Humor and Presidential Candidates
During 1924's presidential campaign, Charles Willis Thompson of New York Times Magazine analyzed the humor levels of that year's presidential candidates, determining that a funny candidate couldn't possibly win.
Can a humorist be elected president of the United States? The answer is no — not if he is suspected of being a humorist beforehand.
Thompson singled out that year's Democratic nominee John W. Davis, a former West Virginia congressman and Ambassador to the U.K.
Davis has used his wit frequently during the campaign thus far. The political sharps predict that if he does not lay off his propensity toward satire and pretend to be as nearly a solemn ass as possible, he will measurably decrease his chances of election, and there is not the slightest doubt that they are right.
The distinction is Davis used his wit publicly. This was very much frowned upon at the time, and wouldn't be considered "acceptable" for presidents or presidential candidates for a few more decades to come.
By contrast, Lincoln preceded Davis by 60 years and is usually cited as one of America's wittiest presidents... but I believe there are basically zero examples of Lincoln being funny in public. Think his two inaugural speeches, his Gettysburg Address, or his Lincoln-Douglas debates.
It's for the same reason why there are no known photographs of Lincoln smiling, because that was frowned upon at the time. Examples of his humor are basically all homespun yarns, anecdotes, or witticisms relayed in scenarios like meetings or among friends.
This would come to change for presidents in the television era, particularly starting in the 1960s. JFK made jokes during his televised news conferences, while Richard Nixon made a cameo appearance on the NBC comedy show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
In the radio era of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, though? Not so much. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there are zero examples of FDR making a joke in one of his dozens of "Fireside Chat" radio addresses.
These days, of course, humor is practically considered a presidential requirement. For example, every president of the past few decades (except Donald Trump) has given a comedic speech at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.
Here was Joe Biden's from this past April. My review? Honestly, only medium funny.
In February, Biden also appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers:
As for this year's presidential candidates? Just this past Wednesday, Trump appeared on the Fox News late-night comedy show Gutfeld! and drew the show's largest viewership ever. My review? Honestly, also only medium funny.
Still, both Biden and Trump are miles funnier than Kamala Harris. If elected in November, there's a strong case that she might be the single least funny president of the "television era."
My friend Chris White, director of marketing at the comedy club DC Improv, hosted the 40+ episode podcast series Headliner of State, in which he analyzed the humor of every single president, one by one.
His final conclusion: the two funniest presidents were Lincoln and Reagan... but most presidents throughout time haven't been funny at all, particularly before the television era. Indeed, he found that some of the most famous presidents, including Washington and Jefferson, were pretty much 0% funny.
As for Thompson's 1924 prediction that a humorist couldn't be elected president? At least in the case of Davis, his prediction proved correct. Calvin Coolidge crushed Davis in both the popular vote and Electoral College alike. Seems doubtful that humor had much to do with that result, though.
Humor and Presidential Candidates: With Illuminating Instances of Public Men Who Have Successfully Concealed the Fatal Gift
Published: Sunday, September 21, 1924