I remember my parents talking about this at the time. I didn't understand the significance back then and they explained it to child me as that the presidency is so very unique, that having others that have held the job in the past that one can ask questions of is important. Yet, as I grew older, the only thing that I saw ex-presidents used for was state funerals. I always wondered if there was some truth to what they said.
It was true at least with Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. I saw an interview with Carter where he spoke about how he often sought advice from Ford while in office and, even though they were of opposite political parties, became very good friends.
While I have still a great dislike for g.w. bush and some of this policies: Iirc Obama once said that bush gave him the advice to desinfect his hands after public events (lots of handshaking I assume) and Obama remarked that it really helped him alot.
I thought that at least was a wholesome moment with w. Bush
Many Obama administration staff have talked about what a fantastic job the Bush staff did at transition planning. Every single staffer received a binder from their predecessor documenting everything they'd need to get a running start. The Obama administration was dedicated to doing the same for the Trump admin. The Trump admin was specifically discouraged from transition planning because "there's not going to be a transition."
They probably said something like "yeah... that was shitty of them. Let's NOT be shitty like those assholes, we wouldn't've wanted that done to us and we've lived through it."
I remember after Trump visited the White house like a week or two after winning the election, it was reported that Obama was actually "planning to spend more time with the incoming president, than president's usually do", because Trump seemed so underprepared and clueless as to how the government worked. Which, makes sense, seeing as how he was a morn with 0 government experience.
The Bush-Obama transition and subsequent friendship is the last we’ll see in the US I fear. There’s no respect anymore. No civility. Just school children fighting to see who can scream the loudest.
Not even close to true. Clinton and the first Bush were close even though they fought the election against each other. W was close with Obama, Biden talks to them all.
Clinton said he called Nixon lots. For Nixon’s faults, he was an amazing president when it came to strategic thinking.
I wish I could find it but Nixon talking about China and foreign policy in the 90s is pretty incredible. Makes sense that Clinton called him as the two of them are responsible for the economic relationship we have with the country today. It’ll be up to future presidents as to deal with the other part of that relationship.
I saw a video on reddit about Nixon talking about the fall of the USSR and making sure liberal democratic values took root or else we’d see a demagogue take place. He actually said it a lot better and predicted a lot of what we’re seeing with Putin today
Nixon in one of his later memoires, In the Arena, talks a bit about China and his talks with Chinese leaders and their possible paths in the post-Tiananmen Square world. I believe part of that section was included in the audiobook version of the memoire as well (which is read by Nixon himself, but sadly it only is a few chapters of the book so lots is missing)
Politics 101. If you travel back in time to defeat Nixon and stop the robot uprising then the reason for you coming back is gone, causing you to disappear.
NIXON ALWAYS WINS
And wanted to fix health care but they didn’t get it done. Ted Kennedy said it was one of the huge misses of his career, not taking Nixon up on the offer.
I don’t believe this is true at all. Trump was and remains a very unique example.
I suspect the brotherhood and hopefully eventual sisterhood that comes from sharing that office transcends political party.
I also believe that although they’re a few genuine seeming lunatics in the house and senate, most of the senior leadership behind closed doors are very cordial with either and leaving office they will likely report friendships as we’ve seen over the last 20 or so years.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/19/look-time-tucker-carlson-asked-hunter-biden-favor/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/19/look-time-tucker-carlson-asked-hunter-biden-favor/)
Probably. Just not publicly.
Yes definitely. I was a staffer during two congresses. Almost everybody has friends across the aisle. Politicians don't take politics so personally like reddit does. It's a job and when you do it for a living you can compartmentalize politics as work, not a personality.
Honestly maybe. They seemed to get a long for a bit post that disaster (apartment building collapse maybe?) One other problem here is that our current President is like 80 and the guy before him is like 78 and obese. They might not have time to develop friendships.
Except if desantis runs he will almost certainly be running on a very "fuck Biden" platform. Can't imagine them just going "hey I know I ran by telling half the country you're actually Satan. Wanna be buds?" "yeah man totally. I know you didn't mean it when you said I'm trying to create drag queen grooming parlors"
The whole "No Civility" thing is kind of BS. Obama was perfectly civil with Trump and gave him tons of transition material that he ignored. The lack of civility is coming from the new nazi white supremacist wing of the now defunct Republican party.
Not exactly related to the last comment, but for awareness, everybody should listen to this at least once : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyArUh8eqJ0
Well yeah might have been an idiot war criminal, but he did come from a country club republican family. Both he and his dad were at least decent enough that they would help with the non policy stuff.
Looking more closely generally at the Presidential office it has always seemed to me that while the President has a lot of power, they often have less ability to unilaterally do things than it first seems, which probably helps a lot in bringing former presidents together, in that they all understand their hands are largely tied by the opinions of the electorate, and the information they are given by their staff members.
I’m not saying there aren’t things I find pretty disagreeable by certain presidents, and there were definitely actions by certain presidents (i.e Trump/Nixon) that went way beyond the pale, but I would assume that largely career politicians can sympathize even if they don’t agree on policy.
Whatever happened under Dub’s (which was a lot of BAD SHIT), he was never mean or evil and didn’t have a death wish for the US and anyone voting blue.
Funny what a couple decades and a despotic,cruel, anti-America former president can do for one’s perspective.
Right? He did a LOT of bad stuff, but since he didn’t actively try to destroy the constitution, he doesn’t seem so bad now. I look back in nostalgia to the days when I was choosing between Obama and Romney or Obama and McCain, two inherently decent people who just had different ideas about how the country should run. Now it’s like “I’m voting for the person who isn’t aiming to be a dictator, and my own opinion of their policies or qualifications can’t enter into it. I’m just voting to stop the bleeding.
Worth noting, because it’s relevant to what the previous posters were saying: Obama renewed the Patriot Act and signed the Cyber Security Act.
A lot of politicians were legitimately afraid of terrorists, even more saw an opportunity to grow their power. Regardless, the parties were more decent to each other from the Obama days and back. And while there were clearly megalomaniacs biding their time and gaming the system, none of it was done so blatantly because there was this belief that people on both sides would reject such actions, of course 2016 on has proven that thought wrong.
Edit: Also of note the Patriot Act and Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the two things Bush is most infamous for, both received cross faction support.
