Which Presidents Were Left Handed?

8 presidents were left handed:

Barack Obama

James Garfield

Herbert Hoover

Harry Truman

Gerald Ford

Ronald Reagan

George H.W. Bush

Bill Clinton

Establishing left-handedness in people who lived prior to the 20th century is difficult, because back then, left-handedness was considered a disability and children were forced out of the habit, so there may have been others. While just 10 percent of the population is left-handed, six of the last 12 presidents have been, and many of the losing presidential candidates were left-handed, too. Some scientists believe that left-handed people are capable of “a wider scope of thinking,” a theory that explains the high percentage of Nobel Prize winners, writers and painters who are left-handed. Why most people are right-handed is unknown, but some evolutionary biologists and brain scientists believe that handedness is related to lateralization of the human brain, though neuroscience still being a young field of study, definite conclusions have not been reached.

Barack Obama can be seen drawing with his left hand in the above video, released by the White House and BuzzFeed as part of a marketing campaign to increase participation in Healthcare.gov. The video, called Things Everyone Does But Doesn’t Talk About, shows the president making silly faces in the mirror, taking selfies and sarcastically thanking Obama when faced with a trivial problem.

Feb. 15 was the deadline to sign up for health insurance through the federal health portal. As of Feb. 11, almost 7.75 million people had signed up for 2015 health plans, according to the president’s administration.

Looking for the latest gov tech news as it happens? Subscribe to GT newsletters.