Which Presidents Wore Hats>?

[EVEN-STEVEN]

JFK and LBJ Wearing Fedoras

Greetings Loungers!

I stumbled across this photo by Neil Leifer on the web. (Leifer grabbed that famous photo of Muhammed Ali standing over and taunting Sonny Liston after knocking him to the canvas.)

There has been a lot of talk here about how JFK killed the fedora and how LBJ always wore an Open Road. This photo was taken on opening day in 1961. I'm not sure of the ballpark - were the Senators still in Washington in 1961? I thought everyone might like to see this. What a great shot!

 

[Stoney]

Great photo,
I never thought it was JFK that caused the downturn in fedora wearing, rather Detroit started making cars with low roof lines, not hat friendly for most guys. Another thing is the prevalence of the automobile and less men walking meant fewer reasons to wear a hat. Who knows for sure maybe it was just a generational thing where the youth did not want to wear a hat like dad did.

 

[dhermann1]

Hmmmm . . . . Looks to me like Mike Mansfield behind LBJ and Everett Dirksen (heavy rimmed glasses) next to him. both without hats. And the guys at the left front looks familiar, too. Charley Halleck? Come on, you geezers, let's do some identifying.

 

[scotrace]

You will find no talk of JFK killing hats here, but plenty of threads trying hard to kill the notion that he did.

 

[mineral]

You will find no talk of JFK killing hats here, but plenty of threads trying hard to kill the notion that he did.

I do find it interesting though that although JFK probably didn't kill hats, the hat industry definitely thought he helped and would have dearly loved for him to wear hats more:

"The Personal Papers of Al Webb, who was a PT boat serviceman and a friend of John F. Kennedy, as well as the Vice President of Sales for Hat Corporation of America (Cavanagh Hats) has also been opened for research .... Such was their friendship that at a 1961 PT reunion in Washington, DC, Webb approached the President and chastised him for ruining the hat industry. Kennedy disliked wearing hats, but told Webb to wait a week until after Kennedy met with Eisenhower. In a photograph documenting the event, President Kennedy is seen shaking hands with Eisenhower holding a hat with the label of Webb’s company clearly visible. It was because of his friendship with Al Webb that President Kennedy carried a hat as often as he did."
(from a blurb at the Kennedy Presidential Library website)

(The full story can be found here:
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1998/4/1998_4_5.shtml )

 

[Jovan]

A lot of people in the crowd wearing hats, too. They certainly were not killed off as quickly as some people would like to think. Even 1979's Superman and 1987's Dragnet had characters that looked perfectly at home in hats.

 

[scotrace]

Great snippet about Al Webb. As has been mentioned many times here, be sure to read Hatless Jack.

Hat wearing began to decline before 1920.

 

[shoelessjoe]

And The Fedora-Wearing Chicagoan (The Hatchet Man) Behind Both Presidencies

 

[PADDY]

MYTH: JFK killed off hat wearing.

It was on the decline in the early 20th Century. Particulary after the Great War.

JFK was merely a reflection of a younger generation that 'weren't into' wearing hats. The hat manufacturers had seen the writing on the wall for some time.

But because JFK hit the right note with the youth of his time, they badgered him incessantly to wear a hat to help the industry (but then, then so did a lot of industrys try to get him to endorse their goods as President of the US).

Folk seem to like to rewrite history and the fact that HE DID wear a topper for his inauguration is always overlooked.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Which Presidents Wore Hats>?

 

[Feraud]

All of them.

 

[scotrace]

All the ones with thumbs.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Well I just meant cause I know some later ones like after maybe Johnson didn't wear any so I figured I'd ask which did.

 

[AlanC]

 

[indycop]

I think it would be cool to see the hat each president wore or would have worn. It would be a neat evolution of hat styles from the real (original) George W., to the modern day.
Just watching the John Adams miniseries I noticed they started out in a certain hat and totally changed styles by the time he became president.

 

[warbird]

Well I just meant cause I know some later ones like after maybe Johnson didn't wear any so I figured I'd ask which did.

Johnson, with his classic Open Road Stetson was one of the most famous of all hat wearing presidents. There are hundreds, probably thousands of photos of Johnson in hats. Perhaps you meant Johnson was the last of the regular hat wearers, I'm not sure, but certainly Johnson was.

Reagan was as well, though his was mostly on his ranch where he was rarely seen w/o a western hat. But, he never was famous for wearing dress hats and fedoras. Certainly I agree that a chronology of presidents and their hats would be a neat thing to see all together.

 

[MAB1]

Here's my favorite...


EDIT - NO POLITICAL COMMENTARY - bartender

 

[mineral]

All of them.

Perhaps so, but the next one is going to be a bit of a problem.

Obama clearly doesn't wear hats, and the cowboy hat he wore in the news pictures was a cheap $20 hat gifted to him by a young supporter.

McCain these days seem to only wear baseball caps, if at all. I haven't seen a picture of him when he's young where he wore a "real" hat.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Perhaps so, but the next one is going to be a bit of a problem.

Obama clearly doesn't wear hats, and the cowboy hat he wore in the news pictures was a cheap $20 hat gifted to him by a young supporter.

McCain these days seem to only wear baseball caps, if at all. I haven't seen a picture of him when he's young where he wore a "real" hat.

When I run for President in 2029, I'll be sure to wear my fedora! ;
Bring back the Presidential Hat!

 

[MAB1]

ANOTHER edit: The rule is NO POLITICS. If you cannot abide by that rule, your dues wll be cheerfully refunded. This is the last time we'll have this little chat.