Barack Obama was photographed playing touch football shirtless last week. See beefcake photos of Ronald Reagan, JFK, Richard Nixon—and George Washington?
In 2008, president-elect Obama was photographed shirtless while on vacation and set a new standard for the body politic in the Oval Office. (Even The New York Post gushed, “Fit For Office: Buff Bam is Hawaii Hunk.”) But ever since, the president has shrewdly avoided such beefcake imagery. “I’m not going to let you guys take a picture of me with my shirt off,’’ he told reporters in 2010 and the White House even reportedly banned photographers from shooting the Commander in briefs. But just last week TMZ caught the president playing a game of touch football on the beach in Oahu—and apparently he was skins.
As the skipper of the PT 109 during World War II, Lt. John F. Kennedy was occasionally photographed out of uniform. Two decades later, as the president of the United States, when JFK went for a swim in Santa Monica, he showed that he could still make waves.
MPI / Getty Images
While vacationing in St. Thomas in 1998, Bill and Hillary Clinton found time for an impromptu tropical tango. Fourteen years later, a vegan diet has left Bubba’s body considerably more buff.
Paul J. Richards / AFP / Getty Images
News flash—though Gerald Ford was routinely mocked on Saturday Night Live for being hopelessly clumsy, he was arguably the best athlete ever to occupy the White House. The star center on the University of Michigan’s two-time national championship football team, Ford was also an avid golfer and skier until very late in life. He also kept in shape by swimming—and was responsible for building the outdoor White House pool and cabana.
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For young Hollywood actors like Ronald Reagan, taking shirtless shots was practically a job requirement. Three decades later, as a candidate for California governor (and later as president), Reagan showed that he still looked great in a suit.
John Kobal Foundation / Getty Images
Though no one ever thought of Richard Nixon as a particularly hunky president, back in 1957 the then-vice president showed a hint of chest hair while vacationing in Key Biscayne, Florida. But true to his Watergate-era persona, he insisted on covering up.
AP Photo
As president, LBJ was renowned for shocking the press corps with TMI. Back in 1967, while recuperating from gallbladder surgery, Johnson famously lifted up his shirt so reporters could see his scar. The shocking image prompted one reader to write to The New York Times: "God forbid he should have a hemorrhoidectomy!"
Charles Tasnadi / AP Photo
George Washington may be the father of our country, but in Horatio Greenough’s topless 12-ton sculpture to commemorate the centenary of his birth, it’s more like “who’s your daddy?” While many appreciated seeing Washington in all his buff glory, others were put off by the presidential six-pack. As one resident of the nation’s capital said at the time: “This magnificent production of genius does not seem to be appreciated at its full value in this metropolis.”
