Obama or Romney: History has shown, by the ages of most US presidents, younger does matter

Obama or Romney: History has shown, by the ages of most US presidents, younger does matter

 

Dilemma X

Some Americans feel the age of a president at their first inauguration should coincide with the more current time period. Many American voters think a president should be able to relate to current trends and the future generations that will follow. Today, this time is one being born post 1960.

Those who were born in the late 1940s grew up in with World War II being freshly groomed in their lives. They also grew up in a divided United States, one that had legal racial segregation and legal discrimination against women of any race. They either enjoy seeing the changes in America or they long for how America use to be. Those who were born in the 1940s are now entering the age of retirement. Many people, older and younger, question why should this age group decide the future for America.

The people born after 1960 grew up post World War II and post the Korean War. They were young people who grew up during the Vietnam War or grew up after the end of this war. Those born after 1960 saw, in their younger years, the end of Apartheid in South Africa. This age group saw the end of the Cold War, while they were young or are growing up post Cold War. People born after 1960 grew up in a legally racially integrated society. Thus, they better understand how to view the changing world and less likely to hold on to some traditions of the past.

The questions from those born after 1960, including the youth, might be should one born in the 1940s determine the future of health care, the future of social security, the future of domestic infrastructure spending, the future of the education system and the future of foreign policy?

The inauguration of the President of the United States takes place during the commencement of a new term of a President of the United States, which is every 4 years on January 20. Prior to the Twentieth Amendment, the date was March 4, the day of the year on which the Constitution of the United States first took effect in 1789; the last inauguration to take place on the older date was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first one on March 4, 1933.

The last 2 presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both served 2 terms. Bill Clinton was born August 19, 1946 and is currently 65 years old, the same age as Mitt Romney. When Clinton was inaugurated at age 46, he was the 3rd-youngest president and was the first president of the baby boomer generation and the first elected at the end of the Cold War.

George W. Bush  was born July 6, 1946 and is currently age 65 and is also the same age as Mitt Romney. George W. Bush was age 54 at his first inauguration.

President Barack Obama, born August 4, 1961, became the 5th-youngest person inaugurated as President, at 47 years. Obama will be only 51 years old at his 2nd inauguration, should he win re-election.

 
Mitt Romney, the 2012 presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was born March 12, 1947 and is 65 years old. Should Romney be elected President he would be older than all U.S. presidents other than 2: William Henry Harrison (who was age 68) and Ronald Reagan (who was age 69).

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001, will be age 66 at the time of the next inauguration. He will have been out of office for 12 years and is now once again a private citizen.

George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009, will be age 66 at the time of the next inauguration. He will have been out of office for 4 years and is now once again a private citizen.
________________________________________________________

______________________________________________

Ages of U.S. Presidents at inauguration

*George Herbert Walker Bush was born June 12, 1924 and was age 56 when he was inaugurated Vice President on January 20, 1981.
_______________________________________________
Vice Presidents who have become president after the death or resignation of their predecessor
The 9 are:

John Tyler – on death of William H Harrison in 1841
Millard Fillmore – on death of Zachary Taylor in 1850
Andrew Johnson – on assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865
Chester Arthur – on assassination of James Garfield in 1881
Theodore Roosevelt – on assassination of William McKinley in 1901
Calvin Coolidge – on death of Warren G Harding in 1923
Harry S Truman – on death of Franklin D Roosevelt in 1945
Lyndon B Johnson – on assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963
Gerald R Ford – on resignation of Richard M Nixon in 1974
Gerald Ford was nominated to become Vice President after the resignation of Spiro Agnew in 1973, and then became President after the resignation of Nixon in 1974 – Ford  is  the only person to serve as Vice President and President without having been elected to either office.
_________________________
There have been only 14 Vice Presidents who ascended to the Presidency
5 were elected:

Thomas Jefferson was the only person to serve one term as vice president [John Adams 1797-1801] and two terms as president, 1801 to 1809. In addition Jefferson was the only incumbent vice president to run against an incumbent president.

Martin Van Buren is the only person to serve one term in each capacity. He was vice president for Andrew Jackson, 1833 to 1837 and elected president from 1837-1841.

Richard Nixon is the only person to serve two terms as Vice President and be elected to two terms as President. He was vice president for Dwight Eisenhower from 1953-1961, and elected president from 1969-1973. He won re-election but resigned from office on August 9, 1974.

John Adams was a two term vice president and one term president. Adams served as vice president for George Washington from 1789 to 1797, and served as president from 1797-1801.

George Bush was a two term vice president and one term president. Bush served as vice president for Ronald Reagan from 1981-1989 and served as president from 1989-1993.