Southpaw Presidents?
Monday, September 1, 2008 at 07:00AM I caught this story on the news the other night and found it interesting. Turns out that both Obama and McCain are left handed, so no matter who wins, they will be a southpaw President. And it is an interesting trend...Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton were all left handed. Only Carter and Bush Jr. were righties. Lefties make up just 10-15% of the population so you would only expect a left handed president every 8 or 9 elections.
Melissa Roth, who studies left handed people, made the point that lefties have learned to beat the obstacles of a right handed world. "They see the world differently, whether they are treated positively or negatively, they are aware that they are different and special."
Also mentioned in the story is how this may "have to do with the brain, since left handed people tend to see problems more broadly and creatively, explaining why many scientists and artists are left handed. Left hander brains may produce more of the social and communication skills that make successful leaders."
Of course this makes sense to me as most (all?) left handed people are right-brained (although not all right-brained people are left handed) and I can see how global thinkers would make good presidents. Jason is right handed, but was "late" to show dominance (his preschool teachers were not sure which way he was going to go). We also found out that when he took an archery class that he was left eye dominant. And every once in awhile it will feel easier for him to do something with his left hand (like fencing).
I just found this story interesting, especially in light of the multitude of labels given to right brained learners when they are young.
Reader Comments (4)
That's quite interesting. My two year old is left-handed as are many people in our extended family. My right-brained kid and husband are both right-handed and my left-brained MIL is left-handed. So far my two year old is appearing quite left-brained. He's just like my oldest was at this point and nothing like my second (my right-brained kid). I'm right-handed, but left-eye dominant. It's all quite fascinating. I'm very curious about the handedness of the presidents prior to Ford now.
That is interesting Heather! I do not know for sure if there is a direct correlation (although I do believe that the brain controls the opposite sides of the body or something like that). I will say that just about all the left handers that I have met have been right brained. It is definitely interesting. Here is an interesting article:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html
I wonder how accurately we would know the handedness of the previous presidents as earlier on many left handers were forced to "write correctly" with their right hands (my grandmother had this happen).
Sarah is a lefty, too.
It's strange how many left handed presidents (and potential presidents) there are. In the UK, there have only been two left handed prime ministers: Churchill (who was forced to swap) and James Callaghan.