In this election, we've got an "Barack" versus a "Mitt". How long has it been since there was a presidential election where neither major candidate had a WASPy forename?

Perhaps 1964, with Lyndon vs. Barry. "Barry" is somewhat WASPy, though. 1952 and 1956 were Dwight vs. Adlai, again, "Dwight" seems like it wouldn't be noticeable at Eton. 1852 had a Franklin vs. Winfield, but "Franklin" is a very traditional English word, so I'm going to call it a WASP name. That also disqualifies 1936, Franklin vs. Alf, and 1940, Franklin vs. Wendell.

1872 was Horace vs. Ulysses, and 1868 was Horatio vs. Ulysses. So I'm going to declare those as being the only prior elections where neither major candidate has a WASP forename. Amusingly, neither Horace Greeley, Horatio Seymour, nor Ulysses Grant had any substantial Greek ancestry.

Posted by: Boviate at 12:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.