# The most living presidents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-living-presidents/271212 "2004-10-26T08:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-living-presidents/271212/1 "2004-10-26T08:22:58Z")
At what times has the U.S. had the most living presidents, current and former? I believe the record is six, and it occurred from Clinton’s first inauguration until Nixon’s death, and from Bush 43’s inauguration until Reagan’s death. IIRC there were also six at some point in the the 19th century, but I can’t remember when. Just ignore anomalies such as the man who was technically president for a day because so and so didn’t want to assume office on a Sunday, blah, blah, blah. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-living-presidents/271212/2 "2004-10-26T09:41:06Z")
[A previous thread on this subject.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=260041) Everybody counts in different ways to answer different specific questions, so I’m not sure what the final answer to your is. It seems to me that there were six current and former Presidents until Reagan died (Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush) and that’s the most I know of. Including past, current and future Presidents: > [@anson2995](#): > > The record, though, is 18 living presidents, first established with the birth of Benjamin Harrison in 1833. The number fluctuated between 17 & 18 with various births and deaths until 1845, and never got that high again ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-living-presidents/271212/3 "2004-10-26T12:50:33Z")
If you wish to include future presidents, then you must fix the date decades in the past. It’s quite plausible we will elect a President who would be 65 or perhaps even 72 at the time of his or her election. It’s not beyond reasonable expections that someone born in 1945 may still be elected in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-living-presidents/271212/4 "2004-10-26T13:33:42Z")
Somebody on this board, about a year ago, quoted a passage that I found to be one of those “trivia facts you feel good about knowing, even though they’re pointless” of a particular joint session of Congress at which there were something like seven or eight Presidents – past, present, and future – all in one place at one time. I don’t have the referent nor do I remember it well enough beyond that basic fact to search for it, though. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-living-presidents/271212/5 "2004-10-26T13:43:31Z")
From [USA Presidents Info](http://www.usa-presidents.info/) > [@](#): > > There have been two other periods during which five former presidents were alive: > > - From March 4 , 1861 , to January 18 , 1862 , Martin Van Buren , John Tyler , Millard Fillmore , Franklin Pierce , and James Buchanan were living (during the Lincoln Administration , until the death of Tyler). > > - From January 20 , 1993 , to April 22 , 1994 , Richard Nixon , Gerald Ford , Jimmy Carter , Ronald Reagan , and George H. W. Bush were living (during the Clinton Administration , until the death of Nixon) This of course was tied in the GW Bush administration with Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton until the death of Reagan. Side bar- the record for having the most presidents die during a presidency is 3. Lincoln set this mark when Tyler, VanBuren, and finally Lincoln himself died during his term. Grant tied the record by having Pierce, Fillmore, and Johnson die. Nixon was the last to tie this record with Eisenhower, Truman, and LBJ dying during his term.