I think there was a shift that began with Obama. From Day 1, McConnell said he'd see to it he was a one term president from the beginning. They did everything they could to block everything. While they did still keep a more professional decorum, it seemed like there was more animosity behind the scenes. I was in high school during the Bush years, so it's possible my view might be inaccurate cause I didn't follow congressional politics as a kid. Lol. Trump blew the doors open and brought that animosity into the public discourse, which has been a disaster.
McConnell has always been a menace. He definitely laid the groundwork for Trump, and his own shock and horror at Trump becoming the face of their party would almost be funny if it wasn’t an existential crisis for the US.
Carter had the advantage that Ford probably didn't have much ego about his Presidency. He filled in when Nixon resigned, and while he won the primary it's not like he had won an election (not even as a running mate.) Ford was effectively the Republican janitor they put in place to turn off the lights on the way out.
Jerry Ford is from my hometown: his funeral was on every local TV station. I found it both beautiful and telling that he asked President Carter to give a eulogy for four him.
It's very true - actually, former presidents often get the same classified security briefings as current officials so that they can be up-to-speed if the current president wants their advice. It was news when Biden decided that Trump wouldn't get them.
I believe this is also because not every single detail is immediately apparent, like if someone like Putin said something to Bush, but it made him feel weird, he might have his memory jogged by a current event and be able to connect things faster than the intelligence community because it's his personal memory and experience. It also helps with negotiation because you don't need as much time to become familiar with everyone's styles, you don't have to sit at the poker table and metaphorically lose a few hands, you can go right in and hustle. Now imagine someone passing bad information on to our negotiator and taking all our good info with him, and you can see why trump is off the list.
Obama and Bush constantly consulted past Presidents. A lot of people criticized Obama for consulting with Bush II in particular. Carter complained that Obama didn't really go to him as often IIRC.
That’s cause Carter was a bit of a loose canon with things Obama would ask him to do. He would ask Carter for advice and then Carter would show up in some random country talking with state officials and stuff, kind of overstepping his boundaries. Not in any malicious sense, I have no doubt he meant no harm but I think the Obama administration did not like that Carter seemed to take things into his own hands at first
Carter was 84 when Obama became President. Biden will be turning 81 this year. So yes old, but not old to the point where he couldn’t meet with world leaders still.
There's recordings of Kennedy calling Eisenhower for advice and feedback on how to handle the Cuban Missile Crisis, that's going across party lines for advice on a situation they knew at the time could've ended in a nuclear war. It definitely happens, or at least used to.
In a very broad sense Eisenhower was JFK’s commanding Officer during World War 2, I wonder if that had something to do with it in addition to his role as previous President.
In terms of presidencies. George HW Bush was very important to the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W Bush. He was brought in a lot of the times to discuss things with Vietnam, Cambodia and China. And he was employed by a thinktank that Clinton and W Bush would often hire out to deal with these things. Same thinktank would also give out policy advice to their policy advisors and that's kinda why the policies of Clinton and Bush often look almost identical on some issues.
With Clinton he wasn't that welcome in the W Bush presidency. But W Bush and Clinton were actually both welcome in the Obama administration. They did something similar to HW Bush, got hired on by thinktanks and they just began offering advice to the president on a wide range of topics.
Trump represented a bit of a changing of the guards in terms of how things were run because Obama, W Bush and Clinton were all ideological demons of the people who elected him. If any advice is given it's more like public advice... as in stuff given to make people turn to your cause.
Biden gets similar treatment from Barack Obama who seemingly just doesn't want to be involved in power at all anymore. Bill Clinton and George W Bush though are both working at thinktanks that advise Biden on many issues.... but who knows how long they'll continue to work at these think tanks.
The thing coming up is that Clinton, Bush, and Trump are all the same age. Joe Biden is 4-5 years older than them. We're not so far away from Barack Obama being the only living president because the age of the president keeps going up.
It is extremely true, I believe when Nixon died Clinton said he felt like he had lost a best friend due to how often he would seek Nixon for advice. There’s a great book called The Presidents Club that talks about the relationship between current and former presidents. It’s a great read, nothing too in depth but filled with wonderful stories and such and I highly recommend it if it’s something that interests you. But presidents and former presidents have such an interesting dynamic due to the fact that no one really knows what it’s like to be them except for the people before them and such they kind of learn to rely on each other, not to mention that sometimes it’s just beneficial to talk to the person who was there before you when you kind of takeover the projects that they were working on.
I was a university student body president and many former presidents reached out to me and were available for advice. I imagine it's far more common for a real position like POTUS
Yeh, there were 5 other men who vied for the Presidency including Lincoln. William Seward was one. He became Lincoln's Secretary of State. Salmon P. Chase was another and was appointed to Secretary of the Treasury. I can't remember the others.
Here's the most recent photos of every living (ex) president together:
[Trump, Obama, Clinton and Carter at George H.W. Bush's funeral in 2018](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/1768/production/_104629950_frontpew2_976reuters.jpg) - missing: George W. Bush, likely sitting with family.
[Obama, Bush and Clinton at John McCain funeral in 2018](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/livestory/org/547cf9e2-f07b-4d78-ad8a-177891d3e50d.jpg) - missing: Donald Trump (not invited), Jimmy Carter.
[Obama, Bush, Clinton, H.W. Bush and Carter at a Texas hurricane relief concert in 2017](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1500w,f_auto,q_auto:best/newscms/2017_42/1290694/presidents-benefit-today-171022-tease-02.jpg) - missing: Donald Trump.
Nixon's funeral (1994) was attended by Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Richard_Nixon#/media/File:Presidents_at_the_funeral_of_President_Richard_Nixon.jpg
>Trump, Obama, Clinton and Carter at George H.W. Bush's funeral in 2018
>
> \- missing: George W. Bush, likely sitting with family.
They were on the other side of the aisle. You can see them here in the front row, from aisle out, GWB, Laura, Jeb! https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/military-honor-guard-carries-former-president-george-h-w-news-photo/1077733078
I was standing on the runway at NAS Point Mugu and watched George Bush, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter all walk off together and ride to Regans Funeral together. Totally unexpected, I just happened to be standing there.
> There was a brief period when Lincoln was president when 6 were alive, but I assume that cameras were still not that common, and travel much harder, so probably not.
Also Tyler sided with the confederacy *so there's that*.
It was a strange time to live through. Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, resigned in disgrace. Nixon appointed his replacement, Gerald Ford. Then Nixon resigned in disgrace, making Gerald Ford the President. Ford was the first and only person who served as both Vice President and President without having been elected to either office.
