The Sartorial Sneers of John Bolton

Posted on April 15, 2005

Robin Givhan of The Washington Post lights into John Bolton for his sartorial slovenliness at his congressional confirmation hearings to become our new ambassador to the United Nations.

John Bolton, President Bush's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, desperately needs a haircut. It does not have to be a $600 Sally Hershberger cut. Bolton simply needs the basics. Tidy the curling, unruly locks at the nape of his neck, tame the volume at the crown, reel in the wings flapping above his ears, and broker a compromise between his sand-colored mop and his snow-colored mustache.
He needs to do this, not because he should be minding the recommendations of men's fashion magazines or grooming experts but because when he settled in before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week to answer questions about his record, his philosophy and his intentions at the U.N., he looked as though he did not even have enough respect for the proceedings to bother combing his hair -- or, for that matter, straightening his tie, or wearing a shirt that did not put his neck in a chokehold. Bolton was one wrinkled suit away from being an insolent mess.
Bolton sat across from his questioners with a thick, dull slab of hair positioned diagonally across his forehead. It is tempting to say that he has a sloppy schoolboy's haircut, but that would malign studious young men and suggest that they are dismissive of propriety and the importance of making a good public impression. Looking back to Bolton's school days at Yale, one notices that he was better groomed in his younger years. In his 1970 class book photo, Bolton essentially has the same haircut, but his locks are not drooping over his forehead as if he'd stepped from the shower and shaken his hair dry in the manner of an Afghan hound. His tie also appears to be straight. Thirty-five years ago, his shirt fit. (Perhaps it is the same shirt?)

So, if how you dress for your confirmation hearings indicates your respect (or lack thereof) for your questioners, what does this tell us about other nominees? Condi dressed up for her hearings and actually made a point of smiling while the committee members lobbed rhetorical grenades at her. Alberto Gonzales has his hair cut properly, as I recall, and had a suit that was pressed and cleaned. And while we're on this subject, I seem to recall a Supreme Court nominee named Robert Bork who had a wild and woolly little beard, and generally looked like a disheveled mess at his hearings. And we all know what happened to him.