Hand Job

What’s more, in the 1992 election, all three who were up for the top job leaned to the left: Bush the first, Clinton and Ross Perot. Our current president uses his right hand, but if things were different, there would have been yet another southpaw in the White House: Al Gore. John Edwards, up for vice president in 2004, is a leftie, too, but we don’t talk much about him anymore (in a good way, anyway). Left-handed Michael Bloomberg often acts like he is a president, even though he’s mayor of New York City. Interestingly, only two other presidents prior to 1945 were southpaws: James Garfield (1881) and Herbert Hoover (1929-1933).

This strange coincidence of presidential lefties raises the question of why there have been so many southpaw presidents and presidential hopefuls in the past 63 years, but not before? While it can’t be substantiated, some historians believe the majority of our founding fathers favored their left hand, but they were pressured to use their right hand in school. One British politico who never relented was Winston Churchill, a staunch leftie. Napoleon was also a southpaw, even though he placed his right hand in between his jacket flaps when posing for portraits. Paintings of Julius Caesar show him favoring his left hand. Locally, Mayor Driscoll favors his left hand.

 Left-handers make up only about 10 percent to 15 percent of the general population, so it is interesting that so many have reached high political office. Political arena investigators suggest that left-handers are the ultimate multitaskers, think in a non-linear manner and rely a great deal on visual processing, all of which may contribute to problem solving. 

Talking points: 1992 candidates Bush, Clinton and Perot all leaned to the left. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

Many exhaustive studies about the cause of left-handedness are inconclusive; however, two elements keep popping up, as related in The Left-Hander Syndrome: The Causes & Consequences of Left-Handedeness, by Stanley Coren (1992, The Free Press, New York City). One is the notion that as babies, southpaws were subjected to stress-related birth injuries. One striking proven discovery is that a mother whose age was between 35 and 39 was 69 percent more likely to have a left-handed baby. A mother over 40 years of age was a whopping 120 percent more likely to have a left-hander than if she had been in been in her early 20s.

Further, there is the left brain-right brain consideration. For right-handers, language proficiency is exclusive to the left side of the brain, which controls the right hand. Conversely, one in seven southpaws processes language on both sides of the brain. Coren suggests that left-handers may be more intelligent, tend to have better spatial ability and could have better musical ability. He adds that many chess masters have been left-handed.

Just about every profession has its list of left-handers, some more than others. For instance, research shows that Albert Einstein is the only famous left-handed scientist. There are surely many more, but scientists tend to stay in their own cocoons, and are not usually bombarded by the media for such mundane information.

By comparison, hundreds of actors, who, by nature, enjoy the limelight, are on the list. Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant were lefties. Today, twin sisters Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen use their left hand, as do Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Robert DeNiro and the starry married couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. Comedians Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld are on the list, too. And don’t forget Kermit the Frog, a consummate leftie if there ever was one.

In the sports fields, Babe Ruth and John McEnroe head the list. And while Cole Porter was composing musicals Kiss Me, Kate and Anything Goes he was doing so with his left hand. Famous artists Leonardo DaVinci, Paul Klee, Michelangelo and Toulouse Lautrec used their left hands to create their masterpieces. Helen Keller, who was an inspiration to all, was a leftie, as well as Oprah Winfrey, today’s inspirational celebrity.   

Not every southpaw used his left hand for good, however. The Left-Hander Syndrome lists some not-so-savory lefties. Take Jack the Ripper, who committed unspeakable crimes. John Dillinger, Billy the Kid and Albert Henry DeSalvo the Boston Strangler, were all southpaws. Presumably, DeSalvo used both hands to do the dastardly deed, but applied more pressure with the left. It is interesting to note that he didn’t confess his crimes to the police, but did to his lawyer, the famous F. Lee Bailey, who, incidentally, was also left-handed. 

For years, being left-handed has always had a negative connotation. Take words like gauche or sinister. Gauche, French for left, has come to mean lacking in social graces, awkward or tasteless. Sinister, Latin for left, implies ominousness, threatening harm, evil or misfortune. The New Testament stated the souls of sinners who fail to meet with the savior’s approval are sent to his left, and eternal damnation. Is that why nuns forced their students to switch hands in school, so that they would not go to hell?

The biggest challenge for southpaws is living in a right-handed world. Most tools are geared for right-hand use, a potential danger for lefties. The most frustrating may be using right-handed scissors. Writing overhand so that the slant is to the right, conforming to the norm, causes many a smudged page, making it appear that left-handers are sloppy. Still, there’s something pretty cool about having an annual Left-Handed Day; it’s Aug, 13.

Just opening a book can be awkward if you are not right-handed. That also goes for trying to open a writing tablet. How about trying to golf with right-handed golf clubs, or playing a guitar that is strung for right-handers? But lefties who want their own kind of stuff can go online to find all kinds of things geared to their handedness; office supply stores like Staples will even order items for you. Of course everything will cost more. Try www.anythinglefthanded.com.