# Who is this a picture of?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 31, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793 "2013-05-31T16:22:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/1 "2013-05-31T16:22:28Z")
[My friend posted this picture online. He found it in his basement or attic and we are having a discussion about who it is.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14728857@N05/8903353106/) Guesses have been:
Herbert Hoover
Calvin Coolidge
Claude Wickard
Winston Churchill
J. Edgar Hoover
Perhaps Wickard, but the others seem wrong. Anyone know?
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### Author:  [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/2 "2013-05-31T16:44:40Z")
I agree about the others. Looks like a dead ringer for Wickard to me (except for the eyebrows, but I can’t tell if that’s due to the expression or because they’re different), but I can’t find the same photo in google image search (I even cropped it and tried a reverse search).
Definitely not any of the others on the list. Churchill’s the closest of the others, but the eyes are all wrong and he also has a shorter chin.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/3 "2013-05-31T16:46:22Z")
> [@Jman](#):
>
> I agree about the others. Looks like a dead ringer for Wickard to me, but I can’t find the same photo in google image search (I even cropped it and tried a reverse search).
I can’t find the image, either. This is really frustrating.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/4 "2013-05-31T16:49:04Z")
Nobody I recognise, but can your friend give us a close up of the shield on his lapel? Might be a clue there.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/5 "2013-05-31T16:54:35Z")
Yes, the eyebrows don’t look just right for Wickard but the mouth is dead on. Knowing what the lapel pin is may aid greatly in helping to narrow things down.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/6 "2013-05-31T17:08:11Z")
[My friend thinks the pin looks like this without the words.](http://m.gifts.com/search/product/team-usa-2012-road-to-london-shield-17x26-banner?prodID=531767)
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/7 "2013-05-31T17:09:23Z")
I say none of the above. Probably one of your friend’s relatives.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/8 "2013-05-31T17:17:02Z")
Probably some local politician. Although, would the Interstate Highway shield lapel pin indicate a congressional rather than a local cadidate?
Is it an actual photogrpah or a screen-printed cardboard piece, or canvas stretched on a wood frame?
Printing a large photo in the good old days was bleepin’ expensive. it was only done either for special cases, or more likely in bulk with something like silk screening - say for a political campaign.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/9 "2013-05-31T18:36:37Z")
I have a friend insisting it is Churchill, but it isn’t. I don’t even think it looks like him.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/11 "2013-05-31T20:22:11Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> Yes, the eyebrows don’t look just right for Wickard but the mouth is dead on.
So’s the nose.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/12 "2013-05-31T20:29:22Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> [My friend thinks the pin looks like this without the words.](http://m.gifts.com/search/product/team-usa-2012-road-to-london-shield-17x26-banner?prodID=531767)
Ask him/her if there are any words written on the pin at all.
If (for example) it says “FBI”, that would lend credence to it being J. Edgar Hoover.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/13 "2013-05-31T20:45:33Z")
The ear ridges are wrong for Wickard. Ear shapes are almost as distinctive as fingerprints.
Churchill would not have a portrait with an American flag/shield emblem on. Besides, doesn’t look at all like him.
I still want to know - is this photographic paper, or a silk-screen mass produced item?
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/14 "2013-05-31T20:57:00Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> The ear ridges are wrong for Wickard.
Oh, yeah. The eyebrows are completely wrong, too. Wickard had Vulcan eyebrows.
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### Author:  [@TexCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexCat)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/15 "2013-05-31T21:51:31Z")
Where is the basement? Maybe the locale will give a hint? What else was in the basement? And I agree that I’d like a closeup of the lapel pin. Also I can’t see how wide the lapels on his jacket are, but that’s key to narrowing down a time frame.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/16 "2013-05-31T22:18:55Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> [My friend thinks the pin looks like this without the words.](http://m.gifts.com/search/product/team-usa-2012-road-to-london-shield-17x26-banner?prodID=531767)
Any stars, or just a plain blue field? How many stripes?
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/17 "2013-05-31T22:24:40Z")
That particular design of pin has been used as a giveaway at political rallies of both parties since the early 1900’s, up through the 1940’s. It doesn’t narrow the field much.
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/18 "2013-05-31T23:10:20Z")
Where is your friend located geographically? If it’s a local politician, that will help a ton. Does he have an idea how old it is? There’s nothing written on the back?
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/19 "2013-06-01T00:21:06Z")
I have no idea who it is, but he could sell advertising with a forehead like that!
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/20 "2013-06-01T00:22:38Z")
Very similar to presidential candidate H Humphries, and the same style of suit.
[ ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:H_Humphrey.jpg)
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-a-picture-of/659793/21 "2013-06-01T02:11:54Z")
> [@Isilder](#):
>
> Very similar to presidential candidate H Humphries, and the same style of suit.
> [File:Hubert Humphrey vice presidential portrait.jpg - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:H_Humphrey.jpg)
Except for the eyes, brows, ears, chin and mouth…
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