Presidential Script: Handwriting Analyses of United States Presidents

By Charles T. Richardson

Presidential Script - Handwriting Analyses of the United States Presidents provides readers with a unique way to understand the personalities of American presidents through the intriguing field of handwriting analysis. From Washington to Biden veteran graphologist Charles T. Richardson exposes the uncanny accuracy handwriting analysis has for predicting presidential greatest, and yes, failure. The 144 page, eight chapter ebook contains nearly 100 examples of handwriting, an extensive collection of endnotes, many footnotes, a thorough glossary of graphology terms and a bibliography of handwriting analysis books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles T. Richardson
• Release date: Feb 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005547844

Charles T. Richardson

Charles Richardson is an American Association of Handwriting Analysts (AAHA) Certified Analyst. His handwriting analyses have appeared in newspapers, magazines and on the internet. He has been interviewed on television and has presented talks on handwriting analysis (graphology) for over fifty years. An accomplished speaker, Charles has presented graphology talks to audiences aboard cruise ships, in schools, at senior centers and for service clubs. He and his wife of fifty years are avid travelers, having visited over 150 countries. He holds graduate degrees in education and ecology.

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PRESIDENTIAL SCRIPT

Handwriting Analyses of United States Presidents

Charles T. Richardson C.G.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2021 Charles T. Richardson

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

Contents

About the Author

Introduction

Chapter One - Handwriting of George Washington & the Founding Fathers

Chapter Two - Abraham Lincoln’s Handwriting and the Script of his Predecessors

Chapter Three - Handwriting of Post-Civil War Presidents

Chapter Four - Teddy Roosevelt’s Handwriting and Other Early 20th Century Presidential Scripts

Chapter Five - The War Years and the Handwriting of FDR, Truman, Ike, Kennedy, LBJ and Nixon

Chapter Six - Handwriting of Late 20th Century American Presidents

Chapter Seven - Handwriting Analyses of 21st Century Presidents

Chapter Eight- Presidential Assassins

End Notes

Footnotes

Graphology Glossary

Bibliography of Graphology Books

About the Author

Charles Richardson is an American Association of Handwriting Analysts (AAHA) Certified Graphologist (C.G.). A Certified Graphologist is the AAHA’s highest level of expertise. Graphology is the study of handwriting for the purpose of understanding personality, while document examiners determine the authenticity of handwritten documents. Detecting a forgery is a typical task for the document examiner. Recognizing an individual’s behavioral patterns, mental health status or suitability for a specific type of employment are typical tasks for a graphologist. Overwhelming evidence from numerous studies confirm we reveal our personalities through our handwriting. Not with a level of precision that is admissible in a United States court, but as we will learn in Presidential Script, a surprising degree of accuracy.

Mr. Richardson’s interest in graphology began over fifty years ago when he attended a psychic fair. Impressed with the accuracy of a graphologist’s assessment of his personality he immersed himself in the study of handwriting analysis, eventually achieving the status of Certified Graphologist. Over the years Mr. Richardson has taught graphology courses, spoke to service organizations, groups of senior citizens and on cruise ships about handwriting analysis. As a graphologist he has appeared on television and has been published in both magazine and newspaper articles. In 2015 he published an eBook titled Sinister Script – How Handwriting Exposes Evil. Charles has an undergraduate degree with a duel major in science and history. His graduate degrees are in education and ecology.

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Introduction

The American Political Science Association (APSA) ranked all the presidents from best to worst in their annual Presidential Greatness Survey published on July 30, 2019.[1] Abraham Lincoln received the highest score (95 on a scale of 100), while Donald Trump received the lowest score with a 12 on the APSA scale. George Washington was a close second with a score of 93, followed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and what may surprise many, Harry Truman. Here’s the complete list of the APSA rankings and their scores:

