Historic Presidential Boys' Clothing

Figure 1.--FDR after emerging from dresses and kilts mostly wore kneepants sailor suits until he was about 12 years old. From about 6 years of age to 12 he seems to have only wore sailor suits.

The clothing worn by presidents as children and the clothing worn by their children are a good reflection of contemporary children's clothing. America of course has no royal family to help set fashion standards as was the case in Europe. The American president and his family have in part played this role. Thus a review of the American presidents provide glimpses on popular children's fashions of the day. In addition, the clothing of the presidents themselves provide additional glimpses. Very limited information is available on the childhood of many presidents, especially the childhood of presidents like Abraham Lincoln that grew up in modest circumstances.

Introduction

This website assesses the boyhood of each president to determine popular contemporary boys' fashions. We will also assess the clothes worn by the children in each president's family. Some basic historical information will be presented to place each president in historical perspective. American presidents have been the subject of intense historical scrutiny. The scholarship involved will be consulted here, but not replicated. We want to focus on the boyhood of the presidents which often is not assessed in such detail. We will look at their clothing as part of our assessment of children clothing as well a their childhood in general. We will also provide some basic historical informatioin to put their presidencies in perspective.

Individual Presidents

Available information on boys clothing worn by the presidents and their children is available for the following centuries:

• The 18th Centuries: Only two presidents served during the 18th Century, George Washington and John Adams. Interestingly John Adams' son John Quincy was to gain election as president, the only presidents' son to gain the office. This was an interesting period in the development of boy's clothing as the fashion of specialized children's clothing was becoming established during this period.
  
  
• The 19th Century: The 19th Century began with Thomas Jefferson and ended with William McKinley. Boys in the early 19th Century were the first to wear long pants, often the popular skeleton suits. Their fathers still mostly wore knee breeches until the 1820s. Tunics were also commonly worn. Fashions evolved from comfortable, open collar tunics and long pants in the 1800s to large, closed lace collars, velvet suits, and keepants by the 1890s.
  
  
• The 20th Century: The 20th Century began with hard charging Theodore Roosvelt and ended with William Clinton, who just managed to hold on to his office, despite being impeached by the Republican-dominated House of Representaives for personal misconduct. Boys fashions evolved from Buster Brown and sailor suits worn with knickers or short pants in the 1900s to the jeans and logo-emblazoned "T" suits worn in the 1990s.
  
  
• The 21st Century: No presidents yet elected, of course, for the 21st century. It is, however, increasingly looking like Texas Governor George Bush will be the likely first president of the 21st Century. He would be only the second son of a former president to obtain the office.
  

Traditions

One of the most cherished presidential traditions is the annual Easter Egg Roll, introduced by the Hayes in 1878. This has become one of the most cherished traditions at the White House.

Presidential Assessments

Most presidential historians agree that the three greatest presidents were George washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt. In part the times in which they served preordained greatness if America was to survive. President Roosevelt is still the subject of considerable political conbtroversy, but it seems difficvult to deny his place as a major figure in the presidential pantheon. After these first three there is considerable debate. Some of the more important are surely Jefferson, Jaskson, Polk, T. Roosevelt, Wilson, and Truman. There is also connsiderable debate as to the worst presidents were. Here some of the presidents leading up to the Civil War may fall in that category, not because of lack of character, but because of failed policies which failed to measure up with the enormity of the crisis. Many historians suggest Harding who thankfully served in less demanding times. We would suggest that Hoover should be considered here. Hoover unlike Harding was a very competent statesman, having performed brilliantly during and after World War I to prevent starvation in Europe. His ideological biases appear to have prevented him from forcefully addressing the Depression.

First Lady Assessments

Most historians would rank Ekenor Roosevelt as the greatest First Lady although she was a very controversial because she was so outspoken. Many of the controversies such as her embrace of civil rights and Black Americans would hardly be controversial today. Surely Dollie Madison and her insistence on resuing the portrait of Presiudent Washington as the British moved toward Washingtom has to place her high on the list. Many historiand would rank Mary Todd Lincoln as the worst First Lady. Here we would not agree. Mary Lincoln played a key role in assiting a very unpolished Abraham Lincoln enter the world of politics. It is true that as First Lady she was not particularly helpful. It is also true that she suffered the tragic loss of two young children, one of them in the White House. The First Lady that we see as particularly unhelpful to the president was Bess Truman. President Truman was a faithful and deovted husband, but she offerec little support to her husband as he faced great challenges as president and vituperative partisan attacks.

Contributions

We incourage our readers to contribute information that they may have about presidential boyhoods. We also need to ask for your support in maintaining this site due to the costs of maintaining an internet site. Here we have attempted to keep the requested contributions as low as possible to make access to the site open to as many readers as possible. All of the pages are open access pages, but to see most of the images we ask tha you make a small contribution to receive a password.