Wausau Pilot

Whether William H. Taft will be the greatest of the Presidents remains to be seen; but one thing is certain, he will be the biggest. The chair of the chief executive of the nation has sustained many men of many weights, but none of such tremendous bulk as Taft, says a writer in the St. Louis Globe Democrat. This fact suggests a physical comparison with the presidents who have gone before. The biggest men of the presidential line-big in height as well as in breadth-were Washington, Monroe, Buchanan, Garfield and Arthur. All of these men were six feet and upward and large of frame. The heavyweights of middle height were John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Fillmore, Johnson, Grant and Roosevelt. In the "dumpy" class, short and stout, might be placed Zach Taylor, Cleveland and McKinley. The list of tall and slender Presidents includes the mental, of Thomas Jefferson. He stood six feet one in his stocking feet, and was very slender. Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren, was the second of the little men to occupy the presidential chair. "Little Van" was the nickname his political enemies applied to him. He was below the middle height and slender, but erect. He was fond of the elegancies of life, and was always immaculately attired, a trait which magnified to the point of dandyism in his son, Prince John. William Henry Harrison was a large man and his frame was well knit and inured to physical hardships by many campaigns against the Indians. Tyler is described as a "tall, thin, flat, clean-shaven man, with a beak-like Roman nose and a prominent Adam's apple that was in constant play." Polk was hardly so tall as Tyler, but he also was slender, with an erect figure and a handsome, scholarly face. He was never a strong man physically. His successor, for a brief time, Zachary Taylor, was short and stout, "dumpy," as the popular expression puts it. Fillmore, who became President upon Taylor's death, was one of the big men of the presidential line. Although under six feet in height, he was broad, erect. He was what would now be called "fine-looking." Franklin Pierce, who came after him, was taller probably, than Fillmore, but he was rather slender. Pierce was the handsomest man who ever became President, it has been said, and his graces of manner were no less attractive. Buchanan was tall and large of frame. He habitually carried his head with a lean to one side, and he had another physical peculiarity that was even more unusual-one of his eyes was hazel while the other was light blue. Lincoln was one of the few Presidents whose physical characteristics are popularly known, but his own description of them is worth repeating here. "I am," he wrote to an inquirer in 1859, "In height six feet four inches nearly; lean in flesh; weigh, on average, 160 pounds; dark complexion, with coarse, black hair and gray eyes; no other marks or brands recollected." It may be added that he was the first President to wear a beard, as Grant was the first to wear a mustache. All the Presidents who preceded Lincoln were clean-shaven, as to lip and chin. Of those who followed him no more need be said than has been already said in the comparisons with Mr. Taft. They are so recent that few of us have any mistaken notions in regard to their personal appearance. Thirteen of the twenty-five chief executives of the nation have been above the average in height and most of these have been in the neighborhood of or above six feet. If one cannot be great perpendicularly the matter of girth must be sedulously cultivated. Though not above the middle height, the two Adamses, Johnson, Grant and Roosevelt, and even the still shorter ones, Taylor, Cleveland and McKinley, could be properly classed as big men by reason of their weight. The little man, the man who is both short and thin, has a mighty slim chance of getting into the White House.

Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, Pierce, Tyler, William Henry Harrison and Lincoln.

The featherweights of the line were Madison, Van Buren and Benjamin Harrison, all three being below the average height and slender. Harrison, however, broadened out after he became President, and Van Buren after he retired. Hayes was of middle height and thin.

Washington was tremendously boned and muscled, but there was not an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body. His weight was 200 pounds. He wore No. 13 boots, and his hands were so large he was obliged to have his gloves made to order, while his finger joints were so prominent that they were considered "genuine curiosities." He had a large, thick nose that always turned scarlet upon exposure to the wind. His hair, in middle life, was a chestnut-brown and his eyes a light blue, sometimes approaching gray.

John Adams' figure was "large and round." Jefferson was half an inch taller than Washington, but of long frame, thin and spare. His head was set rather forward on his shoulders, and, his neck being long, it habitually protruded when he was walking or talking.

Madison, the father of the constitution, was physically unlike any of his predecessors. Below the average height, he was small of frame. Throughout his long and eminently useful life he was a semi-invalid, and it is a singular fact that the two Presidents who lived to the greatest age were in early life convinced that death was constantly waiting just around the corner for them. John Adams was for many years morbidly anxious about his health, but during the last half of his ninety years of life he was exceptionally hale and hearty. Not so with Madison. From extreme youth to his death at 85 he was feeble and sickly.

James Monroe was rather more than six feet high, broad and square shouldered and raw-boned. He was a man of great physical strength, but awkward in his movements.

John Quincy Adams bore a strong personal resemblance to his father, John Adams, although perhaps a little taller and a little more bald.

His successor, Andrew Jackson, had the physical characteristics but not the corpulence of the Adamses.

WASHINGTON, ADAMS, JEFFERSON, MADISON.