Four More Years?

Today is Jimmy Carter's birthday. At 95, he's the oldest ex-President ever.

When George Washington died in 1799, two years out of office and almost 68, he was, of course, the oldest ex-President.  And then when the President who followed him, John Adams, lived to be 90 years and 247 days--dying, as you'll recall, on July 4th, 1826--he set the record for oldest President for some time to come. (The two who followed him, Jefferson and Madison, both lived well into their 80s--something very few presidents in the 1800s managed.)

The next President to live 90 years--though not as long as Adams--was Herbert Hoover, who died in 1964.  Adams' record was finally broken by Ronald Reagan, who lived 93 years and 120 days, dying in 2004.  That record was broken soon after by Gerald Ford, who was President before Reagan but born after.  Ford lived to be 93 years and 165 days, dying in 2006.

That record was broken by George H.W. Bush, who lived to be 94 years and 171 days, dying less than a year ago in 2018.  Since then, Jimmy Carter, who was born several months after Bush, has surpassed him in longevity.  Will Carter become the first Presidential centenarian?

By the way, we've got three living Presidents who are pretty close in age--Donald Trump, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  They're all 73, having been born in in June, July and August of 1946. We've never had three President so close in age.  Two front-running Democrats for 2020 are actually older--Bernie Sanders was born in 1941 and Joe Biden was born in 1942. Time will tell if they get to be in the running for the oldest living ex-President.