The Age Of Presidents

When Bob Dole ran for president in 1996 he was 73 years. He would have been the oldest president ever elected. My Aunt Vi, a lifelong Republican, refused to vote for him because she thought he was too old for the job. She had a right to judge the matter since she was then 88 years old.

In fact only 10 of 44 presidents have been in their 60s when inaugurated. Reagan was the oldest, he turned 70 just weeks after the swearing in, and fans think he could do no wrong. But while in office he had cancer and many of us thought he was becoming vaguer and less focused than usual in his second term. Iran-Contra anyone?

The record for other presidents in their 60s is mixed but worrying. Ike had a couple heart attacks while in office, leaving Nixon in putative control. James Buchanan is certainly one of the worst presidents ever, but that may not have been age related. On the other hand, both William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor died shortly after taking office so their age was clearly a problem. Andrew Jackson wasn’t a healthy man during his tenure, though he lived another eight years.

Truman and George H.W. Bush were spry and had long lives after leaving office. But the actuarial tables suggest, at the least, that the choice of Veep looms large for geriatric candidates. John McCain would have been 72 if elected and it can be argued that his choice of the obviously unprepared Sarah Palin helped scare the nation straight to Barack Obama.

At the other end of the spectrum, there have been 9 presidents in their 40s. Many were non-entities, Pierce, and Garfield. Others were a little unprepared for the job though undeniably energetic — Kennedy, Clinton, Obama. Only one was unquestionably consequential — T.R. And that leaves just over half of our presidents who have been in their 50s when inaugurated.

This issue is of interest because of the developing field for 2016. Until Mitt Romney pulled the plug on himself, he and Hillary Clinton were shaping up as among the oldest candidates with the potential to become president after only Reagan, Dole and McCain. Ms. Clinton would be 69 when inaugurated and 77 at the end of two terms.

Too old? You have to wonder. I know 100 is the new 80, but still. Romney was trying to put the best face on finding no enthusiasm for his candidacy when he bowed out, but he did suggest it was time for a younger generation to come to the fore. But, and there’s always a but, how young is too young? The 50s seem like the sweet spot for presidential greatness — Washington, Lincoln, FDR. Old enough to know the ropes, not so old as to be crotchety, rigid, out of touch.

With that in mind, the Republican field for 2016 contains a few who will be nearing retirement age by January 2017 — Jeb Bush, 63, Huckabee, 61, Rick Perry, 66, Carly Fiorina, 62, Lindsay Graham, 61, John Kasich, 64. Others would be in their 50s — Mike Pence, 57, Christie, 54, Rand Paul, 55.

And then there’s the callow or bumptious youths — Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio, 45, Ted Cruz, 46, Paul Ryan, 47, Scott Walker, 49. It may be hard for the party that complained that Clinton at 46 and Obama at 47 were too young for the job to consider these people, but hypocrisy is the mother’s milk of politics

One can argue, of course, that many senators and corporate titans serve long into their 70s and later. But a Buffett can work from a room in Omaha, doesn’t have to circle the globe and if he makes a misstep only damages himself and his shareholders. No bombs explode, children starve or soldiers die. Berkshire closes off a few points for a week or two. He can fix his error before the books close on the quarter. Empires don’t totter.

The record on senators and judges is more of a cautionary tale. For every long-serving member with a keen intellect, there’s a William O. Douglas, wheelchair bound and less than lucid hanging on long enough for a Democrat to be elected to name his replacement, or a Strom Thurmond decades past his sell-by date.

And the presidency is a lot more strenuous and soul-sapping than most other jobs. It’s all individual, of course. Some of us are old before our time, some forever young. But voters can be expected to ask themselves, as my Aunt did of Dole, is Hillary too old for the job? And conversely, to ask of her many possible Republican opponents, is this guy too young, untried, inexperienced to entrust with such power? They are questions worth asking. Before it’s too late.

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