Living Presidents of the United States

This is the list of all of the living people who have served as President of the United States at each moment in US history. Due to the line of succession outlined in Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6 (1789), Amendment 20, Section 3 (1933) and Amendment 25, Section 1 (1967), there has never been a point where there is no "acting" United States President, meaning that from the point of death or resignation of one United States President, the powers of the office are immediately passed to his successor under US law.

Table

tatistics

* There have been six men who have been the only living United States President, the first being George Washington from his inauguration to the inauguration of John Adams; the last being Richard Nixon, from the death of Lyndon B. Johnson on January 22, 1973 to his resignation on August 9, 1974.

* During three periods in United States history, there have been six men alive to have been United States President. At the two later points where there were six living presidents (1993-1994 and 2001-2004) all six men were inaugurated consecutively. The most recent period, the longest of the three at over three years, ended with the death of Ronald Reagan.

* 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 Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy, who were themselves the only United States Presidents to die during their presidencies. Conversely, only twice, during the Presidencies of Grant and Nixon, has there been as many as three during a Presidency. (Again, 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 of there being no Presidential deaths or changes. 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 26 years, 6 months and 20 days, between the deaths of George Washington on December 14, 1799 and the death of Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826. The shortest came immediately after the longest, in the approximately five hours between the death of Jefferson at around 12:50 PM and the death of John Adams at approximately 6:00 PM. [DiGregorio, William A. "The Complete book of U.S. Presidents." New York: Barricade Books, 1994 (Fourth Printing). ISBN (Pbk.), pp 31 & 51. ]

* 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 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.

Trivia

*The instance of six consecutive living presidents (meaning that there were five living ex-Presidents) was the basis of a short-form cartoon, "The X-Presidents" by animator Robert Smigel, which portrayed the living ex-Presidents as having super-powers and occasionally saving the world. The series disregarded Nixon's 1994 death, running with the five ex-Presidents from 1997 until the time of Bill Clinton's induction into the group of ex-Presidents, at the time of his succession by George W. Bush.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/a_lifesp.htm Graphic table of Presidential Lifespans]