News Flash on July 30, 2015 from CNN.com:
“Health issues resulting from a blood clot in 2012 are resolved and Hillary Clinton is physically fit to serve as president, her personal physician says.”
“”Mrs. Clinton is a healthy 67-year-old female” whose current medical conditions include a thyroid condition and seasonal allergies, Dr. Lisa Bardack, Clinton’s doctor since 2001, wrote in a health statement provided by Clinton’s campaign.”
67 years old! How old is everyone else running for president?
When I put that question into google, I found an on line article, “Why is the 2016 Democratic field so old?”
The author, Byron York, wrote:
“There are five Democrats who have either declared or are thinking about running for president. Three — Joe Biden, Bernard Sanders, and Jim Webb — will be over 70 years old on Inauguration Day 2017. Frontrunner Hillary Clinton will be nine months short of 70. Only Martin O’Malley, who will turn 54 a couple of days before the 2017 swearing-in, has not reached retirement age already.”
“In 2008, Democrats had a 47 year-old candidate who mesmerized the party and ran away with the votes of Americans aged 18 to 29. Republicans, meanwhile, ran a 72 year-old man whose reputation was based on heroism in a war 40 years earlier. Youth won.”
“This time the situation is reversed. The average age of the Republican field is far below the Democrats, with every candidate younger than Clinton. The most senior is Jeb Bush, who will be 64 on Inauguration Day. Scott Walker will be 49; Marco Rubio will be 45; Ted Cruz, 46; Rand Paul, 54; Chris Christie, 54; Mike Huckabee, 61; Bobby Jindal, 45. Although Bush is in the older range, they’re all in the career sweet spot to win the White House.”
Sweet spot? Youth won?
According to Wikipedia, “the average age of accession is 54 years and 11 months. . . .At 69, Ronald Reagan was the oldest president to take office.”
For those trivia buffs, here it is:
“PRESIDENTS: AGE AT INAUGURATION”
“We look first at the ages of our Presidents, from oldest-to-youngest, on the day that they assumed office. The oldest President, Ronald Reagan, was inaugurated just 17 days short of his 70th birthday and was nearly 78 years old when he left office in 1989. He fared much better than the second oldest, William Henry Harrison, who was 68 on Inauguration Day 1841 and dead one month later. The youngest President ever was Theodore Roosevelt, who assumed office upon President McKinley’s assassination and wasn’t elected in his own right until 1904. The youngest person to be ELECTED President was John F. Kennedy.”
Age | President | (Term as President) 69 years, 349 days: Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) 68 years, 23 days: William Henry Harrison (1841) 65 years, 315 days: James Buchanan (1857-1861) 64 years, 223 days: George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) 64 years, 100 days: Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) 62 years, 98 days: Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) 61 years, 354 days: Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) 61 years, 125 days: John Adams (1797-1801) 61 years, 26 days: Gerald Ford (1974-1977) 60 years, 339 days: Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) 58 years, 310 days: James Monroe (1817-1825) 57 years, 353 days: James Madison (1809-1817) 57 years, 325 days: Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) 57 years, 236 days: John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) 57 years, 67 days: George Washington (1789-1797) 56 years, 107 days: Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) 56 years, 65 days: Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) 56 years, 11 days: Richard Nixon (1969-1974) 55 years, 351 days: Grover Cleveland-2nd term (1893-1897) 55 years, 196 days: Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) 55 years, 122 days: Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) 55 years, 87 days: Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) 54 years, 206 days: Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) 54 years, 198 days: George W. Bush (2001-2009) 54 years, 151 days: Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) 54 years, 89 days: Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) 54 years, 34 days: William McKinley (1897-1901) 52 years, 253 days: Jefferson Davis (1861-1865) [Confederate President] 52 years, 111 days: Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) 52 years, 20 days: Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) 51 years, 350 days: Chester Alan Arthur (1881-1885) 51 years, 170 days: William Howard Taft (1909-1913) 51 years, 33 days: Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) 51 years, 30 days: Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) 51 years, 8 days: John Tyler (1841-1845) 50 years, 184 days: Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) 49 years, 304 days: James Garfield (1881) 49 years, 122 days: James K. Polk (1845-1849) 48 years, 101 days: Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) 47 years, 351 days: Grover Cleveland-1st term (1885-1889) 47 years, 169 days: Barack Obama (2009- ) 46 years, 311 days: Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) 46 years, 149 days: Bill Clinton (1993-2001) 43 years, 236 days: John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) 42 years, 322 days: Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
This Boomer Grandma was surprised at the information.
But, times have changed. We Boomers are forever young. We are healthier and more vibrant. Experience matters . . .and with age comes wisdom. Or is the author above right? Sweet spot? Youth won?
Apparently, age is making news in this election. Let’s see how many articles are written in this vein and whether age ultimately affects the outcome of the election. For one, this Boomer Grandma does not like late sixties being called “old.” I’ll accept middle aged.
We have a long way to go!
Joy,
Mema
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