# Presidential candidate named Washington, Lincoln, etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 20, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502 "2015-03-20T16:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/1 "2015-03-20T16:26:00Z")
It seems to me that having a candidate surnamed Washington, Lincoln, or some other famous president could be a small advantage in presidential elections, at least as far as some swing voters or relatively ignorant/don’t-follow-politics voters are concerned. The appeal would be that “It would be cool to have another President Washington or President Lincoln”. Maybe win an extra 1-2% of swing voters? (Assuming, of course, that the candidate is born with that name as opposed to changing the surname for political purposes; that would be cheating.) ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/2 "2015-03-20T16:34:28Z")
Gotta be more creative. [http://rt.com/news/ukraine-name-change-president/](http://rt.com/news/ukraine-name-change-president/) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/3 "2015-03-20T17:56:56Z")
Eddie Murphy already did it in The Distinguished Gentleman. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/4 "2015-03-20T18:47:28Z")
But an Uruguayan person cannot run for president in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/5 "2015-03-21T03:45:36Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > Eddie Murphy already did it in The Distinguished Gentleman. Wasn’t his name Jeff Johnson? Johnson’s a pretty common name. The stunt there was that he put his name on the ballot in a district where the previous officeholder was also named Jeff Johnson, and had just died. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/6 "2015-04-26T01:46:58Z")
Heh. The sample ballots our local board of elections uses to teach kids about democracy and voting list Washington, Lincoln and other long-gone heroes of the republic. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/7 "2015-04-26T03:40:11Z")
Do Christian Names count ? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/8 "2015-04-26T04:24:56Z")
I don’t know how much of an advantage it would be unless the person was a direct descendant. It’s interesting that despite the fact that we complain about political dynasties thanks to Bush, Clinton, and Kennedy, that our oldest political dynasty still going last elected a President in 1960. The Roosevelts, by contrast, have pretty much disappeared from the political scene(although living members have real accomplishments of note, such as FDR III, an economist) and the Adams last sent their most famous representative to American Idol. Although before that, Thomas Adams tried to run for Congress as an opponent of the Vietnam war. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/9 "2015-04-26T14:58:15Z")
She never ran for president, but there used to be a U.S. senator from Arkansas named Blanche Lincoln. Her surname (which was her married name) wasn’t enough to win her a third term in 2010. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/10 "2015-04-26T15:43:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t know how much of an advantage it would be unless the person was a direct descendant… Washington still has descendants; don’t know of any in politics, though. The last Lincoln lineal descendant died in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/11 "2015-04-26T15:47:12Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Washington still has descendants; don’t know of any in politics, though. The last Lincoln lineal descendant died in the 1980s. Washington didn’t even have any children let alone descendants today. Martha was a widow with kids when he married her so he had step-children. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/12 "2015-04-26T16:48:57Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Washington didn’t even have any children let alone descendants today. Martha was a widow with kids when he married her so he had step-children. I read a rumor that he might have had a few kids on the other side of the sheets, so to speak, though I don’t know how credible that is. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/13 "2015-04-26T16:53:31Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I read a rumor that he might have had a few kids on the other side of the sheets, so to speak, though I don’t know how credible that is. Considering that smallpox made him sterile as a child, I highly doubt it. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/14 "2015-04-26T17:25:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The last Lincoln lineal descendant died in the 1980s. Well, maybe. That was Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith. His third wife had a baby, Timothy Lincoln Beckwith. He claimed that the kid wasn’t his, and he had had a vasectomy prior, told her to list the father as unknown, and offered to give her $7500, if she did. She said he was his son, so Robert filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery. She skipped the court proceeding that would have had the child take a blood test, so the court granted the divorce and declared that he wasn’t Beckwith’s son. But, who knows. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/15 "2015-04-26T18:28:33Z")
Theodore Roosevelt V is the great-great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. He is a board member of New York League of Conservation Voters so his choosing to run for office is not inconceivable. He is still under 40. To me the oddest thing in Presidential descendants is that John Tyler our 10th President that died in 1862 has [2 living grandsons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler#Family_and_personal_life). I don’t think either one is likely to run for office this late in life though. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/16 "2015-04-26T18:48:21Z")
How about William Jefferson Clinton? Did his middle name make him sound more presidential? I don’t think it would sway many people in a way that could be measured, but there could be a subtle effect that carries through the career of a politician eventually giving him some advantage in an election. One thing needed by a presidential candidate is a group of powerful people who believe in the candidate can become president. If a name adds to their confidence it will add to others’ directly or indirectly. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/17 "2015-04-27T02:16:14Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Washington didn’t even have any children let alone descendants today. Martha was a widow with kids when he married her so he had step-children. Yes, thanks, that’s what I meant. There are still people of the Washington family bloodline. > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Well, maybe. That was Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith. …But, who knows. A _New Yorker_ article a few years back made a pretty strong case for there being no more lineal Lincoln descendants. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/18 "2015-04-30T21:10:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > It seems to me that having a candidate surnamed Washington, Lincoln, or some other famous president could be a small advantage in presidential elections, at least as far as some swing voters or relatively ignorant/don’t-follow-politics voters are concerned. The appeal would be that “It would be cool to have another President Washington or President Lincoln”. Maybe win an extra 1-2% of swing voters? > > (Assuming, of course, that the candidate is born with that name as opposed to changing the surname for political purposes; that would be cheating.) Anyone born with the name Washington or Lincoln is probably African-American, and probably one, unlike Obama, brought up in that culture and speaking with at least some trace of Ebonics. Which could be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/19 "2015-04-30T21:36:43Z")
Isn’t **George** is the most presidential name? There’s been three of them, and not a single Jeb! or Hillary! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502/20 "2015-04-30T21:55:27Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Isn’t **George** is the most presidential name? There’s been three of them, and not a single Jeb! or Hillary! Not even close. Four Johns (Adams x2, Tyler, Kennedy) Four William (WH Harrison, Taft, McKinley, Clinton) Six James (Madison, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, Garfield, Carter) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-candidate-named-washington-lincoln-etc/715502.md?page=2)