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97 years 247 days
Bess Truman lived the longest of all First Ladies.
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This is a list of U.S. First Ladies by longevity. Women who were married to the President, but never were the wife of a sitting President, due to death or divorce before the Presidency, or due to remarriage after the Presidency, are also listed. Where the person in question is still living, the longevity is calculated up to December 1, 2006.[1]
Two measures of the longevity are given - this is to allow for the differing number of leap days occurring within the life of each First Lady. The first column is the number of days between date of birth and date of death, allowing for leap days; the second column breaks this number down into years and days, with the years being the number of whole years the First Lady lived, and the days being the remaining number of days after her last birthday.
Rank |
First Lady |
Date of birth |
Date of death |
Longevity |
days |
years/days |
1 |
Bess Truman |
February 13, 1885 |
October 18, 1982 |
35,675 |
97y 247d |
2 |
Lady Bird Johnson |
December 22, 1912 |
|
34,312 |
93y 344d |
3 |
Jane Wyman↓ |
January 4, 1914 |
|
33,934 |
92y 331d |
4 |
Mary Dimmick Harrison# |
April 30, 1858 |
January 5, 1948 |
32,756 |
89y 250d |
5 |
Edith Bolling Wilson~ |
October 15, 1872 |
December 28, 1961 |
32,580 |
89y 74d |
6 |
Betty Ford |
April 8, 1918 |
|
32,379 |
88y 237d |
7 |
Anna Harrison |
July 25, 1775 |
February 25, 1864 |
32,356 |
88y 215d |
8 |
Sarah Childress Polk |
September 4, 1803 |
August 14, 1891 |
32,121 |
87y 344 d |
9 |
Edith Roosevelt |
August 6, 1861 |
September 30, 1948 |
31,831 |
87y 55d |
10 |
Lucretia Garfield |
April 19, 1832 |
March 14, 1918 |
31,374 |
85y 329d |
11 |
Nancy Reagan |
July 6, 1921 |
|
31,194 |
85y 148d |
12 |
Frances Cleveland~ |
July 21, 1864 |
October 29, 1947 |
30,414 |
83y 100d |
13 |
Mamie Eisenhower |
November 14, 1896 |
November 1, 1979 |
30,301 |
82y 352d |
14 |
Helen Taft |
June 2, 1861 |
May 22, 1943 |
29,938 |
81y 354d |
15 |
Barbara Bush |
June 8, 1925 |
|
29,761 |
81y 176d |
16 |
Pat Nixon |
March 16, 1912 |
June 22, 1993 |
29,683 |
81y 108d |
17 |
Dolley Madison |
May 20, 1768 |
July 12, 1849 |
29,637 |
81y 53d |
18 |
Rosalynn Carter |
August 18, 1927 |
|
28,960 |
79y 105d |
19 |
Grace Coolidge |
January 3, 1879 |
July 8, 1957 |
28,675 |
78y 186d |
20 |
Eleanor Roosevelt |
October 11, 1884 |
November 7, 1962 |
28,515 |
78y 27d |
21 |
Louisa Adams |
February 12, 1775 |
May 15, 1852 |
28,216 |
77y 93d |
22 |
Julia Grant |
January 26, 1826 |
December 14, 1902 |
28,080 |
76y 322d |
23 |
Abigail Adams |
November 11, 1744 |
October 28, 1818 |
27,002 |
73y 340d |
24 |
Martha Washington |
June 21, 1731 |
May 22, 1802 |
25,891 |
70y 324d |
25 |
Lou Henry Hoover |
March 29, 1874 |
January 7, 1944 |
25,485 |
69y 284d |
26 |
Julia Gardiner Tyler~ |
July 23, 1820 |
July 10, 1889 |
25,189 |
68y 352d |
27 |
Caroline Fillmore# |
October 21, 1813 |
August 11, 1881 |
24,766 |
67y 294d |
28 |
Eliza McCardle Johnson |
October 4, 1810 |
January 15, 1876 |
23,844 |
65y 103d |
29 |
Jacqueline Kennedy |
July 28, 1929 |
May 19, 1994 |
23,761 |
64y 295d |
30 |
Florence Harding |
August 15, 1860 |
November 21, 1924 |
23,473 |
64y 98d |
31 |
Margaret Taylor |
September 21, 1788 |
August 14, 1852 |
23,337 |
63y 328d |
32 |
Mary Todd Lincoln |
December 13, 1818 |
July 16, 1882 |
23,226 |
63y 215d |
33 |
Elizabeth Monroe |
June 30, 1768 |
September 23, 1830 |
22,729 |
62y 85d |
34 |
Rachel Jackson^ |
June 15, 1767 |
December 22, 1828 |
22,470 |
61y 190d |
35 |
Laura Bush |
November 4, 1946 |
|
21,942 |
60y 27d |
36 |
Caroline Harrison† |
October 1, 1832 |
October 25, 1892 |
21,939 |
60y 24d |
37 |
Ida McKinley |
June 8, 1847 |
May 26, 1907 |
21,901 |
59y 352d |
38 |
Hillary Clinton |
October 26, 1947 |
|
21,586 |
59y 36d |
39 |
Lucy Webb Hayes |
August 28, 1831 |
June 25, 1889 |
21,121 |
57y 301d |
40 |
Jane Pierce |
March 12, 1806 |
December 2, 1863 |
21,084 |
57y 265d |
41 |
Abigail Fillmore |
March 13, 1798 |
March 30, 1853 |
20,105 |
55y 17d |
42 |
Ellen Louise Wilson† |
May 15, 1860 |
August 6, 1914 |
19,805 |
54y 83d |
43 |
Letitia Christian Tyler† |
November 12, 1790 |
September 10, 1842 |
18,929 |
51y 302d |
44 |
Ellen Lewis Arthur^ |
August 30, 1837 |
January 12, 1880 |
15,475 |
42y 135d |
45 |
Hannah Van Buren^ |
March 8, 1783 |
February 5, 1819 |
13,117 |
35y 334d |
46 |
Martha Jefferson^ |
October 19, 1748 |
September 6, 1782 |
12,364 |
33y 311d |
47 |
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt^ |
July 29, 1861 |
February 14, 1884 |
8,235 |
22y 200d |
(^) indicates that this woman died before her husband became President.
(†) indicates that this woman died while her husband was President.
(↓) indicates that this woman divorced her husband before he became President.
(~) indicates that this woman married her husband while he was President.
(#) indicates that this woman married her husband after he had finished his Presidency.
- ^ It is anticipated that this article be updated on the first day of each month.