List of left-handed presidents of the United States

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Barack Obama signing with his left hand BarackObamaSigningLegislation.jpg
Barack Obama signing with his left hand

At least eight [1] of the 45 [2] men who have held the office of United States president have been left-handed. [3] [4] Only one U.S. president prior to the 20th century was known to be left-handed. [5] Since World War II there have been fourteen U.S. presidents [3] and six of them have been left-handed. [6] [7]

Contents

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". [7] 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". [8] 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". [9] 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." [10] [11]

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. [4]

Left-handed presidents of the United States

Other presidents who demonstrated left-handed ability

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

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  2. Pramuk, Jacob (January 20, 2021). "Joe Biden is sworn in as president: 'Democracy has prevailed'". CNBC. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
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  4. 1 2 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.
  5. 1 2 3 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.
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  7. 1 2 3 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.
  8. 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.
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Further reading