From Biden to Kennedy: The storied tradition of a shirtless POTUS

Then-President Barack Obama celebrated the start of 2012 by swimming at Pyramid Rock Beach in Kaneohe Bay during his annual holiday vacation. | Pete Souza/The White House

When you’re the president of the free world, it seems, it only takes a little bit of skin to get a heck of a lot of attention.

A photo of President Joe Biden standing shirtless this Sunday on Delaware’s Rehoboth Beach went viral this weekend, drawing hundreds of thousands of views on social media. It even sparked some flattering comparisons between the 80-year-old president and Hollywood sweetheart Ryan Gosling, who stars as the Ken whose “job is just beach” in the summer blockbuster “Barbie.”

The surprising swoon over the bare-chested Biden doesn’t mark the first time the internet has gone wild over a shirtless POTUS. In 2020, former President Barack Obama also caused quite a stir when paparazzi caught him paddleboarding in Hawaii.

But the Biden beach bonanza does offer a friendly reminder that elected officials don’t spend all their time in stuffy suits or poorly lit offices, even if people seem flabbergasted when they learn otherwise.

So, to disprove those rumors — and, of course, because there seems to be such a big appetite for this stuff — POLITICO put together a slideshow of past presidents having some fun in the sun.

People on the beach call out to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, second from left, as he body surfs in Honolulu, Hawaii, during a 2008 vacation. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Then-President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton dance on the beach of Magens Bay, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, in January 1998. | Paul J. Richard/AFP/Getty Images

Then-President Bill Clinton swims with his daughter Chelsea at a Honolulu hotel beach in July 1993. | Mike Sargent/AFP/Getty Images

Then-President George H.W. Bush talks with a Coast Guard official on his speedboat Fidelity in August 1989, while preparing to dive into the ocean in response to a dare from one of his sons. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Then-President Ronald Reagan tosses a coconut during a midday break at Kahala Beach, in the midst of a stroll and swim in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Monday, April 23, 1984. | Scott Stewart/AP Photo

Then-President Gerald Ford takes his first swim in the new White House pool on July 5, 1975. | David Hume Kennerly/National Archives and Records Administration

Then-President Gerald Ford prepares to take a swim at the new swimming pool of the White House on July 10, 1975. | STR/AFP/Getty Images

Then-Vice President Richard Nixon (left) poses in swim shorts on Dec. 31, 1957, while spending a holiday vacation on Key Biscayne, Florida. | AP Photo

Then-President Lyndon B. Johnson and two guests play with a ball in the swimming pool at LBJ Ranch, near Stonewall, Texas, circa 1968. | National Archives and Records Administration

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson sits with his dog, Yuki, and grandson, Patrick Lyndon Nugent, in the swimming pool at the LBJ Ranch. | LBJ Presidential Library

Then-President John F. Kennedy smiles, surrounded by fans, on August 19, 1962, after going for a swim in the ocean behind his brother-in-law's home in Santa Monica. | Bill Beebe/The Los Angeles Times via AP Photo

Then-President Harry Truman lands a 6-pound grouper while on vacation in Key West, Florida, November 22, 1946. | Harry S. Truman Library & Museum

Then-Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt swims in a pool in Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1929. Roosevelt first traveled to Warm Springs with the hope of finding a cure for his polio. | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum