You’ve seen them a million times. The stoic glares, the oil-painted dignity, the perfectly cropped headshots in every middle school history textbook. But honestly, if you look at images of all the presidents of the united states through a lens that isn’t filtered by a government archive, things get weird. Fast.
We think of these images as static records. They aren't. They’re basically the original Instagram filters—carefully curated, sometimes straight-up faked, and always designed to make a human being look like a monument.
The original "Photoshopping" of the founding fathers
Before cameras existed, if you wanted to be remembered, you had to sit still for a long time while someone smeared oil on a canvas. George Washington, the guy on our dollar bill, actually hated his portraits. The famous Lansdowne portrait by Gilbert Stuart? It’s iconic now, but back then, it was a branding exercise. It shows him as a civilian leader, not a king. No crown, no scepter. Just a sword to show he could fight, but chose to lead.
But here is the kicker: some of the most famous images of our early presidents aren't even what they looked like at the time.
Take Andrew Jackson. Historians think he sat for maybe 35 portraits, but there are over 200 paintings of the guy. Most were done after he died, copied from other paintings. It’s like a 19th-century version of a deepfake. People wanted the "idea" of Old Hickory, not necessarily the reality of a tired old man with bad teeth.
That time they swapped Lincoln’s head
Speaking of fakes, let’s talk about Abraham Lincoln. You know that heroic image of him standing tall, looking like the savior of the Union?
Check this out: it’s a total fraud.
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After Lincoln was assassinated, there was a huge demand for a "heroic" portrait. But Lincoln, frankly, was a gangly, awkward-looking guy. He famously joked about his own ugliness. So, a portraitist named Thomas Hicks took an image of John C. Calhoun—a man who was Lincoln’s total political opposite and a staunch defender of slavery—and literally stuck Lincoln’s head on Calhoun’s body. If you look closely at the original print, the hands and the desk belong to a completely different person.
Lincoln knew his face was a problem for his brand. Before his Cooper Union speech in 1860, photographer Matthew Brady went to town on a photo of him. He used extra light to hide Lincoln's hollow cheeks and even "touched up" the photo to make his collar look bigger so his neck didn't seem so long. Lincoln actually said, "Brady and the Cooper Institute made me president."
When the camera changed everything
Everything shifted in the mid-1800s. Suddenly, you couldn't hide behind a painter's brush quite as easily. Or could you?
The earliest surviving photo of a U.S. president is actually of John Quincy Adams, taken in 1843. But he wasn't president anymore; he was just a grumpy old congressman. He called the daguerreotype a "wondrous" invention but hated his own photos, calling them "hideous." He thought a portrait should show a person’s "moral character," and he didn't think a machine could do that.
James K. Polk was the first "sitting" president to be photographed in 1849. He looks... miserable. Honestly, most people in 19th-century photos do because they had to sit still for several minutes. If you blinked, you were a blur.
The rise of the official photographer
By the time we get to the 20th century, presidents realized they needed to control the narrative. Teddy Roosevelt was a pro at this. He hated his official 1902 portrait by Théobald Chartran. His family called it the "Mewing Cat" because it made him look soft.
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What did he do? He destroyed it.
Literally. He had it burned and hired John Singer Sargent to paint a new one. Sargent followed him around the White House until Roosevelt, losing his patience, grabbed a staircase railing and barked, "Don't I know how to pose?!"
"That's it!" Sargent yelled. That’s the famous portrait we see today—manly, aggressive, and 100% curated.
It wasn't until John F. Kennedy that the White House hired an "Official White House Photographer." Cecil Stoughton was the first. He’s the reason we have those candid-looking shots of JFK with his kids in the Oval Office. But even those were curated. Stoughton wasn't allowed to photograph Kennedy from certain angles to hide his back brace or show him in a swimming pool unless he was submerged to the neck.
The modern era and the digital shift
Today, we get millions of images of all the presidents of the united states instantly. But the "official" ones still carry a different weight.
- Barack Obama: His NPG portrait by Kehinde Wiley broke all the rules. No dark background, no mahogany desk. Just him in a chair surrounded by flowers. It was the first time a presidential portrait felt... alive?
- Donald Trump: His official photos often leaned back into that "tough guy" aesthetic—rigid, formal, and high-contrast.
- Joe Biden: In 2021, he swapped out the portraits in the Oval Office to reflect his own "vibe," replacing Andrew Jackson with Benjamin Franklin.
Wait, here's a weird bit of recent history. In 2025, a "Presidential Walk of Fame" was unveiled at the White House. Interestingly, Joe Biden's portrait was initially replaced in a new gallery with an image of an autopen—a machine used to sign documents. It was a weird, petty political move that shows how imagery is still used as a weapon today.
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Why you should care about these pictures
Looking at these images isn't just a history lesson. It’s a lesson in human psychology. We want our leaders to be better than us. We want them to look like they have all the answers.
When you see a photo of Jimmy Carter collapsing during a race in 1979, it isn't just a photo; it’s a narrative of weakness that arguably cost him an election. When you see Richard Nixon flashing the "V" for victory as he boards a helicopter to resign, it’s a masterclass in "fake it 'til you make it."
Actionable insights for the curious
If you want to see the "real" versions of these men, stop looking at the official headshots.
- Check the National Archives: They hold millions of photos that weren't "official" releases.
- Look for the "mistakes": The photos where someone is sweating, or the lighting is bad, or they’re caught eating a sandwich. That’s where the human is.
- Visit the National Portrait Gallery: It’s the only place outside the White House with a complete collection. Seeing the scale of these paintings in person changes how you feel about the people in them.
Basically, every image is a choice. Every portrait is a story. And most of those stories are trying to sell you something. The next time you see a line-up of the presidents, ask yourself what the artist (or the photographer) was trying to hide.
To truly understand the evolution of these images, your next step is to head over to the White House Historical Association’s digital archives. They have high-resolution scans of the official portraits along with the "behind the scenes" stories of why certain artists were fired or why certain poses were chosen. It's the best way to see how the "image" of the presidency was built, brick by brick, since 1789.