Watching America : Where Did All the Boys in the White House Go? — This is an interesting article. In fact all the recent Presidents (except Reagan/Bush I) have only girls. And we see the results. (No letters please!). The Chinese are preoccupied with this since they have limits on number of children they can bear.
At least in one aspect, U.S. President-elect Obama did not bring change to the White House. Like Presidents Bush, Clinton, Nixon, and Johnson—Obama will spend several years in a White House with no boys roughhousing inside. In the 80 years before Obama, only President Kennedy brought a boy to the White House.
The 19th Century White House Teemed with Boys
In some countries of the world, not having a son is still seen as almost a kind of deficiency, especially for leaders. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has two sons, as does Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi. French President Sarkozy has three sons. Even Letsie III, the king of Lesotho, a country in Southern Africa, has a son.
Evidently, in determining who is fit to be a national leader, American voters transcended this overly simplistic concept very early on, but in the past, it was not this way at all.
In the 19th century, White House rulers had lots of sons. President Lincoln had four sons. Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil War Union Army commander who later became America’s 18th president, had three sons and a daughter.
Are you nuts??? Do you have any idea what middle-aged, Republican white men do to young men in the white house?
Well, actually it’s the opposite and the young men DO the middle-aged, Republican white men.
Angle-Dong
Right on….follow the Clinton model and bring in girls so you can harass and molest them.
Speaking of nuts (Angel H. Wong’s comment), I believe the man determines the gender of the child. Soooo, does that mean we’ve had a series of girly-men in the White House?
studies show that men with daughters have more of a desire to make the world a better place.
in my heart of hearts i believe that this is primary reason for any person to put themselves through that sausage grinder, even those whose policies i vociferously despise.
We have been electing shallow thinkers since Kennedy. .. Why? Girls are easy, you have the pattern right there in front of you. .. Boys require you to have a better understanding of what you are doing. .. You might say you have to think outside of the box. .. A new criteria for chief has been discovered. Deep thinkers. People with vision able to transcend the ordinary surface appearances of things.
Males are more innovative and challenging – name five great female painters, sculptors, chefs, engineers, architects, poets, directors. Male children bring on a whole new set of demands, which a President as a parent would be well able to meet.
And Henry VIII had the same “problem.” Now that’s a guy who knew how to treat a lady…
Quaint gender stereotypes in the above comments aside, it is also interesting that so many of our presidents have been left-handed. Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barak Obama are all leftys as is McCain. I wonder if anyone has ever done a study on lefty-handed people having more daughters than sons.
Child-bearing has been devalued more each day since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and the concomitant rise in utilitarianism. So, what China has legistlated we have accomplished by worshipping GDP and per capita income.
#2 Bill,
Well, it’s going to be a Democrat term and that translates into blatant hornynes.
#3Rich,
Ayup! And they’re called Republican senators.
Dictators and kings often have problems with this for some reason.
Look for people who will admit they voted for Bush the second time.
A species on the edge of extinction.