Someone emailed me to ask why I wrote this web page.

I was inspired to do it during a visit to DC last October. I was having lunch at McCormick & Schmidt’s on K Street, where they have a full run of presidential portraits on display, and noticed that the bearded presidents were more chronologically concentrated.than I had expected. The next morning I was given breakfast at the American Bar Association’s headquarters in a room with a portrait of Charles Evan Hughes on display, and of course his beard was rather splendid; I wondered if he was the last serious bearded candidate. And indeed, on further research, it turned out he was.

The person who sent the message also asked about Martin Van Buren’s sideburns, but I’ve added my response on that point to the page itself.

I’ve met Wesley Clark a couple of times. He’s a very intelligent bloke who understands that there is a world outside the United States. He doesn’t have a beard either.