1. Abraham Lincoln 95

2. George Washington 93

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt 89

4. Teddy Roosevelt 81

5. Thomas Jefferson 80

6. Harry Truman 75

7. Dwight Eisenhower 74

8. Barack Obama 71

9. Ronald Reagan 69

10. Lyndon B. Johnson 69

11. Woodrow Wilson 67

12. James Madison 64

13. Bill Clinton 64

14. John Adams 63

15. Andrew Jackson 62

16. John Kennedy 62

17. G.H.W. Bush 61

18. James Monroe 61

19. Wm. McKinley 55

20. James Polk 54

21. U.S. Grant 53

22. Wm. Howard Taft 52

23. J.Q Adams 52

24. Grover Cleveland 51

25. Gerald Ford 47

26. James Carter 45

27. Martin Van Buren 44

28. Calvin Coolidge 42

29. Rutherford B. Hayes 42

30. G.W. Bush 40

31. Chester Arthur 40

32. Benjamin Harrison 38

33. Richard Nixon 37

34. James Garfield 37

35. Zachary Taylor 33

36. Herbert Hoover 33

37. John Tyler 31

38. Millard Fillmore 28

39. Andrew Johnson 25

40. Warren Harding 25

41. Franklin Pierce 23

42. Wm. Henry Harrison 19

43. James Buchanan 15

44. Donald Trump 12.

Pulitzer Prize author Doris Kearns Goodwin, the renowned American Presidential historian, listed ten essential traits required for presidential greatness on the History Channel. [2] Goodwin believes presidents who achieve greatness are humble, empathetic, resilient, courageous, energetic, receptive, emotionally stable, communicative and trustworthy. Perhaps most important, Goodwin believes successful presidents must be guided by a moral purpose. It would be difficult to disagree with the California Psychics assessment that egotism, timidity, jealousy, anger, arrogance and narcissism are personality traits missing in leaders. [3]

Over the years graphologists have learned to recognize both Goodwin’s essential traits and the California Psychics’ negative leadership traits in handwriting. In Presidential Script we’ll see how handwriting analysis helps us understand the lofty position of Abraham Lincoln and the dismal status of Donald Trump in the APSA survey.

The definitions of many italicized words appearing in Presidential Script appear at the end of the eBook. Because of stringent copyright laws examples of specific handwriting being referred to in Presidential Script can be viewed by going to the websites that appear in parenthesis.

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Chapter 1

Handwriting of George Washington & the Founding Fathers

The success of the American Revolution and the creation of the United States of America is one of history’s most inspiring stories. A success due in no small part to the genius of the Founding Fathers.(i) Historian Richard B. Morris believes John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington are the most important founding fathers.[4] Five of the seven became presidents - Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.

Before we begin to analyze the script of the American presidents we must first become aware of a dozen things that make each and every sample of handwriting as unique as the fingerprints of the writer who wrote the handwriting sample. With experience you’ll become familiar with the key elements of handwriting described below and before long you’ll know others, and yourself, in ways you may never have suspected.

- Rhythm is the overall appearance of a handwriting sample. It is the most important thing to look for when analyzing handwriting. Rhythm is an indication of the degree to which a writer has established a harmonious relationship between their innermost feelings and their outward behavior. Hesitations, acute angles, excessive scratch outs and corrections are absent in rhythmic writing. Recognition of rhythmic handwriting comes with experience, but to the beginning graphologist keep in mind rhythmic handwriting is appealing to the eye, while handwriting without rhythm has an unpleasant appearance. Arrhythmic handwriting looks disjointed, out of kilter. Recognition of rhythm is somewhat akin to watching ballroom dancers. Some couples, those with rhythm, are appealing to look at, those without rhythm make you want to look away.

- Form refers to the shape of letters. Letters with a high form level are written quickly, have creative shapes and most importantly, are legible.

- Spacing relates to the space within letters and the distance between letters, words, lines, paragraphs and margins. Sound spacing gives a body of handwriting an appealing, organized look.

- Size of handwriting is a reflection of the writer’s ego. The larger the writing the greater the need to be seen. People with a realistic self-image write with medium size letters and introverts often write with tiny letters.

