennings Bryan 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m 5 in 0.13 m
1896 William McKinley 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m William Jennings Bryan 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m 5 in 0.13 m
1892 Grover Cleveland 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m Benjamin Harrison 5 ft 6 in 1.68 m 5 in 0.12 m
1888 Benjamin Harrison[12] 5 ft 6 in 1.68 m Grover Cleveland 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m 5 in 0.12 m
1884 Grover Cleveland 5 ft 11 in 1.80 m James G. Blaine      
1880 James A. Garfield 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m Winfield Hancock 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m 2 in 0.05 m
1876 Rutherford B. Hayes [13] 5 ft 8 in 1.72 m Samuel Tilden      
1872 Ulysses S. Grant[14] 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m Horace Greeley      
1868 Ulysses S. Grant[14] 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m Horatio Seymour      
1864 Abraham Lincoln[15] 6 ft 4 in 1.92 m George McClellan [16] 5 ft 6 in 1.68 m 10 in .25 m
1860 Abraham Lincoln[15] 6 ft 4 in 1.92 m John C. Breckenridge      
1856 James Buchanan 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m John C. Frémont      
1852 Franklin Pierce 5 ft 10 in 1.78 m Winfield Scott 6 ft 5 in 1.96 m 7 in 0.18 m
1848 Zachary Taylor[11] 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m Lewis Cass      
1844 James K. Polk [17] 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m Henry Clay[18] 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m 5 in 0.13 m
1840 William Henry Harrison 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m Martin Van Buren [19] 5 ft 6 in 1.68 m 2 in 0.05 m
1836 Martin Van Buren [19] 5 ft 6 in 1.68 m William Henry Harrison 5 ft 8 in 1.73 m 2 in 0.05 m
1832 Andrew Jackson[20] 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m Henry Clay[18] 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m 0 in 0 m
1828 Andrew Jackson[20] 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m John Quincy Adams[21] 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m 6 in 0.15 m
1824 John Quincy Adams [21] 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m Andrew Jackson[20] 6 ft 1 in 1.85 m 6 in 0.15 m
1820 James Monroe [22] 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m John Quincy Adams[21] 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m 5 in 0.13 m
1816 James Monroe[22] 6 ft 0 in 1.83 m Rufus King 5 ft 10 in 1.78 m 2 in 0.05 m
1812 James Madison[13] 5 ft 4 in 1.63 m De Witt Clinton[23] 6 ft 3 in 1.91 m 11 in 0.28 m
1808 James Madison[13] 5 ft 4 in 1.63 m Charles C. Pinckney        
1804 Thomas Jefferson[24] 6 ft 2½ in 1.89 m Charles C. Pinckney        
1800 Thomas Jefferson[24] 6 ft 2½ in 1.89 m Aaron Burr [25] 5 ft 6 in 1.68 m 8½ in 0.21 m
1796 John Adams [26] 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m Thomas Jefferson[24] 6 ft 2½ in 1.89 m 7½ in 0.19 m
1792 George Washington[27] 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m John Adams[26] 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m 7 in 0.18 m
1789 George Washington [27] 6 ft 2 in 1.88 m John Adams[26] 5 ft 7 in 1.70 m 7 in 0.18 m


[edit] Extremes

The tallest President elected to office was Abraham Lincoln (6'4", 1.92 m); the tallest President to originally enter the office by means other than election was President was Chester A. Arthur (6'2", 1.88 m). The shortest President elected to office was James Madison (5'4", 1.62 m); the shortest President to originally enter the office by means other than election was Teddy Roosevelt (5'8", 1.74 m).

The tallest runner-up (of documented height) is Winfield Scott, who stood 6'5" (1.96 m) and lost the 1852 election to Franklin Pierce (5'10", 1.78 m). The title of shortest runner-up (of documented height) is shared by four men, all 5'6" (1.68 m): Aaron Burr, who lost to Thomas Jefferson in 1800; sitting President Martin Van Buren, who lost to William Henry Harrison, in 1840; sitting President Benjamin Harrison, who lost to Grover Cleveland in 1892; and James M. Cox, who lost to Warren G. Harding in 1920.

The largest height difference (when the heights of the winner and the runner-up are both known) was between the candidates of the 1812 election, when DeWitt Clinton stood 11 inches (0.28 m) taller than incumbent James Madison. The second-largest height difference was in the 1864 election, when Abraham Lincoln stood 10 inches (0.25 m) taller than his nearest rival, George McClellan.

