Katherine Connell: Hug History
Katherine Connell is National Review’s research director
...[T]he hug as a greeting or expression of affection between unrelated grown men never authentically belonged to America the way it did to Russian, Latin, and Mediterranean cultures. It only insinuated itself into our political life in the latter half of the 20th century, thanks to two related cultural developments: the increasing casualness of dress and manners, and the growing need of politicians to project a caring and warm persona to the electorate. Jimmy Carter, with his beige cardigan and folksy fireside chats, perfectly embodied both trends, so it’s no surprise that he became our first real embracer-in-chief. His reach was long, encompassing members of his staff, supporters, Willie Nelson, Tip O’Neill, Leonid Brezhnev, survivors of the Iranian hostage crisis, and, of course, Begin and Sadat. More recently, Carter made headlines for hugging it out with a senior member of Hamas.
There were noteworthy pre-Carter presidential hugs, too, the most famous of which was Sammy Davis Jr.’s suddenly seizing Nixon from behind during the 1972 Republican National Convention. But the incident was, to put it mildly, out of character for Nixon.
Hugs came more naturally to Lyndon Johnson, though he deployed them tactically. His philosophy was to “hug your friends tight, but your enemies tighter — hug ’em so tight they can’t wiggle.” In Master of the Senate, Robert Caro describes Johnson in action in the Senate chamber: “Another colleague would enter. Jumping up, Johnson would hug him . . . his hands never seemed to stop moving, patting a senatorial shoulder, grasping a senatorial lapel, jabbing a senatorial chest — jabbing it harder and harder if the point was still not being taken — and then hugging the senator when it was.” But Johnson was still capable of being discomfited by public displays of affection — as when a Pakistani camel driver whom he had invited to the United States while vice president returned his handshake with a vigorous hug....