Living Presidents of the United States

The current living presidents (left to right): George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.

This is the list of all of the living people who have served as President of the United States at each moment in U.S. history.

There have been six time periods when there was only one living President, first with the inauguration of President George Washington in 1789, and most recently during the presidency of Richard Nixon following the 1973 death of Lyndon B. Johnson. There have been three time periods when six living current or former Presidents co-existed, with the longest and most recent being a three-year period starting with the 2001 inauguration of George W. Bush. If one includes future Presidents, there have been at least four time periods when eighteen (see "Statistics", below) different Presidents co-existed.

Due to the line of succession outlined in Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6 of the United States Constitution (1789), Amendment 20, Section 3 (1933) and Amendment 25, Section 1 (1967) to the Constitution, there has never been a point where there is no acting President, meaning that from the point of death, resignation, or term end of one United States President, the powers and duties of the presidency are immediately passed to their successor under U.S. law, even before that person takes the oath of office.

This article includes a list of all of the living people who have served as Vice President of the United States at each moment in U.S. history, including the record seven starting with the 1993 swearing-in of Al Gore.

Table

Gallery

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  1909 to 1913: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft

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  1924 to 1929: William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge

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  1933 to 1945: Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt

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  1945 to 1953: Harry S. Truman, Herbert Hoover

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  1972 to 1973: Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson

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  1981 to 1989: Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon

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  1989 to 1993: Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter

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  1994 to 2001: Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford

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  2006 to 2009: George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter

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  2009 to present: George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter

Statistics

• There have been six men who have been the only living United States President (no former President being alive): George Washington (1789–97, being the first president), John Adams (1799–1801, following Washington's death), Ulysses S. Grant (1875–77, following Andrew Johnson's death), Theodore Roosevelt (1908–09, following Grover Cleveland's death), Herbert Hoover (1933, following Calvin Coolidge's death), and Richard Nixon (1973–74, following Lyndon B. Johnson's death).
• During three periods in United States history, there have been six men alive to have been United States President. The first such period was in 1861-62 (when Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln were alive). During the two later periods (1993–94 and 2001–2004) all six men were inaugurated consecutively. 1993-94 period had Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton as the living Presidents and 2001-2004 period had Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as the living Presidents. The most recent period, the longest of the three at over three years, ended with the death of Ronald Reagan.
• Richard Nixon is the only man to have been both an only living United States President (1973–1974) and one of six living presidents (1993–1994).
• There have been nineteen Presidencies during which a United States President has not died, the most recent being the Presidency of George H.W. Bush. This does not include the presidencies of William Henry Harrison, James A. Garfield, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy, who were themselves the only United States Presidents to die during their presidencies without any former president dying, or the presidency of incumbent Barack Obama, though no president died since Gerald Ford, who died during George W. Bush's presidency. Conversely, only twice, during the Presidencies of Grant and Nixon, has there been as many as three during a Presidency. (This does not count the presidency of Lincoln, whose death was the third during his term.) The longest streak of Presidencies without a Presidential death is four, as no United States President died during the terms of Ford, Carter, Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
• Because of his serving 3+ terms, Franklin Delano Roosevelt holds the distinction of serving over the longest period during which no Presidential deaths or changes occurred. The only other United States President alive during his term was Herbert Hoover, whose Presidency had ended with a period of time when he was the only living United States President and who outlived Roosevelt by nearly twenty years.
• The longest period between deaths of United States Presidents was the 26 years, 6 months and 20 days between the death of George Washington on December 14, 1799 and Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826. The shortest was the five hours between the death of Jefferson at around 12:50 PM and the death of John Adams at approximately 6:00 PM on July 4, 1826, which immediately followed the longest.^[1]
  • If the longest period between deaths is to be exceeded, no President must die before November 20, 2033 (both the current oldest and the second oldest surviving Presidents, George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, would then be 109 years old).
  • The second longest was the 21 years and 3 months between the deaths of Lyndon B. Johnson on January 22, 1973 and Richard Nixon on April 22, 1994.
• Only three times, in 1826, 1862 and 1901, have two United States Presidents died in the same year. The first, mentioned above, was the only time that two have died on the same day. The second, between the deaths of Tyler and Van Buren, happened 187 days apart, and the third, between Benjamin Harrison's death and McKinley's assassination, happened 185 days apart.
• Harry S. Truman died December 26, 1972, just 25 days before Nixon's second term began. Lyndon Johnson died on January 22, 1973, just two days after Nixon's second term began. They died only 27 days apart, yet in two different years and two different Presidential terms.
• If one includes future as well as past and current Presidents, the record sits at eighteen, on four occasions:
  • Between Rutherford B. Hayes's birth on October 4, 1822 and Thomas Jefferson's death on July 4, 1826, the following presidents were alive: John Adams, Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Hayes. This list includes every President from the 2nd to the 19th Presidents (March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1881).
  • Between Benjamin Harrison's birth on August 20, 1833 and James Madison's death on June 28, 1836, the following presidents were alive: Madison, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, W. H. Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, and B. Harrison. This list includes every President from the 4th to the 23rd Presidents (March 4, 1809 - March 4, 1893) with the exception of the 5th President James Monroe (March 4, 1817 - March 4, 1825) and the 22nd President Grover Cleveland (March 4, 1885 - March 4, 1889).
  • Between Grover Cleveland's birth on March 18, 1837 and William Henry Harrison's death on April 4, 1841, the following presidents were alive: J. Q. Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, W. H. Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, and B. Harrison. This list includes every President from the 6th to the 24th Presidents (March 4, 1825 - March 4, 1897), counting Cleveland as both the 22nd and 24th Presidents.
  • Between William McKinley's birth on January 29, 1843 and Andrew Jackson's death on June 8, 1845, the following presidents were alive: J. Q. Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, B. Harrison and McKinley. This list includes every President from the 6th to the 25th Presidents (March 4, 1825 - September 14, 1901) with the exception of the 9th President William Henry Harrison (March 4, 1841 - April 4, 1841).
• Since January 20, 1981 - a period of 7009110589840000000♠35 years, 16 days - there have been at least four presidents living, by far the longest such period in history.

Living Vice Presidents of the United States

This table shows the vice presidents alive at each moment in history. When a Vice President and a President are inaugurated at the same time, the inauguration of the president is listed as the start or end event.

References

External links

• Graphic table of Presidential Lifespans