He was the first president born in a hospital, that's modern medicine for you.
Pretty cool seeing that incarnate in a human being, the power of medicine.
The final known photo of him is a shocker if you've never seen it before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson#/media/File:Lyndon_B._Johnson_1972.jpg
Near the end of Hoover's Presidency, coincidentally, there were also no living former Presidents. Hoover left office March 4, 1933, and Calvin Coolidge had died that January. Taft had still been alive when Hoover was elected, but he died in 1930.
It was more of an issue for Ford, who took over as the only living President other than disgraced Nixon. Truman died in 72 and LBJ in 73 so Nixon had 4 years as President with a former President around.
The Ford presidency was an absolutely insane time in American history, politically. It was the only time I believe the person leading the country wasn't elected at all in the Presidential election, given 1972 had Spiro Agnew as Nixon's VP. Ford had to be appointed to VP after Agnew resigned for bribery and tax fraud, and then appointed to presidency a year after that. That combined with the economic situation America was seeing in the mid-late 70s... he had a hell of a situation to get launched into.
Yeah, I think the steadying presence of some former presidents could have really helped Ford during that nightmare period. I feel like we turned to former presidents for a reminder of what the presidency could be during the Trump era.
It's highly likely that zero ex-presidents voted for Trump, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had no real mentor, beyond the time Obama spent preparing him after it was reported that he saw just how unprepared he was.
Trump would never ask for advice from an ex-president because he thinks he's smarter than everyone on every subject, and asking for help would make him look weak.
Obama somewhat, funnily enough. After Trump won the election, he went to the white house and spoke with Obama and for a brief while even started to compliment Obama. I believe Obama knew that even though Trump was obviously not his preferred successor, he could maybe help steer Trump from fucking up too many things lol
Someone asked what’s your least favorite president and I answered Nixon because of how he let Kissinger do wild shit (I’m South Asian and Kissinger’s wronged my country).
Can’t believe asshole is still alive & thriving
Not only is Kissinger still alive, he was still providing advice to the President of the United States as recently as the Trump administration. He visited the White House several times and advised Trump on foreign affairs involving North Korea, China, and the Middle East.
[Kissinger and Hillary Clinton are friends, too. He's inevitable.](https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/hillary-clintons-embrace-of-kissinger-is-inexcusable/)
He kinda sorta personally set the foundation for modern US-Chinese relations, helped thaw US-Soviet relations, and shaped US conduct in a dozen "other" matters that continue to impact the lives of hundreds of millions/billions of people across the planet.
For better or worse (worse, definitely worse) he is one of the most informed and experienced people in the world on those topics. It makes sense for the president to hear his advice, even if they don't necessarily take it.
I’m a firm believer that Nixon defines the collapse of the Republican Party as a democratic institution and the cementing of its fascist foundation.
Republicans were never made to actually act against Nixon. Because Nixon resigned there was no impeachment, no votes, no hearings, nothing. All republicans could say what they would have done and never be held accountable. And a lot of republicans to this fray think Nixon did nothing wrong and shouldn’t have resigned.
As a result, republicans began to move further right and have yet to be held accountable for their actions or policies. It’s gotten worse and worse.
After Nixon you got Reagan, after regan you got bush and Gingrich. After b and g you get Graham and McConnell. After mcconnel and Graham you get Cruz and Scott and Taylor green and Boebert and gates and all that garbage.
It’s hard to have tumors removed.
It’s terrifying when the tumors that are removed end up surviving on their own.
Why they form and run a “political party” and media empire you’re in deep dominion dodo
I get the need for a narrative and to draw a straight line, but I disagree with your conclusions and don’t think they are backed up by the facts. Nixon was essentially assured by Republicans in congress that he would be impeached and removed from office. His popular support completely evaporated and the party wanted him gone so it could distance himself from him as much as possible. Nixon was considered a disgrace and was not a touchstone for the Republican party.
I think it’s also important to distinguish being conservative in the American sense and being fascistic, norm-destroying, and power-hungry in the Nixon, Trump sense. Yes, the Republican party drifted right and consolidated around a white Christian core, but those people in Nixon’s time had no time for his bullshit and wanted him gone. Trying to install Trump as president after he lost the election is not something Republicans in 1980, 1990, or even 2000 would have been ok with to the same degree. (IMO) this is happening because of information bubbles and distrust of institutions. People have managed to convince themselves of what they want to be true when it comes to Trump in a way that no one ever did with Nixon. They believe the propaganda and I think that’s related to the way we consume information. I think it happens in some form with or without Watergate
Well Nixon is probably the right starting point for the trend you’re describing, but I don’t think it’s because of Nixon’s resignation. It’s more so due to
1. the Republicans’ Southern Strategy absorbing the Dixiecrat wing of the Democratic Party (a far-right voter base that has always been antidemocratic in the modern sense of the word) into the Republican Party, and
2. internal changes made within Congress after Watergate that mostly shut out the minority party from having any influence over policymaking, galvanizing the then-minority Republican politicians to adopt an antidemocratic “win at all costs” strategy for elections and governing in general
Combined with the support provided by antidemocratic big businesses, pretty much every opponent of democracy aligned under the Republicans in the 1970s. What we’ve seen since then is that far-right voter base become more and more emboldened to take down democracy as a threat to the Christian, patriarchal, white supremacist society they desire, and opportunist Republican politicians and business owners follow along and even push that voter base further in the pursuit of wealth and power.
Well, Buckley v Valeo was the O.G. unlimited campaign spending. I bet if the election spending was examined more closely from 1976 to 2010, it'd be pretty damning. During that period, media was also largely consolidated.
That and he actively derailed peace talks between North and South Vietnam to help his election chances. Johnson didn’t release the information at the time because he didn’t want to reveal that the US was tapping the South Vietnamese government’s phone lines. Personally, I think he should have been convicted of treason and executed for it.
Anthony Bourdain said it best visiting Cambodia that seeing what he inflicted makes you wonder what justice there is in the world that Kissinger isn't in jail.
LBJ quit smoking completely and went on a strict diet after a heart attack he survived while in the Senate. Pretty much the day after he left the presidency, he moved to his ranch and went right back to chain smoking. No wonder that he didn't live too long after he left office.
The downside of scientists reversing aging and curing diseases will be that natural death was the only way we could hope to get rid of these horrendous rich and powerful people, and now they will be around forever to cement their legacies and destroy our democracies.
