With Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump is now the oldest candidate who-would-be-president in American history. Given that one of Trump’s many knocks on Biden was his age, I wondered how the ages of US presidents for the last 100 years compared.
If you are not an historian or presidential trivia buff, you might be shocked. I was.
Take Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Perhaps it is the scratchy recording of “A date that will live in infamy” or photos of him in a wheelchair that lead us to believe FDR was in his 70s whilst in the Oval Office. But, he was only 59-years-old when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1942.
Many of the photos we have of early- to mid-20th century presidents would lead one to believe they were much older while in office than they were. Consider this photo of President Warren G. Harding, taken c 1920[1]. It would be a reasonable guess that Harding was in his mid-60s at the time, or even a youthful 70-years-old. The fact is, he was around 54 years old when it was taken. He died in office at the age of 57.
Calvin Coolidge, who, having served a single term as president, died at the age of 60, less than four full years after leaving office.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served as president after serving as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, the first supreme commander of NATO, the president of Columbia University, was in office between the ages of 62–70. He died at 78.
Lyndon Johnson, our 36th president, died at the age of sixty-four, having already looked 74 for several years, likely owing to his Texas upbringing and the Vietnam War.
Ronald Reagan, who most people think of as the “old president,” assumed office while he was still 69 years old, and, after serving two full terms, left office younger than Donald Trump is now. Jimmy Carter was elected when in his early 50s, JFK his early 40s, Bush 43 assumed office at 64-years, Bill Clinton at 46-years, and Bush 45 at 54-years.
Barack Obama was 47-years-old when he took office. Obama looks the “old head” now, but in 2024 he’s the same age as FDR when he died. You’ll never convince me Obama looks older than Harding or Roosevelt.
Even Richard Nixon, who always looked retirement-age to me, became president at a mere fifty-six.
But, recently, America has developed a problem with aged politicians, a tsunami of near- or past-retirement-aged national office holders. In 2023, the average age of the full US congress was 58-years, with the Senate at 64-years. At that time, however, there were sixteen senators 75-years or older, with four of them over eighty. The House had twelve aged 80-years or more, but more than sixty from 70–79.
One could argue that varied ages of the congress offset the oldest in these bodies. But, in the same year, there were only 36 House members under the age of forty. Well, no one really knows how old lying liar George Santos is, so asterisk that.
Did you know the United States military has mandatory retirement ages for its officers? (See here also.) They are sixty-two, sixty-four, and in some cases sixty-eight. A friend in the Army told me it’s rare even for generals to go past the mandatory age.
Which brings us back to the presidency. If the military recognizes the need for its leaders to retire between 62 and 68, why should the Commander-in-Chief of that military be eighty-one or seventy-eight? The United States is in a real predicament when the candidates for the two-major parties are both beyond mandatory Medicare age, beyond the age at which you must begin 401(k) withdrawals, and years into the age of cognitive decline[2]. Since the major parties’ dominance and money effectively shut out the minor parties’ chances of fielding a younger, competitive candidate, the ages of the Democratic and Republican candidates matter. Whether Kamala Harris will win or not remains to be seen, but doubtless at least some of the enthusiasm about her candidacy is due her being the youngest looking and youngest acting—and the actual youngest—potential president in the last three election cycles. Compared to Harris, Trump shows exactly what he is: a weakened, flailing golfer on the 17th or 18th hole of life.
I cannot imagine the complexities of the presidency. I do not want to experience those complexities. Being an average 60-year-old is more than enough for me to handle. I’m smart enough not to run for president. Yet, during this election cycle the mental acumen of both Joe Biden (until withdrawal) and Donald Trump (both before and after Biden’s exit) should have run up every red flag across the land. Trump is not mentally sharper than Biden, he just talks more and rants louder. Trump’s speeches are a doom-loop of complaints, name-calling, and self-aggrandizement: He’s best Republican president since Lincoln? Trump believes it. He had a bigger crowd than MLK on the national mall? Trump believes it. Biden is going to come back during the DNC and reclaim his place as presidential candidate? Trump apparently believes that, too.
There will likely not be an amendment to the Constitution limiting the top age of a president as there is a bottom age. Americans, as divided as we are, should agree that 75 or 80 is too old to be in congress or the Oval Office. (We’ll save the Supreme Court for another time.) This is especially true given the wealth of young leaders this country regularly produces. And we should vote accordingly.
fides quaarens intellectum
[1] – By Harris & Ewing – http://www.old-picture.com/american-legacy/003/President-Harding-Warren.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149910416
[2] – I can’t help but think both Trump and Biden are both experiencing cognitive decline, albeit with different presentations. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/mild-cognitive-impairment
