Which U.S. presidents did not have senses of humor?
Zack Clary, B.A. History, The College of William & Mary (2022)
A2A.
Bob Dole wrote a book on the subject. I have attached an Amazon link to said book.
While Bob Dole is an influential Republican, the book is very bipartisan and very well-researched. I’m a solidly liberal Democrat, and I’ve probably read it a half dozen times now. I absolutely recommend it.
Great Presidential Wit (...I Wish I Was in the Book): A Collection of Humorous Anecdotes and Quotations (Lisa Drew Books (Paperback)): Bob Dole: 9780743215275: Amazon.com: Books
Now to answer your question more directly.
I would personally put Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan at the top. Both Roosevelts and Kennedy were also quite amusing. William Howard Taft didn’t pull punches when it came to jokes. Calvin Coolidge could really hit you with a zinger when you weren’t expecting it. George H. W. Bush was much funnier in retirement than he was as POTUS. George W. Bush told great stories and had a few clever quips. Barack Obama was a master of intellectual comedy, and he was adept at self-deprecatory humor.
Note: All of the jokes listed below are paraphrases. They all came from memory, so the figures might be a bit off. The spirit of the joke is correct, though.
Abraham Lincoln had an absolutely brutal sense of humor in his conversations with others; however, he was also a fan of deprecatory humor.He once said something along the lines of, “My enemies say I have two faces. If that were true, why would I wear this one?”In a telegraph correspondence with one of his generals during the Civil War, William Sherman, if I’m not mistaken, Lincoln commented that the general needed to keep him better informed of the situation at the front. In response General Sherman responded along the lines of, “We have captured six cows. What should we do with them?” Lincoln answered, “Milk them.”
Ronald Reagan, although I disagree with the vast majority of his policies, had an absolutely magnetic personality; moreover, no one could tell a better Communist joke or a better Russia joke.One of his best Communist jokes went something like this, “There were two fellows in Communist Russia talking to each other. One of them looked at the other and said, ‘Is this really it? Have we finally achieved true Communism?’ The other responded, “Oh hell no! It’s going to get a lot worse.”One of his better Russia jokes was along the lines of, “There were two people talking to each other. One was American, and the other was Russian. The American said to the Russian, “You know what I love about America? The freedom. I can walk right up to President Reagan’s desk and say, ‘Mr. President, I hate Ronald Reagan.’ The Russian fellow responded and said, “I can do that too. I can walk right up to Gorbachev’s desk and say, “Mr. Gorbachev, I hate Ronald Reagan.’”He also had a famous one-liner, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
Theodore Roosevelt was an interesting character. He could engage in intellectual humor just as easily as he could bawdy joke-telling. He wasn’t overly funny, but he was full of energy and good-cheer.He once joked that, “When they called the roll in the Senate, the Senators don’t know whether to answer “present” or “not guilty.”
Franklin Roosevelt was very similar to his cousin in his ability to shift between different humor styles with ease. I would say that FDR was funnier, but I haven’t read as much on Theodore Roosevelt.One of my favorite FDR comments was his response after he’d been told his wife was in prison: “I’m not surprised, but what for?”Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman were both known for telling fun, folksy stories, but they weren’t necessarily witty.
William Howard Taft, although not consistently funny, had a number of good jokes.Taft wanted to catch a train in Springfield when he was still a young lawyer, but on that day, the train wasn’t coming through Springfield, which just wouldn’t do. So, he wired ahead and told them to get a train to Springfield as there would be a large party waiting. When the train got there, Taft, standing all alone, told the conductor that he was the large party.
Calvin Coolidge, while a man of few words, could often elicit a laugh when he wanted to.At an opera, someone asked Coolidge what he thought “about the execution of the opera singer.” Coolidge responded, “I’m all for it.”At a dinner someone made a bet that she could get Coolidge to say more than two words to her before the end of the evening. After she told him about this bet, he waited until the end of the dinner, looked at her, and said, “You lose.”
John F. Kennedy was a New England intellectual if there ever was one. That being said, he also knew how to enjoy a good laugh.When answering questions concerning his brother, Bobby’s, qualifications for being appointed Attorney General, Kennedy said, “I don’t see any harm in letting little Bobby get some law experience before he goes out and starts a practice of his own.”