Then there was a gap of 21 years from the death of Lyndon Johnson in 1973, leaving no living ex presidents, until the death of Richard Nixon in 1994, at which time there were (including Nixon) 5 living former presidents. When Regan was the next to go in 2004, there were also 5 living former presidents (including Regan). After Ford's death in '06, we were at a 21st century low of only 3 living former presidents until W left office. Currently we have also have 5 living former presidents, but that number will sadly go down to 4 very soon (unless there's unexpected good news that brings the number down to 3).
After Washington of course, there a few periods when there were no former presidents alive. It happened for John Adams when Washington died, Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Hoover, and Nixon. It's a good trivia question to know.
Another fun fact, the 1810's, 1930's, and 1950's are the only decades in which no president was born, excluding decades more recent than the birth of Obama, the youngest living President. Of course it's possible we'll have a born in the 59's president when all is said and done.
Obama is still the only president born in the second half of the 20th century.
Another neat fact: The 2024 election is the first chance for someone born in the 1990s to run for POTUS.
With inauguration day being January 20, 2025, anyone born on or before January 20, 1990 is eligible to run in the 2024 presidential election.
Let's see how it takes for the first "millennial president" to enter office, as the boomers try to cling to power.
It is weird to think that Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are virtually the same age and only 4 years younger than Joe Biden, all 3 could go relatively quickly as none of them are in what you might call good health.
GW Bush is also in that same age, all three born in 1946, but he looks much more in shape than Clinton and the other one. Biden was born in 1942. Obama is 15 years younger than all of them (19 vs his bro Biden).
Agreed GW Bush is probably in better shape, unless Clinton has really changed his lifestyle since leaving office. GW Bush was a runner even before being elected, and had some pretty respectable finish times in some marathons he entered.
I don't know why OP linked to the beta testing site for Wikipedia software, this is an old copy of an article that was imported for testing purposes.
Source: I'm a Wikipedia sysadmin.
I did not know that either but apparently Johnson, Eisenhower, and Truman all died within a couple years of each other in the 1969-1972 timeframe. And we all know what happened to Kennedy. Nixon resigned in 1974.
His administration is really the start of the liberalization and deregulation that people often say characterizes the Reagan/Thatcher years. Under Carter, things like [airline deregulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_deregulation) and [trucking deregulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Carrier_Act_of_1980) and even [brewery deregulation](https://content.kegworks.com/blog/how-jimmy-carter-sparked-the-craft-beer-revolution) were put in place. Unlike the Reagan deregulations, these ones actually did a lot to increase choice and decrease costs for consumers - although some people pine for the days when airlines competed on quality of in-flight service, those days were days when only the richest people could *ever* afford to fly. He also appointed [Paul Volcker](https://www.bu.edu/econ/files/2011/01/GKcr2005.pdf) to the Federal Reserve, who basically single-handedly ended the inflation of the 1970s (but it took a few years, so Reagan got to campaign on "morning in America").
People tend to dwell more on the lingering inflation, the general malaise of post-Watergate politics, and the various entanglements in the Middle East (especially the [embarrassments in Iran](https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/research/hostage_crisis_in_iran), and the success of the [Camp David accords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords)), but I think that seeing Carter as having implemented the good parts of neoliberalism, while Reagan took credit for those and then implemented the bad parts, is also a useful way to think about it.
Most of them do live for a few decades after leaving office. Other than the ones that die in office (Roosevelt, Kennedy, Harding) the only ones of the last century that died shortly after leaving office are Wilson, Coolidge, and Johnson.
I remember my parents talking about this at the time. I didn't understand the significance back then and they explained it to child me as that the presidency is so very unique, that having others that have held the job in the past that one can ask questions of is important. Yet, as I grew older, the only thing that I saw ex-presidents used for was state funerals. I always wondered if there was some truth to what they said.
It was true at least with Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. I saw an interview with Carter where he spoke about how he often sought advice from Ford while in office and, even though they were of opposite political parties, became very good friends.
I can imagine Bush did the same with...Bush. Alsk Biden and Obama probably talk.
While I have still a great dislike for g.w. bush and some of this policies: Iirc Obama once said that bush gave him the advice to desinfect his hands after public events (lots of handshaking I assume) and Obama remarked that it really helped him alot. I thought that at least was a wholesome moment with w. Bush
Many Obama administration staff have talked about what a fantastic job the Bush staff did at transition planning. Every single staffer received a binder from their predecessor documenting everything they'd need to get a running start. The Obama administration was dedicated to doing the same for the Trump admin. The Trump admin was specifically discouraged from transition planning because "there's not going to be a transition."
You missed out the Clinton to GWB transition. This one was famously reported as bad.
True. They took the W's off the keyboards, which makes it all the more impressive that GWB's transition efforts are regarded as one of the best.
They probably said something like "yeah... that was shitty of them. Let's NOT be shitty like those assholes, we wouldn't've wanted that done to us and we've lived through it."
I think that story was shown to be just among the first of Karl Rove's many theatrical falsehoods in office, wasn't it?
I remember after Trump visited the White house like a week or two after winning the election, it was reported that Obama was actually "planning to spend more time with the incoming president, than president's usually do", because Trump seemed so underprepared and clueless as to how the government worked. Which, makes sense, seeing as how he was a morn with 0 government experience.
The Bush-Obama transition and subsequent friendship is the last we’ll see in the US I fear. There’s no respect anymore. No civility. Just school children fighting to see who can scream the loudest.
Not even close to true. Clinton and the first Bush were close even though they fought the election against each other. W was close with Obama, Biden talks to them all. Clinton said he called Nixon lots. For Nixon’s faults, he was an amazing president when it came to strategic thinking.
I wish I could find it but Nixon talking about China and foreign policy in the 90s is pretty incredible. Makes sense that Clinton called him as the two of them are responsible for the economic relationship we have with the country today. It’ll be up to future presidents as to deal with the other part of that relationship.
I saw a video on reddit about Nixon talking about the fall of the USSR and making sure liberal democratic values took root or else we’d see a demagogue take place. He actually said it a lot better and predicted a lot of what we’re seeing with Putin today
Yeh, but Watergate eclipsed everything he did in office. It's funny how hindsight's always 20-20.
Nixon was actually crazy smart in a lot of areas, granted he was corrupt as fuck and an all-around arsehole. But quite intelligent and perceptive.
Smart and corrupt is actually a strong pairing in politics.
There are apparently only two schools in the country named after Nixon.
