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.

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[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