Rick Perry would be first specs-wearing president in modern history

Former Texas governor Rick Perry announced his presidential candidacy on Thursday with all the usual trappings. Wife by his side, check; patriotic backdrop, check; American flags waving, check.

But one prop in the pageant was unusual: those thick eyeglasses the Lone Star State Republican has taken to wearing. The specs, which he began sporting after his 2012 presidential bid, seem to lend him a bit of needed gravitas — though a spokesman once assured us that they are, in fact, prescription lenses, not a mere clear-glassed accessory designed to make us forget his campaign-trail “oops” moments.

And while Perry benefits from their suggestion of bookishness, he would be the first president in modern history to publicly and regularly wear eyeglasses — we haven’t seen a commander-in-chief regularly sporting specs since Harry Truman and those round wire-rims. Not that all POTI in the last half-century have had 20/20 vision, it’s just that they might slip on a pair of readers (like George W. Bush) or occasionally wear dad glasses (like George H.W.).