The Monkey Cage

I have heard that Regean was born left handed and forced to switch in school, like so many lefties of three generations.

Thanks, but “I have heard” isn’t much evidence, is it? I had heard that, too. What I’m looking for is some evidence that it’s true. The switching was especially common in Catholic schools — or so “I have heard” :-) — but that wouldn’t cover Reagan. Is there any evidence out there? (Or, to keep things in perspective, am I the only one who cares?)

If you really care, I strongly recommend a book called: Right Hand, Left Hand—published 3-4 years ago by a Brit prof (McManus) who delves into all sorts of handed data (including the structure of the universe). There’s variations of lefty as well. Fascinating. (My dad was a converted lefty.)

From his website: Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus was the winner of the 2003 Aventis Prize for Science Books. Previously it was the winner of the Wellcome Trust Prize.

So you want physical proof Regean was switched? Something like a photograph of him at age 4 swinging a baseball bat lefty, or a diary entry of his own or his mother’s discussing it?

That’s a high standard, given that it occurred 80+ years ago, so all eye-witnesses and family members are likely dead.

Obviously, every picture we have of Regean signing a bill is right-handed. So switched is the only explanation. But since these sorts of rumors don’t come out of nowhere, my inclination is to trust it until you have proof either way.

As an aside, my grandfather was switched in the Pennsylvania public schools in the 1920’s, so it’s not just a Catholic school thing.

No, it’s not just a Catholic school thing. My own brother was switched, and he certainly wasn’t enrolled in a Catholic school.

As Bill Harshaw’s comment implies, there’s a research literature out there — indeed, a big one — on laterality. One issue is what lateral dominance means. In Reagan’s specific case, was he “really” left-handed if he didn’t do anything left-handedly? Going down that path quickly gets us into the realm of metaphysics rather than genetics, birth defects (a theory of left-handedness that I’ve always resented), behavior, etc.

Lateral dominance is ultimately a matter of degree. One could classify people as left-hand-dominant or not based on their very early childhood behavior, but for me the important point when we say “X is left-handed” is whether X behaves predominantly left-handedly. That’s a better test than the early-life one, because for most people (and especially people “of a certain age,” there simply isn’t any evidence to use as a test.) It’s interesting to find out that X, who performs right-handedly now and has done so for all of his/her adult life, was predominantly left-handed at some earlier point in life. But if you want to say “X is left-handed” or “X was left-handed for the period of X’s life for which we have some evidence one way or another,” then, because I have an inquiring mind, I want to see some evidence of some sort.

Ronald Reagan may well have been left-hand-dominant at some early point in his life. There’s no denying the possibility. It wouldn’t take much to get me to accept that as more than a possibility, but it would take something more than “I have heard.”

Fair enough. I’ve always thought of using ones left hand as a “symptom” of an underlying trait, something akin to homosexual intercourse being a “symptom” of homosexuality. Obviously, one could participate their entire life in heterosexual sex but still be homosexual.

Thus, regardless of what hand people write with, they are hardwired to be either lefty or righty just as sure as they are blue or brown eyed.

I guess my bigger point is that I have difficulty believing that left-handedness is entirely an environmental construct, or even largely one.

Thanks for such interesting responses.

P.S.

(1) Apologies for running this topic into the ground.

(2) I’ve had an off-and-on running debate for years with a biochemist, Mary Sue Coleman (now president of the University of Michigan) about the genetic basis of lateral dominance. She claims that there’s no genetic basis. She obviously knows more about this stuff than I do, but I just don’t believe it. I keep asking why, then, it seems to “run” in families. I haven’t yet gotten a good answer.

(3) Rosemary West, proprietor of “The Left-Handed Page”, actually looked into the burning “Was Reagan left-handed?” issue and wound up classifying him as right-hander.

Ehud Barak might be a lefty (I haven’t checked), but the lefty in your photo is Binyamin Netanyahu.

Lance: Oops. I was looking so intentently at his hands that I neglected to look closely at his face. I’ve now corrected this stupid error in the main post. Thanks

My mother, sister, and I all write left-handed — for whatever that may tell us about nature vs. nurture.

But while I write and throw lefty, I play racquet sports, bat, and golf right-handed. So perhaps I’m as “confused” as George H.W. Bush, Lee?

My wife and I are both right handed. To our knowledge no one in either family (Catholics)has ever been left handed. Both of our kids, however, are left handed, with one somewhat more committed than the other. In each case, their nanny/au pair (one from Guyana and one from Scotland) happened to be a left hander.

Like John, I write and throw lefty, but bat and play racquet sports right-handed. My sister and I are both left-handed, but neither of our parents were left-handed. Although I push the spoon and crayons toward my daughter’s left hand, looks like she’s inclined toward the right.

How come nobody is picking up on the greater issue here? White Sox?!?!?!

Oh, right, because as Lee notes, left-handers pick up on laterality. Us righties pick up on important stuff like baseball.

Okay, I’ll play.

Obama is a South Sider. Thus, his team preference reflects his verticality, not his laterality.

Yes, but there’s nothing saying your team preference has to reflect either your verticality or your laterality.

Mine, for example, reflect practicality. I’m a West-sider (of LA). I should be a Dodgers fan, and I was when I was a child. But I have put away childish things, and now root for the A’s….a practical choice whilst in grad school, due to Dollar Wednesdays.

Of course, it’s better than Hillary’s “I’ve always been a Yankee fan.” (see here ..couldn’t resist when this was the first google hit on “hillary Yankee fan”) Besides switching teams, it’s the Yankees! The Yankees!)

Well, I’ll defer to any Chicagoan who feels the urge to weigh in on this issue, but my strong sense is that in the Cubs/White Sox matter, verticality does matter a lot. Those snooty Northsiders tend to cheer for the Cubbies, while the home team of the South Siders is the Chisox. I am not asserting that all Northsiders are Cubs fans or that only Northsiders are Cubs fans; this, after all, is social science, and we just look for significant trends and differences rather than universal truths.