J.D. Vance, the beard-faced Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, made history on Monday. Donald Trump's running mate will be the first major party vice presidential candidate with extensive facial hair since Charles W. Fairbanks in 1916.
Fairbanks had a full beard earlier in life, which he appears to have trimmed down to a formidable goatee as Charles Evans Hughes's running mate against the virulent liberal nerd Woodrow Wilson and his mustachioed VP pick, Thomas R. Marshall.
Most historians agree that the last vice presidential candidate with a facial beard was Henry G. Davis, who ran with losing candidate Alton B. Parker in the 1904 election against Teddy Roosevelt and, you guessed it, Charles B. Fairbanks. (He is also the last significantly bearded man to serve as vice president.)
Alas, Davis lacked the mustache portion of his beard throughout much of his political career, as did failed Democratic VP candidate Allen G. Thurman during the election of 1888. The last VP candidate with a full-on beard and mustache matching Vance's own facial hair was, some historians argue, William Hayden English, who lost the 1880 election on the Democratic ticket against the epically bearded Republican, James A. Garfield.
This is the most historic achievement involving a VP candidate since Kamala Harris became the second person of color to serve as vice president of the United States. Herbert Hoover's vice president, GOP trailblazer Charles Curtis, was Native American.
Trump, meanwhile, is trying to become the first U.S. president of Scottish-German heritage to serve a second non-consecutive term in the White House after surviving an assassination attempt.
Congratulations to all!
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