[edit] Notes

It is worth mentioning that while Franklin D. Roosevelt was over six feet tall, he was also wheelchair-bound, so although he technically was taller than his most serious rivals he would not have appeared taller had the two men been placed side-by-side if he were in a wheelchair. Roosevelt often appeared in photo sessions and speaking engagements standing with the help of concealed leg braces. So in those instances he would stand to his full 6'2" height.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Postrel, Virginia, "Going to Great Lengths," New York Times, August 31, 2003.
  2. ^ Los Angeles Times, Mar 25, 1988, pg. 7
  3. ^ Lowndes, Leil, How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1997, pp.174-175. ISBN 0809229897Google Print
  4. ^ Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns, edited by D.A. Carson, Zondervan, 2002, p. 83. ISBN 0310243343 Google Print
  5. ^ Kleinke, Chris L., First Impressions: The Psychology of Encountering Others, Prentice-Hall, 1975, p. 13. ISBN 0133184285 Google Print
  6. ^ Clifford, Brian R. and Ray Bull, The Psychology of Person Identification, Routledge & K. Paul, 1978, p. 115. ISBN 0710088671. Google Print
  7. ^ Etcoff, Nancy, Survival of the Prettiest, New York, Anchor Books, 1999. ISBN 0-385-47942-5
  8. ^ Dallek, Robert, Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President (abridged edition), Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0195159209 Google Print
  9. ^ Nash, George H., The Life of Herbert Hoover, W.W. Norton & Company, 1988. ISBN 0-393-02550-0. Google Print
  10. ^ a b Levin, Phyllis Lee, Edith & Woodrow: the Wilson White House, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0743211588 Google Print
  11. ^ a b c Whitcomb, John and Claire Whitcomb, Real Life at the White House, Routledge (UK), 2002. ISBN 0-415-93951-8. Google Print
  12. ^ Loderhouse, Gary and Nelson Price, William Addison Hunter, Legendary Hoosiers: Famous Folks from the State of Indiana, Emmis Books, 1999. ISBN 1578600979 Google Print
  13. ^ a b c Phillips, Louis, Ask Me Anything About the Presidents, HarperCollins, 1992. ISBN 0-380-76426-1
  14. ^ a b King, Charles, The True Ulysses Grant, Philadelphia & London, J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1914. Google Print
  15. ^ a b Braden, Waldo W., Abraham Lincoln, LSU Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8071-1852-4
  16. ^ Miller, William J., "Review of McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union by Ethan Rafuse," America's Civil War, http://www.historynet.com/acw/reviews/acwreview0306-1/
  17. ^ Behrman, Carol H. James K. Polk, Twenty-First Century Books, 2004. ISBN 0-8225-1396-X
  18. ^ a b Seymour, Charles C.B., Self-made Men, Harper & Brothers, 1858. (Available via Google Print)
  19. ^ a b Widmer, Ted and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Edward L. Widmer, Martin Van Buren, Times Books, 2005, p. 2. ISBN 0-8050-6922-4
  20. ^ a b c Remini, Robert V., Andrew Jackson, HarperCollins, 1969, p. 15. ISBN 0-06-080132-8
  21. ^ a b c Levy, Debbie, John Quincy Adams, Twenty-First Century Books, 2004, p. 28. ISBN 0-8225-0825-7
  22. ^ a b Whitcomb, John and Claire Whitcomb, Real Life at the White House, Routledge (UK), 2002. ISBN 0-415-93951-8
  23. ^ Cornog, Evan, The Birth of Empire: DeWitt Clinton and the American Experience, 1769-1828, ISBN 0-19-514051-6
  24. ^ a b c Macdonald, Zanne (ed.), Monticello Research Department, Monticello Report: Physical Descriptions of Thomas Jefferson, July 1992 http://www.monticello.org/reports/people/descriptions.html
  25. ^ Parton, James, The Life and Times of Aaron Burr, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1888. Google Print
  26. ^ a b c Ferling, John E., John Adams: A Life, Owl Books, 1996, ISBN 0-8050-4576-7, p. 169. Google Print
  27. ^ a b Haworth, Paul Leland, George Washington, Kessinger Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-4191-2162-6, p. 119. Google Print

[edit] External links

Lists of Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States
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