The Girl Who Gave Lincoln His Beard

 

Abraham Lincoln was running for president in 1860 — and he looked like a scarecrow who’d borrowed a suit.

 

Long face. Sharp jaw. No beard.

 

Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell in Westfield, New York, took one look at his campaign photo and decided this wouldn’t do. So she wrote him a letter.

 

She told him that his face was too thin. He should grow whiskers. Women liked whiskers — and they could convince their husbands to vote for him.

 

Lincoln wrote back, admitting he’d never worn a beard and worried it might look foolish.

 

Then he grew one anyway.

 

By the time he traveled to Washington after winning the election, the beard was thick and unmistakable. It changed his face, making him look older and more commanding. More presidential.

 

When his train passed through Westfield, Lincoln asked the crowd if Grace Bedell was there.

 

She stepped forward. He bent down and said, “You see, I let these whiskers grow for you.”

 

The beard stayed. And an 11-year-old accidentally became Lincoln’s image consultant.

 

History sometimes turns on wars and whiskers.