There has been only one fully bald U.S. president.

President Dwight Eisenhower with Willy Brandt, mayor of West Berlin in Washington, D.C., c. 1959
Credit: © Zuma Press Inc./Alamy
Author Michael Nordine
September 14, 2026

Love it?

As Richard Nixon learned the hard way in his televised debate with JFK, appearance matters when running for office. That may help explain why, of the 45 men who’ve served as president of the United States, only one was fully bald. That would be Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom the American public liked quite a bit despite his being follically challenged. Other commanders in chief haven’t had much going on hair-wise, including James Garfield and Gerald Ford, but only Ike sported a chrome dome.

It isn’t just hair that gets noticed when seeking the highest office in the land; height can affect popularity as well — studies have shown that it’s an key factor in presidential elections. Though the average American male stands 5 feet, 9 inches tall, the average height among presidents is 5 feet, 11 inches; considering that we’ve gotten taller over time, the disparity is even larger — early presidents such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, who were all over 6 feet tall, towered over their contemporaries. Nineteen presidents have been 6 feet or taller, with Abraham Lincoln standing tallest at 6 feet, 4 inches. 

Eisenhower, who was in the middle of the pack at 5 feet, 10 inches, never seemed to have fully gotten over losing his “sandy gray” hair, with The Washington Post noting that the frequent doodler “often drew himself younger and with hair.” Ah, the way we were.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

You don’t inherit your hair loss solely from your mother’s side.

You’ve probably heard this popular misconception before, which has sent many a young man looking for pictures of his maternal grandfather for a glimpse of his follicular future. “Hair loss is polygenetic, meaning multiple genes contribute to it,”  dermatologist Chey Ranasinghe, of the Cleveland Clinic, explained. “You can’t blame one side of the family.” Other factors that don’t contribute to baldness, despite what you may have heard, include wearing hats and washing your hair too often. Genetics, hormones (including one called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT), aging, stress, and underlying medical conditions are far more likely to contribute to hair loss.

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