Teacup Cafe XXIII

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Get this: 37 (WH Harrison unknown) out of 42 men who have been President of the United States have had blue eyes. The men with brown eyes? John Quincy Adams, Andrew Johnson, Chester A Arthur Lyndon B Johnson, and Nixon. *twilight zone music*

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

You don't think it's creepy that just about EVERY president has had blue eyes? It's pretty darn weird if you ask me!!

And the brown-eyed ones had trouble getting reelected, trying of failing.

Okay, I know you're probably kidding, but I have to take this one.

Fact one: Until the ratification of the 14th amendment, in 1868, only white men could, legally, be elected president. So, all the 18 presidents elected before then would have been white. Of those, 2 (and one possible) were brown eyed. That's 11%, plus or minus. After 1868, non-whites could theoretically have been elected, but we know how that went. So the population we're looking at, as a possible presidential pool, is largely white.

Fact two: A 2002 study found the prevalence of blue eye color among Whites in the United States to be 33.8% for those born between 1936 and 1951 compared to 57.4% for those born between 1899 and 1905. This relates to population trends. If you assume the 1899 average applied you would expect 11 of those first 18 to be brown eyed.

Fact three: The likelihood is, however, given the recessive nature of blue eye color, that earlier populations had a higher percentage of blue. The rate of blue eyes in the populations responsible for colonizing the US (before the turn of the 20th century, and excluding blacks and Native Americans) is very much higher than in the world population. Northern Europe is largely blue-eyed, historically.

Fact four: Even of recent presidents, only two were born after the 1936 date. President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush were both born in 1946. Therefore, it wasn't until their elections that we entered the one in three era.

A little math, in the wee hours.