- Slant of letters tell the reader how the writer expends their energy. Writing with a noticeable rightward letter slant is produced by demonstrative, emotional and often talkative personalities.

- Pressure refers to the amount of energy a writer applies to their writing implement. People who push down hard on what is usually a pen or pencil are energetic and often emotional.

- Stroke width and shading describes the appearance of the line in a handwriting stroke. Thick, pasty looking lines are penned by sensual personalities. Detached, aloof people write with very thin, sharp lines. Those who write with shaded strokes, not pasty strokes, have humanitarian interests at heart.

- Zones represent the areas in handwriting where energy is expended. Graphologists use the letters MZ, UZ and LZ when referring to the middle zone, upper zone and lower zone (Fig. 1). The MZ is where energies that involve the family and daily activities reside in handwriting. UZ concentration of letters shows the writer spends lots of time thinking about spiritual and intellectual pursuits. Physical and sensual concerns are prevalent in the thinking of persons whose handwriting is concentrated in the LZ.

Fig. 1. Handwriting zones. Most of the writer’s energy is concentrated in the MZ.

- Connecting strokes join letters. The four types of strokes used to connect letters in handwriting are shown in Fig 2: Garland, Arcade, Angular, Thread-like. Obviously, print script does not have connecting strokes. Garlands are used to connect letters by receptive, open personalities. The deeper the garland the more sympathetic and understanding the writer is. Arcades appear in the handwriting of people who feel a need to be sheltered, to be protected from the outside world. They’re cautious individuals. Angular writers tend to be competitive, aggressive, tense and excitable. They’re goal oriented, logical and often impatient. Thread-like connections are used by evasive, non-committal type personalities. Most people have a combination of connecting strokes in their handwriting.

Fig. 2. Types of letter connections.

- Baselines are imaginary lines lower case letters are written upon. The lines on a piece of lined paper are visible baselines. A baseline is an indication how much control an individual has over their behavior. People whose sentences adhere strictly to the baseline are anxious, often tense and afraid to relax. Bouncy baselines appear in the handwriting of people who are comfortable with their thoughts, while roller-coaster looking baselines are typical of confused personalities.

- Speedy writers usually think and react quickly, but only if they write legibly. Overly fast writers tend to be impatient and impulsive. Extremely slow writers are prodding and slow to react.

- Handwriting Maturity is an indicator of a writer’s emotional and mental growth. Graphologists theorize the more life experiences an individual has the more likely they are to express their many life experiences with creative and recognizable letter formations. Legible handwriting that doesn’t look like the handwriting learned in elementary school is said to have maturity.

- Style refers to how one forms the letters of their script. During the 20th century Palmer style writing was taught (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/660481101583227066). Today New American Cursive letter formations are being taught in the United States. (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/31947478578644863/) (ii) In the computer age I’ve noticed disconnected script is becoming commonplace. Graphologists call this print script. Most of the principles of graphology apply to any handwriting sample, regardless of whether all the letters are connected, some letters are connected or there are no letter connections.

We will continue to elaborate on each of these principles of handwriting analysis throughout Presidential Script, beginning with the Father of the Nation, George Washington.

Fig. 3 was written by George Washington (1732 - 1799) shortly before his death on December 14th of 1799. Fig. 4 is a letter Washington wrote when he was 49 years old. George Washington’s script is that of a strong leader. He left no doubt about his intentions with very legible and highly organized handwriting. Organized, systematic people produce handwriting with reasonably straight margins, lower case letters of equal size and sentences that do not overlap. Washington’s handwriting adheres strictly to the baseline (Fig. 4). This tells us he was a sticker for rules. He was not one to disobey rules nor one to be disobeyed. He was probably a tough task master and perfectionist who wanted to maintain control over both his emotions and the behavior of others. His handwriting has an image of formality. Upon meeting Washington one would probably come away thinking the man was cordial, but somewhat aloof and wasn’t one to kid with. People who form round shaped letters like Washington did tend to be