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At least seven of the 46^[1] men who have held the office of United States president have been left-handed.^[2]^[3] Only one U.S. president prior to the 20th century was known to be left-handed.^[4] Since World War II there have been fourteen U.S. presidents^[2] and six of them have been left-handed.^[5]^[6]

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".^[6] 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".^[7] 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".^[8] 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."^[9]^[10]

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.^[3]

Left-handed presidents of the United States

James A. Garfield (March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881) was ambidextrous;^[11] he was the only known left-handed president prior to the 20th century.^[4]
Harry S. Truman (April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953) was left-handed as a child,^[4] he wrote with his right hand and used his left for most other activities.^[12]^[13]
Gerald Ford (August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977) was left-handed.
Ronald Reagan (January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989) was naturally left-handed, but wrote with his right hand.^[12]^[9]
George H. W. Bush (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993) was left-handed. All three major candidates for president in 1992 were left-handed; Bill Clinton won.^[6]
Bill Clinton (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001) is left-handed.^[14]
Barack Obama (January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017) is left-handed.^[15]^[16]

Other presidents who demonstrated left-handed ability

Thomas Jefferson (March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809) was right-handed but after an injury to his right wrist, he wrote with his left hand.^[17] He was said to have been ambidextrous, and he could write equally well with either hand.^[18]
Woodrow Wilson (March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921) was right-handed but after a stroke Wilson was able to use his left hand to write "perfectly legible well-formed characters". His ability was called "remarkable neurologically".^[19]

References

^ Pramuk, Jacob (January 20, 2021). "Joe Biden is sworn in as president: 'Democracy has prevailed'". CNBC. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Chronological List of Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents of the United States". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 25, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ ^a ^b 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.
^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ Wang, Sam; Aamodt, Sandra (July 6, 2008). "A Vast Left-Handed Conspiracy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ 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.
^ Roth, Melissa (January 30, 2000). "The Nation: Digital Revolution; Forget Left-Wing. Say Hello to Left-Handed Politics". New York Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Ma, Alexandra; Lakritz, Talia (August 13, 2021). "From Barack Obama to Julius Caesar, here are 12 world leaders who were left-handed". Business Insider. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
^ Erhardt, Rhoda Priest (2012). Hand preference : theory, assessment, and implications for function. Maplewood, MN.: Erhardt Developmental Products. p. 11. ISBN 978-1930282667. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ Pruitt, Sarah (September 1, 2018). "The First Left-handed President Was Ambidextrous and Multilingual". A&E Television Networks, LLC. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ ^a ^b McManus, I. C. (2002). Right hand, left hand: the origins of asymmetry in brains, bodies, atoms, and cultures. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 323. ISBN 978-0674016132. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ McCullough, David G. (1992). Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 32, 68. ISBN 978-0671869205. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ Smits, Rik (2011). The puzzle of left-handedness. London: Reaktion Books. p. 284. ISBN 978-1861898739. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ Chung, Andrew (March 2, 2008). "Odds are next U.S. president will be left-handed". Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. Archived from the original on August 19, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
^ "Top 10 Lefties". Time. August 13, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
^ Nelson, Lyle Emerson (2004). American presidents : year by year. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference. p. 44. ISBN 978-0765680464. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
^ Eleroy Curtis, William (1901). Thomas Jefferson. Gilbert Stuwart. p. 349. ISBN 9780722286975. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
^ Weinstein, Edwin A. (1981). Woodrow Wilson, a medical and psychological biography. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0691614960. Retrieved March 22, 2022.