Dead Presidents

Any man was once a little boy and every little boy remembers haircuts. And with them, barbershops, the smell of witch hazel and talcum powder. But this is not about those icons of the 50s and 60s.
Some may recall those absolutely hideous (OK, maybe to you they were funny) calendars and other wall hangings featuring a group of dogs playing cards. There was usually a Carduid calendar (I still don’t know what that is but I think it had something to do with regularity - a word you don’t hear much these days!)
But in almost every barbershop and many other businesses for that matter - was usually a picture of Dwight Eisenhower -Ike, at the time our president and not dead yet. Within a few short years his portrait was either replaced or joined by John F. Kennedy.
Where did they all go? I haven’t been to a barbershop in maybe 20 years - OK a hair salon maybe - and these usually have pictures of waif looking young women or slick looking young men modeling their hair and whatever they happen to be wearing.
Now my step-grandmother (don’t ask me to explain that term) Nonnie, kept two pictures on her mantel: the Pope and JFK. She was Catholic so that is at least part of the explanation. But I don’t see many of these pictures any more. There are probably a few Reagan’s around but can you imagine a portrait of Bill Clinton or George Bush hanging anywhere (Federal Government offices excepted)? Didn’t think so. OK recently I saw a hand-drawn crayon rendition of Pres. Bush in an elementary school classroom.
So what happened to our culture between the 50s and now? That’s way too big a question for this little essay but how come we don’t see pictures like these on the wall anymore?
Did television make everyone too familiar so we don’t need a visual reminder? Did it have something to do with admiration? I am always surprised at the names that make it onto the Ladies-Home-Journal-Most-Admired-List every year and to be quite honest, even though he arguably might be doing a better job that anyone ever thought him capable of, I don’t really admire President Bush. I like him, voted for him, but admire? Not yet.
Eisenhower, JFK and the Pope were larger-than-life characters. I still remember the day Kennedy was shot. Our school in Dallas was almost empty because so many parents took their children out of school to go line up along the President’s fateful route through town. President Bush has been to our Missouri town several times and maybe a few hundred have gone to watch him land, drive or takeoff. Well, I forgot about one stump speech he gave for then-Senator-Talent and the place was packed.
I think I can answer my own question: Presidents are just that. President. Yep we have only one but with 24 hour news channels, we can see him several times a day without even trying; so why would we put his picture on the wall? I’m not even sure where you can go to buy a picture of the President. E-Bay?
If he wins the war on terrorism, finally figures out what to do with Iraq and somehow figures out Social Security and the Mexican border before his second term ends; perhaps in the next decade or so we’ll find a few pictures of Pres. George Bush in your corner barber shop; that is if we still have barbershops.