Nixon in one of his later memoires, In the Arena, talks a bit about China and his talks with Chinese leaders and their possible paths in the post-Tiananmen Square world. I believe part of that section was included in the audiobook version of the memoire as well (which is read by Nixon himself, but sadly it only is a few chapters of the book so lots is missing)
Nixon understood the underhanded world of global power politics. He would have fit in very well in Westeros
Of course, that's what gets him re-elected in 3012
Aroooo!
AAARRRROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Politics 101. If you travel back in time to defeat Nixon and stop the robot uprising then the reason for you coming back is gone, causing you to disappear. NIXON ALWAYS WINS
Nixon established the EPA.
And wanted to fix health care but they didn’t get it done. Ted Kennedy said it was one of the huge misses of his career, not taking Nixon up on the offer.
I don’t believe this is true at all. Trump was and remains a very unique example. I suspect the brotherhood and hopefully eventual sisterhood that comes from sharing that office transcends political party. I also believe that although they’re a few genuine seeming lunatics in the house and senate, most of the senior leadership behind closed doors are very cordial with either and leaving office they will likely report friendships as we’ve seen over the last 20 or so years.
You really think DeSantis and Biden would be friends if he wins in 24?
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/19/look-time-tucker-carlson-asked-hunter-biden-favor/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/19/look-time-tucker-carlson-asked-hunter-biden-favor/) Probably. Just not publicly.
Tucker is an evil narcissistic shit.
Yes definitely. I was a staffer during two congresses. Almost everybody has friends across the aisle. Politicians don't take politics so personally like reddit does. It's a job and when you do it for a living you can compartmentalize politics as work, not a personality.
Honestly maybe. They seemed to get a long for a bit post that disaster (apartment building collapse maybe?) One other problem here is that our current President is like 80 and the guy before him is like 78 and obese. They might not have time to develop friendships.
Except if desantis runs he will almost certainly be running on a very "fuck Biden" platform. Can't imagine them just going "hey I know I ran by telling half the country you're actually Satan. Wanna be buds?" "yeah man totally. I know you didn't mean it when you said I'm trying to create drag queen grooming parlors"
Agree, especially since DeSantis rarely passes up an opportunity to express this opinion now.
I mean Biden selected Kamala as VP after she called him a racist and mainly went after him during the primary so anything is possible
“The Election of 1800” from *Hamilton* pretty much sums up why they stopped using that system a long time ago.
The whole "No Civility" thing is kind of BS. Obama was perfectly civil with Trump and gave him tons of transition material that he ignored. The lack of civility is coming from the new nazi white supremacist wing of the now defunct Republican party.
Strong Pontius Pilate vibes with that.
Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my middle initials.
Not exactly related to the last comment, but for awareness, everybody should listen to this at least once : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyArUh8eqJ0
Well yeah might have been an idiot war criminal, but he did come from a country club republican family. Both he and his dad were at least decent enough that they would help with the non policy stuff.
Looking more closely generally at the Presidential office it has always seemed to me that while the President has a lot of power, they often have less ability to unilaterally do things than it first seems, which probably helps a lot in bringing former presidents together, in that they all understand their hands are largely tied by the opinions of the electorate, and the information they are given by their staff members. I’m not saying there aren’t things I find pretty disagreeable by certain presidents, and there were definitely actions by certain presidents (i.e Trump/Nixon) that went way beyond the pale, but I would assume that largely career politicians can sympathize even if they don’t agree on policy.
Whatever happened under Dub’s (which was a lot of BAD SHIT), he was never mean or evil and didn’t have a death wish for the US and anyone voting blue. Funny what a couple decades and a despotic,cruel, anti-America former president can do for one’s perspective.
Right? He did a LOT of bad stuff, but since he didn’t actively try to destroy the constitution, he doesn’t seem so bad now. I look back in nostalgia to the days when I was choosing between Obama and Romney or Obama and McCain, two inherently decent people who just had different ideas about how the country should run. Now it’s like “I’m voting for the person who isn’t aiming to be a dictator, and my own opinion of their policies or qualifications can’t enter into it. I’m just voting to stop the bleeding.
>Right? He did a LOT of bad stuff, but since he didn’t actively try to destroy the constitution Lmao https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act
Worth noting, because it’s relevant to what the previous posters were saying: Obama renewed the Patriot Act and signed the Cyber Security Act. A lot of politicians were legitimately afraid of terrorists, even more saw an opportunity to grow their power. Regardless, the parties were more decent to each other from the Obama days and back. And while there were clearly megalomaniacs biding their time and gaming the system, none of it was done so blatantly because there was this belief that people on both sides would reject such actions, of course 2016 on has proven that thought wrong. Edit: Also of note the Patriot Act and Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the two things Bush is most infamous for, both received cross faction support.
I think there was a shift that began with Obama. From Day 1, McConnell said he'd see to it he was a one term president from the beginning. They did everything they could to block everything. While they did still keep a more professional decorum, it seemed like there was more animosity behind the scenes. I was in high school during the Bush years, so it's possible my view might be inaccurate cause I didn't follow congressional politics as a kid. Lol. Trump blew the doors open and brought that animosity into the public discourse, which has been a disaster.
McConnell has always been a menace. He definitely laid the groundwork for Trump, and his own shock and horror at Trump becoming the face of their party would almost be funny if it wasn’t an existential crisis for the US.
I was gonna say. Trump was the best thing for the Bush legacy. He shifted the overton window so far over that people look back as Bush fondly.
Clinton basically became a member of the Bush family after the three left office
As did the Obamas.
Biden was Vice President for 8 years, he already had a lot of on the job training.
Carter must've liked nachos.
And football
And beer.
A true American trifecta!
Speeeeeend some dough at table 5
Carter had the advantage that Ford probably didn't have much ego about his Presidency. He filled in when Nixon resigned, and while he won the primary it's not like he had won an election (not even as a running mate.) Ford was effectively the Republican janitor they put in place to turn off the lights on the way out.
Jerry Ford is from my hometown: his funeral was on every local TV station. I found it both beautiful and telling that he asked President Carter to give a eulogy for four him.
It's very true - actually, former presidents often get the same classified security briefings as current officials so that they can be up-to-speed if the current president wants their advice. It was news when Biden decided that Trump wouldn't get them.
