An 11-Year-Old Girl Convinced Abraham Lincoln to Grow His Beard.
Though Abraham Lincoln’s beard is now an indelible part of his image, it didn’t come into existence until after he’d won the presidential election in November 1860. Lincoln decided to grow out his whiskers in part thanks to some well-meaning advice from a young supporter. The beard won public approval and may have helped keep Lincoln safe from an assassination plot in 1861.