# Beards during World War II **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643 "2011-08-14T02:38:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/1 "2011-08-14T02:38:44Z")
It seems to me that full beards were pretty much out of style in the World War II era. Even mustaches seem pretty damn rare (I know, except for THAT guy). Were there any notable people of the time - important political. cultural or military figures - who wore full beards? Link to a picture if you have one. Don’t be a wiseass and link to a bunch of pictures of rabbis. I’ll exclude rabbis or anyone else who had to wear a beard for religious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![automagic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@automagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/automagic)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/2 "2011-08-14T02:54:32Z")
Charlie Chaplin had some facial hair ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/3 "2011-08-14T02:56:20Z")
[We tackled this once before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=563638). The thread listed a number of people who wore beards during the era (Ernest Hemmingway, Burl Ives, Orson Wells), but according to [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard): > [@](#): > > From the 1920s to the early 1960s, beards were virtually nonexistent in mainstream America. The few men who wore the beard or portions of the beard during this period were frequently either old, Central Europeans; members of a religious sect that required it; in academia; or part of the counterculture, such as the “beatniks”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/4 "2011-08-14T03:01:57Z")
Igor Kurchatov, the head of the Soviet atomic bomb program had one heckuva [beard](http://russiapedia.rt.com/files/prominent-russians/science-and-technology/igor-kurchatov/igor-kurchatov_6-t.jpg). However, I’ve also seen pictures of him where he’s clean shaven so I don’t know if he had the beard during the war or grew it later. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/5 "2011-08-14T03:12:21Z")
Several u-boat commanders had beards. This [website](http://www.uboat.net/men/commanders/) lists the commanders with pictures. If you go through, you’ll see about a quarter of them were bearded. (Interestingly, virtually all the rest were clean-shaven. I only came across one who had a moustache without a beard.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/6 "2011-08-14T03:20:34Z")
Most u-boat crewmen grew them while on patrol-some, but not all, shaved them off when back in port. The US Navy allowed beards back then too. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/7 "2011-08-14T03:30:18Z")
American GIs were also known to grow beards when out in the field for weeks if not months on end, as memorialized by cartoonist Bill Mauldin: [http://warrelics.eu/forum/military\_photos/docs-paper-items-photos-propaganda/99766d1272139323-new-us-44-cent-stamp-wonderful-tribute-willie-joe44stamp.jpg](http://warrelics.eu/forum/military_photos/docs-paper-items-photos-propaganda/99766d1272139323-new-us-44-cent-stamp-wonderful-tribute-willie-joe44stamp.jpg) A famous photo of U.S. soldiers getting their first hot meal in weeks; shaving was not a priority: [http://home.scarlet.be/~tsc94696/images/gavin/gavin9.jpg](http://home.scarlet.be/~tsc94696/images/gavin/gavin9.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/8 "2011-08-14T05:38:50Z")
Meet [Orde Wingate](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Ordecharleswingate.jpg), who’s probably most famous in Israel for his Christian Zionism and training of the Haganah, but who was a British General in World War II, and created the Chindits, British and Gurhka troops in the Army of India who fought behind Japanese lines in Burma. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/9 "2011-08-14T05:49:55Z")
[General Orde Wingate.](http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/BE037832/orde-wingateleader-of-the-chindits) Of course, he was probably insane. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/10 "2011-08-14T05:51:20Z")
“Doc” of Cannery Row fame was noted for having a beard. > **[Ed Ricketts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Ricketts)** > > Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts (May 14, 1897 – May 11, 1948) was an American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher. Renowned as the inspiration for the character Doc in John Steinbeck's 1945 novel Cannery Row, Rickett's professional reputation is rooted in Between Pacific Tides (1939), a pioneering study of intertidal ecology. A friend and mentor of Steinbeck, they collaborated on and co-authored the book, Sea of Cortez (1941). > Eleven years later, and just 3 years after the death of Ed... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/11 "2011-08-14T07:12:53Z")
King [Haile Selassie](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhbwjnD7CN1qgfbgio1_400.jpg) of Ethiopia had a beard. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/12 "2011-08-14T08:17:35Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Even mustaches seem pretty damn rare (I know, except for THAT guy) Who? [This guy?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StalinPortrait.jpg) Or [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hideki_Tojo.jpg)? What about [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hirohito_wartime.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/13 "2011-08-14T08:37:48Z")
Moustaches were common in the 1940s, particularly on British and Commonwealth officers. The “RAF moustache” was a meme at the time. _Beards_ were rare, _moustaches_ were common. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/14 "2011-08-14T09:20:07Z")
The very first ordinary person I ever saw with a beard was a grad student at Columbia in 1962 and I was astonished. Actually, I saw him a week ago and he still had it. I had a mustache for a while in 1960 or so. Then I shaved it. Mustaches were not common but not unknown in the 50s. Then in the early 60s (a bit before the beatnik era, actually) a few academics allowed their beards to grow. In 1964, I met someone who shaved every weekend, head and face, with a razor set to about 1/4 inch. Over Christmas vacation, 1964-65 I stopped shaving and have never shaved since. But for the first year or so when I walked down the street of the small town in southern NJ where my wife was from, I got stared at incessantly. By the late 60s it was no longer so uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/15 "2011-08-14T09:45:27Z")
Here’s a story from last October in the “Wall Street Journal” about the lack of facial hair on politicians the last 100 years. > **[Read My Furry Lip](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704380504575530393190488942)** > > Former U.S. ambassador John Bolton is considering a run for president in 2012. Is America ready for a mustachioed commander in chief? I don’t have a cite but my understanding is beards because a fashion statement in the mid19th century because of the Crimean war. British soldiers were allowed to grow beards for warmth and when they returned home, it started a fashion trend. Speaking of fashion trends, I always associated the popularity of long hair and facial hair with the Beatles around the “Sgt Pepper” album. A few oddball beatnik freaks before that but the Beatles were pretty conventional before “Sgt Pepper”. A bit longer than normal and believe it or not, the “moptop” look got ridicule circa “I want to Hold Your Hand”. I have never read anything about why the Fab Four started to grow hair. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/16 "2011-08-14T10:23:20Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Speaking of fashion trends, I always associated the popularity of long hair and facial hair with the Beatles around the “Sgt Pepper” album. A few oddball beatnik freaks before that but the Beatles were pretty conventional before “Sgt Pepper”. A bit longer than normal and believe it or not, the “moptop” look got ridicule circa “I want to Hold Your Hand”. I have never read anything about why the Fab Four started to grow hair. Anybody know? The moptop look came directly from their friends in Hamburg, German “existentialist” students, particularly [Astrid Kirchherr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrid_Kirchherr). Before that, the Beatles had rocker quiffs, Elvis-style, which was also longer-than-average at the time. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/17 "2011-08-15T01:43:22Z")
the entire iranian army. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/18 "2011-08-15T09:42:40Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > the entire iranian army. [Not really](http://www.payvand.com/news/08/jul/Iran-Army-WWII-victory-parade2.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/19 "2011-08-15T09:45:17Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > the entire iranian army. Full beards - which are often associated with more orthodox Islam - became much more popular after the 1979 revolution. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643/20 "2011-08-15T10:00:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Full beards - which are often associated with more orthodox Islam - became much more popular after the 1979 revolution. No. Iranians always have been known for beards; independent of Islam; orthodox or not. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beards-during-world-war-ii/592643.md?page=2)