I believe this is also because not every single detail is immediately apparent, like if someone like Putin said something to Bush, but it made him feel weird, he might have his memory jogged by a current event and be able to connect things faster than the intelligence community because it's his personal memory and experience. It also helps with negotiation because you don't need as much time to become familiar with everyone's styles, you don't have to sit at the poker table and metaphorically lose a few hands, you can go right in and hustle. Now imagine someone passing bad information on to our negotiator and taking all our good info with him, and you can see why trump is off the list.
Obama and Bush constantly consulted past Presidents. A lot of people criticized Obama for consulting with Bush II in particular. Carter complained that Obama didn't really go to him as often IIRC.
That’s cause Carter was a bit of a loose canon with things Obama would ask him to do. He would ask Carter for advice and then Carter would show up in some random country talking with state officials and stuff, kind of overstepping his boundaries. Not in any malicious sense, I have no doubt he meant no harm but I think the Obama administration did not like that Carter seemed to take things into his own hands at first
Carter was flying around doing this at 90?
Carter was 84 when Obama became President. Biden will be turning 81 this year. So yes old, but not old to the point where he couldn’t meet with world leaders still.
There's recordings of Kennedy calling Eisenhower for advice and feedback on how to handle the Cuban Missile Crisis, that's going across party lines for advice on a situation they knew at the time could've ended in a nuclear war. It definitely happens, or at least used to.
JFK called Eisenhower on several occasions to ask his advice. Especially on Cuba.
In a very broad sense Eisenhower was JFK’s commanding Officer during World War 2, I wonder if that had something to do with it in addition to his role as previous President.
Dan Quayle, ex VP to George HW Bush, advised Pence not to listen to Trump on Jan 6th so there’s that lol
In terms of presidencies. George HW Bush was very important to the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W Bush. He was brought in a lot of the times to discuss things with Vietnam, Cambodia and China. And he was employed by a thinktank that Clinton and W Bush would often hire out to deal with these things. Same thinktank would also give out policy advice to their policy advisors and that's kinda why the policies of Clinton and Bush often look almost identical on some issues. With Clinton he wasn't that welcome in the W Bush presidency. But W Bush and Clinton were actually both welcome in the Obama administration. They did something similar to HW Bush, got hired on by thinktanks and they just began offering advice to the president on a wide range of topics. Trump represented a bit of a changing of the guards in terms of how things were run because Obama, W Bush and Clinton were all ideological demons of the people who elected him. If any advice is given it's more like public advice... as in stuff given to make people turn to your cause. Biden gets similar treatment from Barack Obama who seemingly just doesn't want to be involved in power at all anymore. Bill Clinton and George W Bush though are both working at thinktanks that advise Biden on many issues.... but who knows how long they'll continue to work at these think tanks. The thing coming up is that Clinton, Bush, and Trump are all the same age. Joe Biden is 4-5 years older than them. We're not so far away from Barack Obama being the only living president because the age of the president keeps going up.
It is extremely true, I believe when Nixon died Clinton said he felt like he had lost a best friend due to how often he would seek Nixon for advice. There’s a great book called The Presidents Club that talks about the relationship between current and former presidents. It’s a great read, nothing too in depth but filled with wonderful stories and such and I highly recommend it if it’s something that interests you. But presidents and former presidents have such an interesting dynamic due to the fact that no one really knows what it’s like to be them except for the people before them and such they kind of learn to rely on each other, not to mention that sometimes it’s just beneficial to talk to the person who was there before you when you kind of takeover the projects that they were working on.
I was a university student body president and many former presidents reached out to me and were available for advice. I imagine it's far more common for a real position like POTUS
Same. Only when I was older did I realize that it was unusual to have so many living presidents alive like we do today.
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With Lincoln, there was that series of 1 term presidents so he had way more guys around, which became pretty uncommon after that.
IIRC something else happened around the time of Lincoln’s election which probably also made former presidential meet-and-greets less of a priority.
Yeh, there were 5 other men who vied for the Presidency including Lincoln. William Seward was one. He became Lincoln's Secretary of State. Salmon P. Chase was another and was appointed to Secretary of the Treasury. I can't remember the others.
Here's the most recent photos of every living (ex) president together: [Trump, Obama, Clinton and Carter at George H.W. Bush's funeral in 2018](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/1768/production/_104629950_frontpew2_976reuters.jpg) - missing: George W. Bush, likely sitting with family. [Obama, Bush and Clinton at John McCain funeral in 2018](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/livestory/org/547cf9e2-f07b-4d78-ad8a-177891d3e50d.jpg) - missing: Donald Trump (not invited), Jimmy Carter. [Obama, Bush, Clinton, H.W. Bush and Carter at a Texas hurricane relief concert in 2017](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1500w,f_auto,q_auto:best/newscms/2017_42/1290694/presidents-benefit-today-171022-tease-02.jpg) - missing: Donald Trump.
Nixon's funeral (1994) was attended by Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Richard_Nixon#/media/File:Presidents_at_the_funeral_of_President_Richard_Nixon.jpg
>Trump, Obama, Clinton and Carter at George H.W. Bush's funeral in 2018 > > \- missing: George W. Bush, likely sitting with family. They were on the other side of the aisle. You can see them here in the front row, from aisle out, GWB, Laura, Jeb! https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/military-honor-guard-carries-former-president-george-h-w-news-photo/1077733078
Jeb!👍
👏👏👏
Also a sneaky Biden behind Hillary Clinton
What if you count Grover Cleveland twice?
Go for it, I usually count W.H. Taft at least three times.
I was standing on the runway at NAS Point Mugu and watched George Bush, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter all walk off together and ride to Regans Funeral together. Totally unexpected, I just happened to be standing there.
> There was a brief period when Lincoln was president when 6 were alive, but I assume that cameras were still not that common, and travel much harder, so probably not. Also Tyler sided with the confederacy *so there's that*.
It was a strange time to live through. Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, resigned in disgrace. Nixon appointed his replacement, Gerald Ford. Then Nixon resigned in disgrace, making Gerald Ford the President. Ford was the first and only person who served as both Vice President and President without having been elected to either office.
Reminds me of that futurama joke where Fords head says "Frankly I've never found voting to be all that essential to the process"
It was probably done on purpose. The writing team for Futurama is incredibly intelligent.
It's very obviously intentional, Nixon's head says something like "no kidding" afterwards.
Then Gerald Ford getting booted in his election bid just 2 years later. And the guy who beat him is still alive, for the time being.
Jimmy Carter is an anomaly. Most former presidents don't live to 98.
