Lopsided Lincoln: Lincoln may have had facial defect

Associated Press Writer ^ | Mon Aug 13, 11:03 PM ET | CARLA K. JOHNSON

[aruanan]

CHICAGO - Artists, sculptors and photographers knew Abraham Lincoln's face had a good side. Now it's confirmed by science. Laser scans of two life masks, made from plaster casts of Lincoln's face, reveal the 16th president's unusual degree of facial asymmetry, according to a new study.

The left side of Lincoln's face was much smaller than the right, an aberration called cranial facial microsomia. The defect joins a long list of ailments — including smallpox, heart illness and depression — that modern doctors have diagnosed in Lincoln.

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[aruanan]

I'll post an interesting photo in a bit to show the facial deformity of Clinton's lawyer Kendall.

[Jaysun]

I'll post an interesting photo in a bit to show the facial deformity of Clinton's lawyer Kendall.

I think he looks like Jimmah Carter.

[aruanan]

Here it is:

[Izzy Dunne]

So have they run the “gay test” on Lincoln yet?

[tajgirvan]

Just goes to show you that Presidential races are not “Beauty Pageant's , best hair, best smile, best looking wife. Lincoln would have never qualified yet, he was one of the best Presidents this Country has ever had.

[dbacks]

Of what possible interest could this story be? Who cares? Has there been a continuing affect?

[meandog]

Just goes to show you that Presidential races are not “Beauty Pageant's , best hair, best smile, best looking wife. Lincoln would have never qualified yet, he was one of the best Presidents this Country has ever had.

Mitt Romney, call your office!

[KarlInOhio]

he was one of the best Presidents this Country has ever had.

Free Republic's neo-confederate regiment lining up for a bayonet charge in 3...2...1...

[reagan_fanatic]

Lincoln wasn't the only one with a facial 'defect'...

[AnAmericanMother]

circa 1846

1860

I am not seeing it in the pre-war photos. There's some facial asymmetry, but it appears to be within normal limits.

The distortion in later photographs is probably stress or an incipient stroke (you know he was stressed out).

[aruanan]

Of what possible interest could this story be? Who cares? Has there been a continuing affect?

Continuing effect? It gave me a chance to run the 3 Faces of Kendall.

[jonascord]

Would Lincoln have been elected to town postmaster if there had been TV then? He had a high, reedy voice, tended to ramble off at seeming tangents when trying to make a point, and from all reports, (”the original gorilla”), seemed to lack any ability at physical grace. That he was a clever, shifty lawyer, wrote well, retained everything he ever read, and had a quiet ticking of burning ambition would not get him elected today.

[AD from SpringBay]

A horse kicked Lincoln in the head when Lincoln was a boy. This is what caused the ‘lazy’ eye look he has in some photographs. The Lincoln museum in Springfield IL has some wonderful information on this president. I encourage anyone to visit - especially reporters and researchers.

[Jaysun]

I was talking about Clinton’s lawyer Kendall. Kendall looks like Jimmah Carter.

Carter just goes to show you that Presidential races aren’t always Sanity, Competence, or Beauty Pageants.

[jonascord]

You make a good point, but also observe how his mole flips from right to left, depending on the photo. A common problem with Civil War era photographs, is whether or not it's reversed.

The best way I've found is to look at the lock on the rifle most of the subjects are holding. It's a tell-tale of orientation.

[Riodacat]

Just goes to show you that Presidential races are not “Beauty Pageant's , best hair, best smile, best looking wife. Lincoln would have never qualified yet, he was one of the best Presidents this Country has ever had.

Might not be a beauty contest, but you know he'd never be elected dog-catcher in this society with a puss like that..

[Minutemen]

....an aberration called Cranial Facial Microsomia

....And Congress has announced that there will be a new federal holiday set aside sometime in the month of August in honor of all those begotten by the affliction C.F.M.

[tajgirvan]

I knew where you were going :p Just wanted get in a dig into the Mittfans about how stately and Presidential he“looks’

[AnAmericanMother]

Of course some are Daguerre (or ferrotype) and some are glass plate - I should have mentioned that.

In fact, though, it reinforces my point -- no matter WHICH way the pictures are flipped, there just isn't any noticeable facial asymmetry of the sort that indicates actual microsomia.

[tajgirvan]

Neither would Mitt after the Seamus scandal :p

[KosmicKitty]

I don’t see Lincoln as being bad looking at all. Look at his eyes.

But I do go for rugged looking men.

[Jaysun]

I knew where you were going :p Just wanted get in a dig into the Mittfans about how stately and Presidential he“looks’

I'm not a fan of bullMitt. But looks matter today. You have to look like a President. This could be to our advantage when it comes to Hillary and Obama.

[ridesthemiles]

Todays “doctors” cannot correctly diagnose todays “patients”.

How do they think they can diagnose depression in Lincoln from this distance?

More medical community rubbish, IMO.

This is the same group—the CDC — which cannot find millions of dollars worth of their hard assests..... and who sponsored a “transgender beauty pageant.

What a wonderful and responsible usage of the taxpayer money.....

[Arthur McGowan]

Why is Lincoln “great”? Because he was incapable of averting a war that killed 500,000 Americans? Because he ended self-government in a whole region of the United States?

[tajgirvan]

Looks do matter to a point. Hey , I live in California and voted for a Republican Movie Star ( Arnold) and look what I got stuck with! His Kennedy Demonrat, Glamorous wife is running the state!

[Dixie Yooper]

Why is Lincoln “great”? Because he was incapable of averting a war that killed 500,000 Americans? Because he ended self-government in a whole region of the United States?

Any like Kennedy, he never lived long enough to show just how "great" he could have been :)

[JayAr36]

and, this is important, Why?

[tajgirvan]

Lincoln saved the Nation from disintegration and helped put a stop to slavery. The words, Mercy, dignity and honor for his oppenents come to mind.

[aruanan]

and, this is important, Why?

You sound like a reporter.

[jonascord]

Lincoln deliberately, and with great skill, painted Jeff Davis into Coffin Corner, where he could either fight or back down. Davis was too much the "Suthron Gentleman" to back off, with the Fire Eaters yapping at his heels.

It is interesting to think of what the War would have been like if the all but a few of the Regular Army Officer Corps had not been Democrat, and opposed to latching on to the Confederate Army until it surrendered or was wiped out.

I suspect Lincoln is great because, unlike 99% of our "leaders", then and now, he was not in politics for the money,

[14themunny]

Why did this story come out? I read it, and for the life of me I can’t think of a reason. It’s got to be a smear of some sort, I can usually figure the libs out, but this is puzzling. What an odd thing to say about our greatest President/National Treasure. I see his face, and I perk up and wish we had a cloned army of him(s).

[JayAr36]

Cussing at me will get you nowhere.

[PAR35]

In Dixon’s The Clansman (the basis for the movie Birth of a Nation), Lincoln was listed as ‘A Friend of the South’.

[Patriotic1]

I thought the 1846 picture was not definitively confirmed to be him.

[AnAmericanMother]

Ears don't lie. Then there's the chin, and the cheekbones. Noses change, but the bone is the same.

I wouldn't bet the farm, but I'd bet a steak dinner any time.

[HIDEK6]

he was one of the best Presidents this Country has ever had.

Time for the Brylcreem guy (Jeez, not this s*** again).

[fieldmarshaldj]

Everytime I see that controversial 1846 photo, I think he resembles the one-time James Bond, George Lazenby.