Of course, the real reason I support Zelaya´s return to power is that he has one of the best examples of facial hair among world leaders.
One problem with globalization is that with the spread of American-style politics around the world, world politicians are looking more and more like American candidates. That means no facial hair.
Zelaya, who loves dressing in the cowboy clothes so popular in Central America, does not kowtow to these international facial hair fashions.
To close our set of Gilded Age Supreme Court judges with awesome facial hair, we have Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II of Mississippi. Appointed by Grover Cleveland in 1888.
You might think that the nation would have barred leading secessionists from serving on the nation's highest court, but you'd be wrong. Lamar was a member of Mississippi's secessionist committee in 1860 and then became a Confederate officer. Despite this, he was back in the House of Representatives in 1873. When Grover Cleveland became president in 1884, he named Lamar Secretary of the Interior and then promoted to the Court near the end of his first term. He served until 1893 when he died, having left no discernible mark upon the Court.
Oliver Wendell Holmes. One of the most important judges in the history of the Supreme Court and a member of the mustache hall of fame, if such a thing existed.
Allow me to echo Obama's disappointment that Bill Richardson shaved his beard. With Eric Holder and his moustache already nominated for AG, and the announcement of Richardson, I was hoping that we were finally seeing a full-blown return of facial hair to national politics after a long, cold winter. Alas, Holder must hold down the fort alone for now while Richardson in Commerce panders to the pro-Gillette lobby.
UPDATE FROM ERIK: It seems that Obama shares Trend's disappointment.
Wade Hampton III, South Carolina senator after Reconstruction. Hampton was known as "The Savior of South Carolina" for his opposition to Reconstruction, which should tell you all you need to know about this guy.
Hampton also provides a superb example of Gilded Age facial hair.
As a Latin American historian, one of the lighter moments of the 20th century is how far the CIA went to try to remove Castro. Of the numerous plots, from Bay of Pigs to exploding cigars, one of the more popular was the CIA's consideration of poisoning Castro so that his beard would fall out. The thinking went that if Castro lost his beard, he would lose his masculine authority among the Cuban peoples, would be emasculated. Seeing such a weak, "feminine" leader now, the macho-oriented Cubans would rise against his new "weakness" to overthrow him and the U.S. could elbow its way back into Cuba (and I am not making a bit of this up). It's one of those anecdotes that gives the students a chance to chuckle while revealing just how absurd the U.S. policy towards Cuba and Castro could get - sort of a "they were so possessed with this man that they thought he'd lose power if they could just make his beard fall out!!"
Thanks to this article about the toothbrush moustache (the "Hitler" moustache) that d points us to, it appears this idea actually had precedent. In discussing how the German dictator's use of the toothbrush led to the death of said moustache forevermore, Rich Cohen goes through the history of the moustache. Apparently, at one point during World War II, "the plan cooked up by officers of the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the C.I.A., to inject estrogen into Hitler's food—female hormone that would make Hitler grow weepy, make Hitler grow breasts, and, crucially, destroy his mustache. A smooth-faced Adolf would lose confidence and fall from power." I had no idea that any form of the CIA/OSS had ever considered the facial-hair-loss-as-loss-of-power approach before, yet apparently, what almost every Latin American survey will convey, Castro actually wasn't an exception. If you get a chance, read the whole article - it provides an excellent analysis of how facial hair can define somebody, if a symbol like the toothbrush moustache can ever be re-coopted, why facial hair has all but disappeared from American politics, and other issues.