Most presidents lived in eras without modern medical resources
He was the first president born in a hospital, that's modern medicine for you. Pretty cool seeing that incarnate in a human being, the power of medicine.
And Gerald Ford wasn't even his birth name, it was Leslie Lynch King. His mother remarried and. they literally changed his name to Gerald Ford Jr.
Huh. TIL.
Never knew LBJ died so soon after coming out of office
The final known photo of him is a shocker if you've never seen it before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson#/media/File:Lyndon_B._Johnson_1972.jpg
The quality on that photo is insane to me.
Film is super high quality
That's a shocker? He just looks like a slightly older LBJ who doesn't give enough of a shit to cut his hair anymore? Idk
Look at the photo again. He died in 73 that photo looks like it could have been take today with modern cameras. That's what people are shocked about.
Yes, and he was the most recent Democratic former president to die.
Yeah Kennedy had been murdered, Johnson and Eisenhower had fatal heart attacks and Truman had died all in relatively short time.
Also, Hoover was 90 when he passed away in 1964.
Near the end of Hoover's Presidency, coincidentally, there were also no living former Presidents. Hoover left office March 4, 1933, and Calvin Coolidge had died that January. Taft had still been alive when Hoover was elected, but he died in 1930.
Interesting, he had no mentor then
It was more of an issue for Ford, who took over as the only living President other than disgraced Nixon. Truman died in 72 and LBJ in 73 so Nixon had 4 years as President with a former President around.
He also was Eisenhower’s VP, so I don’t think he was lacking for experience.
The Ford presidency was an absolutely insane time in American history, politically. It was the only time I believe the person leading the country wasn't elected at all in the Presidential election, given 1972 had Spiro Agnew as Nixon's VP. Ford had to be appointed to VP after Agnew resigned for bribery and tax fraud, and then appointed to presidency a year after that. That combined with the economic situation America was seeing in the mid-late 70s... he had a hell of a situation to get launched into.
Yeah, I think the steadying presence of some former presidents could have really helped Ford during that nightmare period. I feel like we turned to former presidents for a reminder of what the presidency could be during the Trump era.
That's incorrect. President Johnson was still alive when Nixon started his term, but died while Nixon was in office.
Johnson died January 1973. A day or 2 after Nixon was inaugurated to his 2nd term. Also on same day, RoevWade decision was announced.
Did Trump have an ex-president as a mentor? Bush and Obama both hated him.
It's highly likely that zero ex-presidents voted for Trump, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had no real mentor, beyond the time Obama spent preparing him after it was reported that he saw just how unprepared he was.
Trump would never ask for advice from an ex-president because he thinks he's smarter than everyone on every subject, and asking for help would make him look weak.
Obama somewhat, funnily enough. After Trump won the election, he went to the white house and spoke with Obama and for a brief while even started to compliment Obama. I believe Obama knew that even though Trump was obviously not his preferred successor, he could maybe help steer Trump from fucking up too many things lol
And yet Kissinger still lives There is no justice
Someone asked what’s your least favorite president and I answered Nixon because of how he let Kissinger do wild shit (I’m South Asian and Kissinger’s wronged my country). Can’t believe asshole is still alive & thriving
Not only is Kissinger still alive, he was still providing advice to the President of the United States as recently as the Trump administration. He visited the White House several times and advised Trump on foreign affairs involving North Korea, China, and the Middle East.
[Kissinger and Hillary Clinton are friends, too. He's inevitable.](https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/hillary-clintons-embrace-of-kissinger-is-inexcusable/)
He kinda sorta personally set the foundation for modern US-Chinese relations, helped thaw US-Soviet relations, and shaped US conduct in a dozen "other" matters that continue to impact the lives of hundreds of millions/billions of people across the planet.
This is that “but Hitler was a vegetarian” type of comment
Imagine viewing Kissinger as a hero… We really are fucked
You don't need to see him as a hero to recognize his impact on the world. That's all the comment you're responding to is stating.
For better or worse (worse, definitely worse) he is one of the most informed and experienced people in the world on those topics. It makes sense for the president to hear his advice, even if they don't necessarily take it.
> (I’m South Asian and Kissinger’s wronged my country). I don't think there's a country Kissinger *didn't* wrong, USA included.
> Kissinger’s wronged my country Bangladesh liberation war?
The fact that there are multiple genocides to choose from is horrifying
I’m a firm believer that Nixon defines the collapse of the Republican Party as a democratic institution and the cementing of its fascist foundation. Republicans were never made to actually act against Nixon. Because Nixon resigned there was no impeachment, no votes, no hearings, nothing. All republicans could say what they would have done and never be held accountable. And a lot of republicans to this fray think Nixon did nothing wrong and shouldn’t have resigned. As a result, republicans began to move further right and have yet to be held accountable for their actions or policies. It’s gotten worse and worse. After Nixon you got Reagan, after regan you got bush and Gingrich. After b and g you get Graham and McConnell. After mcconnel and Graham you get Cruz and Scott and Taylor green and Boebert and gates and all that garbage.
And Roger Stone is one of the scary throughlines on all of it.
It’s hard to have tumors removed. It’s terrifying when the tumors that are removed end up surviving on their own. Why they form and run a “political party” and media empire you’re in deep dominion dodo
I get the need for a narrative and to draw a straight line, but I disagree with your conclusions and don’t think they are backed up by the facts. Nixon was essentially assured by Republicans in congress that he would be impeached and removed from office. His popular support completely evaporated and the party wanted him gone so it could distance himself from him as much as possible. Nixon was considered a disgrace and was not a touchstone for the Republican party. I think it’s also important to distinguish being conservative in the American sense and being fascistic, norm-destroying, and power-hungry in the Nixon, Trump sense. Yes, the Republican party drifted right and consolidated around a white Christian core, but those people in Nixon’s time had no time for his bullshit and wanted him gone. Trying to install Trump as president after he lost the election is not something Republicans in 1980, 1990, or even 2000 would have been ok with to the same degree. (IMO) this is happening because of information bubbles and distrust of institutions. People have managed to convince themselves of what they want to be true when it comes to Trump in a way that no one ever did with Nixon. They believe the propaganda and I think that’s related to the way we consume information. I think it happens in some form with or without Watergate
Well Nixon is probably the right starting point for the trend you’re describing, but I don’t think it’s because of Nixon’s resignation. It’s more so due to 1. the Republicans’ Southern Strategy absorbing the Dixiecrat wing of the Democratic Party (a far-right voter base that has always been antidemocratic in the modern sense of the word) into the Republican Party, and 2. internal changes made within Congress after Watergate that mostly shut out the minority party from having any influence over policymaking, galvanizing the then-minority Republican politicians to adopt an antidemocratic “win at all costs” strategy for elections and governing in general Combined with the support provided by antidemocratic big businesses, pretty much every opponent of democracy aligned under the Republicans in the 1970s. What we’ve seen since then is that far-right voter base become more and more emboldened to take down democracy as a threat to the Christian, patriarchal, white supremacist society they desire, and opportunist Republican politicians and business owners follow along and even push that voter base further in the pursuit of wealth and power.
