JD Vance’s beard could bring a new look to White House which has not seen a bearded US President or Vice-President for decades. (Image: AP Photo)
JD Vance, Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, could end the streak of clean-shaven American presidents and vice-presidents.
US Presidents and Vice-Presidents who have held office in the past few decades have not been seen sporting a beard and current US Vice President Kamala Harris is the first woman to have been elected to the role of US Vice-President.
Donald Trump’s Republican vice presidential pick Ohio senator JD Vance looks to end the streak and the monopoly of clean-shaven US Presidents and Vice-Presidents.
A report by the Wall Street Journal said that if Donald Trump wins then his running mate JD Vance could be the first vice-president in decades to have facial hair. The last office-holder to sport facial hair was former US President Harry S. Truman, who kept a goatee.
Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the US, who served from 1889 until 1893, was the last leader to have sported a full beard.
“JD has a beard. But Trump is a clean-shaven guy. He just doesn’t like facial hair. You just never know,” a confidant of Donald Trump told news outlet Bulwark.
Another Trump adviser said that Trump wants someone who is experienced as his vice-presidential pick or at least looks experienced. “Without the beard, Vance looks like he’s 12,” the person told the news outlet, referring to the Ohio senator who turns 40 on August 2 and would be the third-youngest vice president if Trump is elected.
Donald Trump, according to reports by US news media outlets, is known to dislike beards.
But he appeared to be impressed with JD Vance’s and even compared him to another former US president.
“He still looks good, he looks like a young Abraham Lincoln,” Donald Trump told Fox News Radio during an interview earlier.
Vance did not always have a beard while in the public eye. When his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” was adapted into a Netflix movie, Vance made television appearances in 2020 clean-shaven.
By the time he ran for Ohio’s US Senate seat in 2022, he began sporting a salt-and-pepper beard.
