Tall and better
The story is full of leaders and small “strong men” who from the height of their limited stature have radically changed the course of events… James Hansen’s Note
It is now fairly well known that Napoleon Bonaparte was not that small. The height accepted for him by historians is 169 cm, in the male norm of the time. The historical misunderstanding would have depended on the confusion between the French and English measurement systems of the period, which assigned a different length to the “inch”. It is too late for the French Emperor anyway. Tradition has long since assigned him the role of the angry little fellow who has conquered much of Europe to compensate for his modest physical stature. The historical reference is also useful to give a name to the syndrome for which small men would be particularly aggressive and angry.
It is not, apparently, just a popular idea. Recent British research – Referee height influences decision making in British football leagues, which appeared in BMC Psychology – shows, for example, that small referees are much more prone than their bigger colleagues to yellow players. Instead, they are more cautious with red cards, where they fall within the average …
Another factor is the rich selection of political leaders and relatively short “strongmen”: Winston Churchill (167cm) was smaller than Napoleon, while Benito Mussolini (169cm) was the same height. Stalin reached 165 cm, the same height as Vladimir Lenin. The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco instead, 163 cm. Franco – it has nothing to do with it, but you have to know – he was also monorchid, that is, he had only one testicle. Hitler, on the other hand, was a mere 175 cm tall. However, the negative record in height seems to be held by the tiny Mexican leader Benito Juarez, 137 cm tall.
With the possible exception of the Frenchman Charles de Gaulle, the level of interest in the maximum stature of the great leaders is rather modest. De Gaulle (196 cm) was however marginally taller than Osama Bin Laden (195 cm). In any case, they are far from the record set by Sancho VII (1154 – 1234) of Navarre, a historical kingdom in the north of Spain, on the border with France. He was tall – at least according to tradition – 224 cm. Peter the Great, the Russian emperor, was really big, 203 cm. They are important data or simple curiosities
Both things.
Several researches indicate that taller people are commonly perceived as more “authoritative”. It is also true that, in the US presidential election between Democratic and Republican candidates, the tallest won 58% of the time – but the champion is too small to be meaningful. Another truth – scientific at least – is that tall people are more likely to overestimate their height than the estimates of people of closer to average height. The extremes reached by politicians are also known to arrive – at least in the photos – at the same height as their interlocutors, as in a recent and hilarious image of French President Emanuel Macron on tiptoe to greet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Then there is Donald Trump, who with the Presidency would have gained an inch (2.54 cm),