George W. Bush, immediately after leaving office with the lowest approval ratings in history, was asked about his final ratings.He responded along the lines of, “I may have had the lowest approval ratings in history, but I also had the highest approval ratings in history.”
George H. W. Bush started making jokes as he got older that were similar to the ones your stereotypical dirty grandfather makes. Some were uncouth, but they could be very funny.When he was in his eighties or so, Bush Sr. described all the woman he’d ever pined after when he was in grade school/high school. As he was describing them, he noticed that he had a tendency to focus on their bodies/breasts/etc. At the end of the interview he said, “I know everything I’ve just said really makes me look bad, like I’m obsessed with bodies or boobs as they call them now, but I was 17. I don’t know anybody who didn’t notice such things at 17.”
Barack Obama probably isn’t a naturally funny person, but he was extremely adept at choosing the best comedic timing.When speaking at an event, he once commented, “I’d like to especially thank Congress for taking time out of their very busy schedule of not passing any bills to be here tonight.”Another time, Obama poked fun at all the baseless accusations levied against him concerning his birth, his political ideology, and his religious beliefs by saying, “Sometimes I look in the mirror, and I realize that I’m not the young, Muslim socialist that I used to be.”My personal favorite was when Obama was describing his friendship with Joe Biden while also making an important point about LGBTQ+ rights. He said something along the lines of, “I make fun of Joe sometimes, but he’s been here with me for 7 years. He really is a true friend. We’ve gotten so close in some places in Indiana that they won’t serve us pizza anymore.”As for the President’s that had the worst senses of humor, I would say that there have been quite a few that weren’t particularly funny.
Benjamin Harrison was often called the “Human Iceberg” due to his cold demeanor.Many of the career soldiers that became President didn’t have particularly well-known senses of humor.Zachary Taylor wasn’t known for his jokes.William Henry Harrison probably didn’t have long enough to make any jokes.Andrew Jackson was a bully of sorts, but his jokes weren’t all that funny.Dwight Eisenhower could inspire people with his wisdom and his familiarity, but humor was not his strong point.Woodrow Wilson was an intellectual, plain and simple. He made a couple of amusing analogies/comments in his time, but he, for the most part, was much more serious than he was funny.James Garfield didn’t have enough time to leave a lasting impression on presidential humor.James Madison, although a stunningly compelling author, was known for his big ideas not his big jokes.Thomas Jefferson was much the same as James Madison.Gerald Ford was passionate, likable, and genuine. I wouldn’t call him funny.Jimmy Carter is one of the best people to ever become POTUS, but he was not one of the funniest people to become President.The rest of the presidents, as far as I remember, were pretty middle of the line when it came to humor.
However, there is one POTUS that I’d like to examine a little more in depth. It’s not good enough to say that this man doesn’t have a sense of humor, this man is aggressively averse to jokes, unless he can make them at somebody else’s expense. That person is obviously 45th president Donald Trump.
Instead of taking the jokes made about him as you’d expect from most adults, Trump lashes out over insignificant comments.
He insulted a veteran/war hero/Republican icon over his military service.
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He insulted a journalist’s disability.
He insults women frequently, and he doesn’t seem to have any intention of stopping.
He gives all of his political opponents childish nicknames: “Sleepy/Creepy Joe” [Biden], “Crazy Nancy” [Pelosi], “Low Energy Jeb” [Bush], “Little Mike” Bloomberg, “Alfred E. Neuman” in reference to Mayor Pete Buttigieg, “Moderate dog” Mattis, “Little Marco” Rubio, “The Nutty Professor” in reference to Bernie Sanders, “Mr. Magoo” in reference to Jeff Sessions, “Pocahontas/The Indian” in reference to Elizabeth Warren, “Low-IQ Maxine” Waters, etc.
He goes out of his way to notice, comment on, and ridicule the physical characteristics of the individuals he disagrees with. However, if anyone so much as begins to criticize him, he immediately begins shouting and listing his accomplishments, many of which he makes up on the spot.
There are too many more for me to list here. You get the picture.The vast majority of the Presidents in US history have been funny at different times. Some are humorous more regularly than others. However, Donald Trump displays signs of chronic narcissism and immediate denies any criticisms. In other words, he’s like the bully you see on the playground that’s not happy with how they look/feel/are, so they take it out on everybody else by bullying others and creating insulting, demeaning, childish nicknames. |
