# How many US Presidents have there been in your lifetime? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913 "2013-03-25T14:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/21 "2013-03-25T15:56:10Z")
Five. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/22 "2013-03-25T16:00:24Z")
Twelve, though Truman was only president for four months of it. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/23 "2013-03-25T16:18:08Z")
These 13: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945 Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953 Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963 Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969 Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974 Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977 James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981 Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989 George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993 William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001 George Walker Bush, 2001-2009 Barack Hussein Obama, 2009- ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/24 "2013-03-25T16:26:49Z")
12 for me, although I don’t really remember much about the Truman years. But I definitely remember campaign buttons saying “I Like Ike.” And like Panache45, I was a freshman in college when JFK was assassinated. Back then, there was only one TV in the dorm and not that many radios in dorm rooms. I remember many of us clustered around a single radio (on a windowsill to improve reception). ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/25 "2013-03-25T16:29:17Z")
I was born a few months after JFK was assassinated so I’m only up to nine. I don’t remember Johnson as President but I remember standing in line to view his casket here in Austin. I can remember talking trash about Nixon and being upset that the hearings preempted my afterschool TV shows. I first voted in the Reagan election. ---
**Author:** ![ombre12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d26b3c/32.png) [@ombre12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre12)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/26 "2013-03-25T16:43:12Z")
Thirteen. But don’t remember Roosevelt at all. The first President I do remember was Truman. I thought it was so neat that he sounded just like Gene Autry. And Eisenhower sounded surprisingly like Clark Gable. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/27 "2013-03-25T16:44:36Z")
Nine since birth. Although I was conceived during the Kennedy Administration, and was thus _technically_ alive, I didn’t count that. 😉 ETA: The first one I _remember_ is Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/28 "2013-03-25T16:50:08Z")
1. And I listed them before looking at the cheat sheet. I like this thread - it makes me feel young \*and \*smart! ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/29 "2013-03-25T16:54:21Z")
Seven, though I only remember 5 of them. Actually, the first memory I have of being aware there was such a thing as a President was the Reagan shooting, when I was confused about why they were pre-empting my cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/30 "2013-03-25T16:59:39Z")
Nine. I have vague memories of Carter’s election. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/31 "2013-03-25T17:09:00Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > 10 for me. I remember all of them except JFK. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/32 "2013-03-25T17:14:00Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I woke up this morning with the thought that some US citizens must have lived from the terms of George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, as only 64 years separated their terms of 1st and 16th POTUS. Truman … Obama = 12. Thanks for the list, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/33 "2013-03-25T17:18:24Z")
8 Starting with Richard Nixon who was inaugurated 5 days before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/34 "2013-03-25T17:34:31Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > These 13: > > Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945 > Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953 > Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961 > John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963 > Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969 > Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974 > Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977 > James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981 > Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989 > George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993 > William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001 > George Walker Bush, 2001-2009 > Barack Hussein Obama, 2009- Me too. One of my earliest memories is the shock the day Roosevelt died (I was 8). Nitpick: I thought it was Harry S Truman. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/35 "2013-03-25T17:43:23Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Me too. One of my earliest memories is the shock the day Roosevelt died (I was 8). > Nitpick: I thought it was Harry S Truman. That’s how I’m remembering it, too. The S stood for nothing but a middle initial. I was 3 when FDR died. I only have bits and pieces of real memories of Truman, but have picked up a lot from newsreels and documentaries since that time. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/36 "2013-03-25T17:43:33Z")
1. I was born during Eisenhower’s first term. The first I remember was JFK. Both for the Space Race and his assassination. We were called out of class to gather around the flagpole to say the pledge of alliegence, and all the teachers were crying. I didn’t understand what had happened until I got home and my parents explained it. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/37 "2013-03-25T17:51:27Z")
8 so far; Nixon was the first. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/38 "2013-03-25T18:24:58Z")
Eight but the first President I have memories of is Carter. ---
**Author:** ![Terra1041](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Terra1041](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terra1041)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/39 "2013-03-25T18:48:54Z")
I was born during Reagan’s presidency, so 5 for me. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913/40 "2013-03-25T18:51:23Z")
Seven, though I don’t remember Gerald Ford at all. My great-grandmother (born 1900, lived to be 105) would have seen nineteen presidents in her lifetime, as would my great-grandfather (1888-1984) if you count Cleveland twice. Someone who was born early in 1837 and lived to be just over 96 would have lived under _26_ presidents, well over half the American presidents there have ever been. I always find that kind of mind-blowing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-there-been-in-your-lifetime/653913.md?page=3)