It suddenly occurred to me that it is forty years since Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976.
Besides making me feel old, that raises a question: is Carter the former President who has lived the longest after his election?
I did a quick Excel spreadsheet, and unless I did something wrong, yes he is. The top 5 are (rounded, so possibly +/- 1 year):
- Carter
- Hoover - 31 years
- Ford - 29 years
- John Adams - 25 years
- George H.W. Bush - 23 years and counting
He broke the record for the longest post-presidency a little more than four years ago, so I think he has to be.
Yes. Looks like Carter tops that list. Hoover and Ford bring up the 2 and 3 spots.
Obama may be able to put in a showing on that list. Check back in 2048 to see how he is doing at age 87.
And he’s done something worthwhile with every one of those years. (Unlike so many others, some much younger.)
Damn near an American saint, if ya ast me.
Jimmy Carter? History’s greatest monster?
I wonder too if it’s an indication the presidents (Reagan excepted, maybe? And this election…) have been getting younger?
It used to be that to be an elder statesman/statesperson accepted by the party elite, and building a country-wide reputation, a candidate needed to be fairly advanced in years. Modern communication, the primary system and mass media, means that someone could go from unknown nationally to party candidate in 4 years, no matter what their age.
then of course, modern medicine means that conditions of the elderly that could have been fatal years ago - even something as simple as pneumonia - can be effectively treated oday.
Presidents haven’t been getting noticeably younger - here’s a list of Presidents by age. 5 of the 10 presidents elected before the age of 50 were in the 1800s. Reagan and Bush 41 were two of the oldest. It’s much more likely to be extensions in lifespan, especially for those at the far end of the economic spectrum as ex-presidents generally are.
Candidates* are now expected to be healthy and active much more than before, when I think statesmanlike and . . . I dunno, ‘solid’ were more attractive to voters.
I remember when Bill Clinton was first running for president, he’d be filmed jogging and he’d smile and wave, but he was obviously out of shape and uncomfortable. After years of that, he was clearly much fitter. That type of lifestyle change can add a few years.
- This year is clearly exceptional in any number of ways.
On a related note, James Polk had the shortest retirement of any former President (outside of those who died in office). Polk contracted cholera and died only 103 days after leaving office.
Here’s the thing that interests me: none of the Presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Richard Nixon lived longer than John Adams did.
Now every President since Nixon has either lived longer than Adams (Ford, Carter, Reagan, GHW Bush), or hasn’t gotten there yet but is still alive and in good health (Clinton, GW Bush, Obama).
I suppose Teddy Roosevelt is the oddity, because he was a young war hero picked as vice president who became president by chance at a very early age. I’m surprised to see how young Grant was, but I guess war was a younger man’s game in those days, and he leapfrogged a number of less competent generals.
He also died relatively young, at 60. The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
It turns out that Carter is not just very religious. He’s actually an immortal god.
How about William Henry Harrison? Dying 32 days into office on his first term would make it -1,429 days from his involuntary retirement.
No?
The average life expectancy in the period 1750 to 1800 was 36. The average life expectancy at present is 78. So, yeah, people live a lot longer on average:
http://www.legacy.com/life-and-death/the-liberty-era.html
http://www.legacy.com/life-and-death/future-technology-extends-life.html
Lincoln’s another President who died at a relatively young age. The war wore him down and he looked ancient in photographs. But he was only two months past his 56th birthday when he died.
Anyone who just has to pause a little to deal with brain cancer has to be.
Stats like this tend to be deceptive because infant mortality was so high in most eras prior to the 20th century. I can’t find a quick cite, but there’s an index of adult lifespan assuming individuals reach 15 or 20 or 25 in good health - and that number is much higher, well into the 60s for most populations, 70s for any reasonably civilized culture.
Actually, life expectancy figures from the past are skewed by child mortality, and women dying in childbirth. If you survived your childhood during the late 1700’s, early 1800’s, you weren’t expected to die in your thirties. People commonly did live into their sixties and seventies.
Even the Bible’s Psalm 90:10 says “The days of our years are three score years and ten” which is seventy years.