Photo Gallery: Pop Culture’s Smartest Men Looking Smart in Shorts

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Were you aware that there are actually people who think it is “childish” or “unmanly” for guys to wear shorts? That means there is a segment of the population that openly advocates wrapping a man’s legs in constrictive fabric as the hot summertime sun beats down upon them without mercy.

I think those people are insane, and that’s why I heartily endorse Hamilton Nolan’s encouragement at Gawker to future short wearers everywhere: “To these young men — the future of our country — I say: wear shorts. Wear shorts all you want. Especially when it is hot.” To push the point a little further, we’ve selected a handful of images of smart dudes wearing shorts to prove that a little short action won’t make you any less serious or masculine.

Arthur Miller: great playwright that married Marilyn Monroe and proudly wore shorts.

Haruki Murakami: Japan’s greatest living writer has no problem wearing shorts.

Allen Ginsberg: great beard, famous poet, and wearer of shorts (when he wasn’t posing naked for photos).

Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot? More like waiting for the perfect time to break out his shorts.

Bret Easton Ellis: are shorts Empire or post-Empire?

Ernest Hemingway: Papa knew how to rock a pair of khaki shorts.

You basically hate humanity if you don’t approve of this photo of Leonard Cohen wearing shorts.

Norman Mailer will fight you if you make fun of his jorts.

Albert Einstein wore shorts. This basically makes it 100% fine to put them on.

Bob Benson: almost as great as Einstein

William Faulkner masters the art of chilling out while wearing a pair of shorts.

F. Scott Fitzgerald knew that This Side of Paradise is a place where men wear shorts.

How can you argue with Kurt Vonnegut looking like he’s having such a great time? Let’s chalk it up to a combination of the dog and the shorts.

Happiness is: Vladimir Nabokov chasing butterflies in a pair of shorts.

Sing it with me: J.F.K. wearing shorts, what else do I have to say… We didn’t start the fire…

Hemingway, again.