Whether or not Abraham Lincoln's beard helped him get elected in 1860 is unclear, but we can say that photography played a key role in his success. Having been born in Kentucky and raised in Indiana, the presidential candidate feared that voters would view him as a "country bumpkin," as InsideHook puts it. As a result, Lincoln was incredibly grateful to photographer Matthew Brady for taking a picture of him with a sophisticated look and a dignified suit; that photograph helped improve Lincoln's reputation nationwide, and he later cited it as one of the key reasons he won the presidency.
However, the Science and Media Museum points out that the first practical processes for color photography weren't developed until the 1890s — several decades after Lincoln's death. But that doesn't stop us from visualizing what Lincoln would have looked like in color. Pictured above is a digitally colorized version of a photograph of President Lincoln taken on November 8th, 1863 by Alexander Gardner — just two weeks before Lincoln delivered his iconic Gettysburg Address. In this picture, you can see Lincoln's tan skin creased by premature, stress-induced wrinkles; likewise, his dark brown hair has some early white streaks. Lincoln was only 54 at the time, but the piercing gaze of his grey eyes makes him seem much older. Of course, you can also see Lincoln's iconic brown "whiskers," which do help his thin face seem fuller. For that, we can thank young Grace Bedell.