The greatest number of Presidents, both inaugurated and to be inaugurated, alive at anyone time …
…that we know about (of course there could be many future Presidents alive now, but we don’t know who they are yet) and who could, theoretically, have met, is 18. This has happened four times, the first in 1826 and the last in 1845.
On July 4 1826 as two of the founding fathers of the United States, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both lay on their death beds, 16 other Presidents were alive which meant that 18 out of the first 19 Presidents of the United States were alive and had been since October 4th 1822 when Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio.
With the death of Adams and Jefferson, the number of extant Presidents would not reach 18 again until Benjamin Harrison was born August 20th 1833 in North Bend Ohio. The number remained at 18 until the death of James Madison on June 28th 1836.
On March 18th 1837 Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey and once again 18 Presidents were alive. The untimely death of William Henry Harrison on April 4th 1841 after less than a month in office brought the number down to 17.
The total reached 18 for the last known occasion with the birth of William McKinley on January 29th 1843 in Niles, Ohio. The number remained at 18 until the death of Andrew Jackson on June 8th 1845.
The greatest number of currently inaugurated Presidents alive at any one time …
…is, perhaps surprisingly, six. This has happened only three times:
On March 4th 1861 Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as 16th President of the United States. Accompanying him that day was James Buchanan the outgoing President. Four other previous Presidents were still alive: Martin van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce. These 6 remained alive until the death of John Tyler on Jan 4th 1862.
It was not until 1993 that the figure reached 6 once again. On January 20th 1993 William Jefferson Clinton became the 42nd President. Alive on that day were Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr.
When Richard Nixon died on April 22nd 1994 in New York City the number dropped to 5 but once again became 6 when George Walker Bush was inaugurated January 20th 2001.
The death of Ronald Reagan on June 5th 2004 and Gerald Ford on December 26th 2006 make the current number of extant Presidents just four. It could be many years before we reach six again.
Longest Surviving President after leaving Office
This accolade goes to Herbert Hoover. He left office on March 4th 1933 and died in New York City on October 20 1964, a total of 31 years, 7 months and 17 days.
If the youngest surviving President, Bill Clinton is to beat that record he has to live past September 6th 2032 when he would be 86 years old.
If Jimmy Carter wants to break the record he only has to survive until September 7th 2012 when he will be almost 88 years old.
George Bush Snr. the only other surviving President who could break Hoover’s record would have to live to September 7th 2024 when he would be 100 years old!
States Where Most Presidents were Born
8 Presidents were born in Virginia. In fact, 7 of the first 12 were born in Virginia:
George Washington , Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and Zachary Taylor. The only other Virginian was Woodrow Wilson.
It may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that Ohio with 7 Presidents comes next and that all 7 Presidents took office between 1869 and 1921. They are:
Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield (that’s 3 in a row!), Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley William Taft and Warren Harding.
Why Ohio should provide so many Presidents in such a short space of time is quite a mystery.
States Where the Most Presidents Died
Although only 4 Presidents were born in New York State, 9 died there making it the most lethal State for Presidents:
James Monroe, Martin van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S Grant, Chester Arthur, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon were the New York fatalities.
Although 7 Presidents were born in Ohio, only one, Rutherford Hayes, died there.
In fact the second most dangerous place for Presidents is Washington D.C. where John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson and Dwight Eisenhower all died.
Of the 50 states, Presidents have only been born or died in 22 of them plus D.C.
Longest Time Period Between Presidential Births
The longest gap between the birth of a President and someone else who would become President is the 21 years 9 months and 5 days being the time between the birth of Jimmy Carter on October 1st 1924 and George W Bush on July 6th 1946.
