"I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you to be President of the United States very much so I hope you won't think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are...I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you..." (Grace Bedell)
It's part of his trademark: the full dark beard. Yet, only a few months before he was elected, he was clean-shaven. Why did Abraham Lincoln grow a beard? It all started with a letter.
Eleven year old Grace Bedell was one of Abraham Lincoln's youngest fans. Her father, a Republican, had visited the fair in Westfield, New York in the fall of 1860. Upon returning home, he showed his young daughter two photographs, one of Lincoln and one of his running mate, Hamlin. Grace studied the photo of the former and decided to write a letter to the presidential hopeful, dated October 15, 1860:
"I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you to be President of the United States very much so I hope you won't think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are...I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Bedell)
Within four days, she received a response in which Lincoln suggested people might think it was a "silly affection" if he grew a beard. Grace likely thought the matter was closed.
Lincoln was elected President of the United States the following month. In February 1861, he boarded a train for his inaugural journey from Illinois to Washington D.C. The train stopped in Westfield, New York where Lincoln requested a meeting with the little girl who had penned the letter.
"He climbed down with me on the edge of the station platform," she recalled. 'Gracie,' he said, 'look at my whiskers. I have been growing them for you.' Then he kissed me. I never saw him again."
Statue of Lincoln & Bedell in Westfield, New York courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Bedell#/media/File:Lincoln_Bedell_statue.jpg
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