Without meeting you, [a handwriting expert] can tell you more about yourself than your parents—or even you—know,” he told the audience at the weekly Common Hour lecture, sponsored by The Clarke Forum.

“Handwriting is like a snowflake or DNA— it’s unique to every person, and it gives a complete picture of a personality,” he continued. “There are many secrets that it reveals.”

A former assistant district attorney who acted as a handwriting expert in the 1996 JonBenet Ramsey case and offered professional insights into the candidates for the 2000 presidential election, Grim briefly outlined specific strokes and handwriting characteristics that he believes offer insight into the writer’s generosity, mental health and even suitability as a potential mate.

When asked to analyze the handwriting of the current presidential candidates, Grim, a declared “McCain man,” portrayed Sen. McCain as quick-tempered and impulsive, and Sen. Obama as even-tempered and “cool under pressure.”

Describing handwriting as a “frozen gesture—a snapshot of a person in time,” he also stated that handwriting can change as mental states change, noting that Richard Nixon’s once entirely legible presidential signature had deteriorated to a largely indecipherable “flat line” squiggle by the time he left office under the shame and strain of the Watergate scandal.

In the first Common Hour lecture of the semester, Allan Grim '63 speaks about the controversial practice of graphoanalysis.