Thor? Is that you?

H47-05 (Photo ID#), circa January 1972, Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham at Yale Law School in New Haven, CT. Clinton Historical Family Photograph Collection.
H47-05 (Photo ID#), circa January 1972, Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham at Yale Law School in New Haven, CT. Clinton Historical Family Photograph Collection.

It’s very rare to have an example of a recent beard, and even more rare to have a bearded President after, oh, 1890. So I was shocked when John Keller, an archivist at the Clinton Library, sent a link to this picture of President Clinton. He explains the unusual find in this guest post:

Here are two aspiring Yale law students posing for a photo in the early 1970s and looking very seventies indeed. Please admire the “Viking” beard look that this future President is sporting at Yale Law School.

You won’t be the only admirer: the First Lady cited the “Viking” look in her memoir Living History. This is the first of many photos—to say the least—in which Bill and his new friend Hillary would be featured in the coming years. But that was all in the future. It was the early seventies and this picture of law student Bill truly captured the “hairy” nature of the times.

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