'Did you know,' he adds, noticeably disappointed, 'that since 1900 the taller of the two candidates always wins?'' A 1988 article in the Los Angeles Times fashion section about a haberdasher devoted to clothing shorter men included a variation of the tale: 'Stern says he just learned that Dukakis is 5 feet, 8 inches.One of their points is 'You just don't go running a little short man like that against a tall man.' In Ray Bradbury's 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, when Mildred and her friends talk about the success of one presidential candidate over the other in a recent election, they talk only about the attractiveness of the winning candidate over the loser.The claims about taller candidates winning almost all modern presidential elections is still pervasive, however. Thus, upon including all elections until 2020 where the heights of each candidate are known, the average height of the winner above the loser drops to a mere 0.39 inches (1.0 cm) this average height difference becomes little more than a round-off error-a mere 0.21 inches (0.5 cm)-when excluding the 2016 election, in which gender not only accounted for the height difference, but was likely the greater physical distinction between the two main candidates than height.

Considering that political cartoons and text-based descriptions of candidates have been a staple of American politics since the beginning, one could argue that Americans have always been able to compare candidates by height. Cutting off the date at 1900 excludes the seven presidential elections immediately preceding where the taller candidate won only once (which, when included, partially equalizes the ratio to 22 taller vs. Stereographs were widely used as a form of photojournalism for historical events (including political events) by the 1870s. However, it may be argued that drawing the line at any date ignores the fact that pictorial depictions of presidential hopefuls have been available to the American public at large well before debates were televised. On average the winner was 1.20 inches (3.0 cm) taller than the loser. In the thirty-one presidential elections between 19, twenty-one of the winning candidates have been taller than their opponents, while nine have been shorter, and one was the same height.

There are more data if the relationship of electoral success to height difference starts from the year 1900, rather than from the beginning of televised debates. presidential politics holds that the taller of the two major-party candidates always wins or almost always wins since the advent of the televised presidential debate. loser heights in presidential elections from 1789–2004įolk wisdom about U.S. Johnson as the tallest president James Madison, the shortest president, was 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) RankĮlectoral success as a function of height Graph of winner vs. presidents by height order Abraham Lincoln at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) surmounts Lyndon B. Joe Biden, the current president, is 6 feet 0 inches (183 centimeters) according to a physical examination summary from February 2023.

president was Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches (193 centimeters), while the shortest was James Madison at 5 feet 4 inches (163 centimeters). Some observers have noted that the taller of the two major-party candidates tends to prevail, and argue this is due to the public's preference for taller candidates. Presidents have grown taller over time as shown using linear trend estimationĪ record of the heights of the presidents of the United States and presidential candidates is useful for evaluating what role, if any, height plays in presidential elections in the United States.

Us vice presidents in order