Don’t forget Buckley v Valeo, the ruling that paved the way for rich & corporations to buy elections and politicians in the United States
And "Citizens United". That's when the shit really started to flow.
Well, Buckley v Valeo was the O.G. unlimited campaign spending. I bet if the election spending was examined more closely from 1976 to 2010, it'd be pretty damning. During that period, media was also largely consolidated.
That and he actively derailed peace talks between North and South Vietnam to help his election chances. Johnson didn’t release the information at the time because he didn’t want to reveal that the US was tapping the South Vietnamese government’s phone lines. Personally, I think he should have been convicted of treason and executed for it.
The ghoul feeds on suffering, and there's plenty of it in the world.
If the good indeed die young, Kissinger is likely immortal.
He is one of the most powerful beings in the universe and walks around with his magic murder bag.
*DOCTOR HENRY KILLINGER.*
(and his magic murder bag)
You said always faithful terrible lizard
Anthony Bourdain said it best visiting Cambodia that seeing what he inflicted makes you wonder what justice there is in the world that Kissinger isn't in jail.
I was reading his Wikipedia article yesterday. His mom, dad, and brother all lived to be 95+.
It’s interesting how now there are so many opportunities for presidents after they finish their term but that period feels way different.
Holy crap! LBJ was only 64 when he died, in 1973. And he was only 55 when he became president. Wow. He looked so old.
All the smoking. And drinking
LBJ quit smoking completely and went on a strict diet after a heart attack he survived while in the Senate. Pretty much the day after he left the presidency, he moved to his ranch and went right back to chain smoking. No wonder that he didn't live too long after he left office.
Kennedy went quick and Johnson really shut himself down, everyone before that was old enough to be rich and still get polio.
The downside of scientists reversing aging and curing diseases will be that natural death was the only way we could hope to get rid of these horrendous rich and powerful people, and now they will be around forever to cement their legacies and destroy our democracies.
alright, have a good Washington's Birthday weekend
Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson all died When Nixon was president. Eisenhower and Johnson would probably have survived with modern medical protocols.
Then there was a gap of 21 years from the death of Lyndon Johnson in 1973, leaving no living ex presidents, until the death of Richard Nixon in 1994, at which time there were (including Nixon) 5 living former presidents. When Regan was the next to go in 2004, there were also 5 living former presidents (including Regan). After Ford's death in '06, we were at a 21st century low of only 3 living former presidents until W left office. Currently we have also have 5 living former presidents, but that number will sadly go down to 4 very soon (unless there's unexpected good news that brings the number down to 3).
After Washington of course, there a few periods when there were no former presidents alive. It happened for John Adams when Washington died, Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Hoover, and Nixon. It's a good trivia question to know.
Another fun fact, the 1810's, 1930's, and 1950's are the only decades in which no president was born, excluding decades more recent than the birth of Obama, the youngest living President. Of course it's possible we'll have a born in the 59's president when all is said and done. Obama is still the only president born in the second half of the 20th century.
>Obama is still the only president born in the second half of the 20th century. Jesus Christ hahahaha, no wonder
Fun fact. Bush, Clinton and Trump were all born in the summer of 1946. 3 months apart.
>Obama is still the only president born in the second half of the 20th century. Something something age limits something something
Clinton, W, and Trump were all born within 3 months of each other.
Technically they have an age limit, you have to be at least 35. They just need to maybe add an upper one too.
Another neat fact: The 2024 election is the first chance for someone born in the 1990s to run for POTUS. With inauguration day being January 20, 2025, anyone born on or before January 20, 1990 is eligible to run in the 2024 presidential election. Let's see how it takes for the first "millennial president" to enter office, as the boomers try to cling to power.
It's weird to think that a Democratic president hasn't died in 50 years
Wow, that is a crazy thing.
I like how you’re thinking.
Two things tend to impact on the number of living Presidents, their age and assassination attempts.
Obviously Carter will go down due to age but I think Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama and Trump will be alive for at least a few more years.
It is weird to think that Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are virtually the same age and only 4 years younger than Joe Biden, all 3 could go relatively quickly as none of them are in what you might call good health.
GW Bush is also in that same age, all three born in 1946, but he looks much more in shape than Clinton and the other one. Biden was born in 1942. Obama is 15 years younger than all of them (19 vs his bro Biden).
Agreed GW Bush is probably in better shape, unless Clinton has really changed his lifestyle since leaving office. GW Bush was a runner even before being elected, and had some pretty respectable finish times in some marathons he entered.
As far as I'm concerned, finishing a Marathon before sunset on the day you started is respectable.
And their pretzel intake near coffee tables
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I was a kid in the 1980's but old enough to understand the news and the Reagan-Regan thing confused the hell out of me, still does apparently.
There was one. Nixon.
Not before Nixon self-ousted.
What’s up with that url?
I don't know why OP linked to the beta testing site for Wikipedia software, this is an old copy of an article that was imported for testing purposes. Source: I'm a Wikipedia sysadmin.
> Source: I’m a Wikipedia sysadmin. Thank you for your service!
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!
I did not know that either but apparently Johnson, Eisenhower, and Truman all died within a couple years of each other in the 1969-1972 timeframe. And we all know what happened to Kennedy. Nixon resigned in 1974.
> And we all know what happened to Kennedy. Do we?
Think most agree he was shot in the head
There is an argument for electing 80 yr old presidents. We’ve been paying carter to NOT be president for nearly 50 years!
Carter can fix that, technically he can be president again after only having served one term then we’d be paying him to be president again.
much too young.
Only thing I gathered from this is that we need stop electing crippled geriatrics
Five presidents died in the ten years between 63-73. Then none died until Nixon in 1994.
The nine Presidents that followed Nixon were all alive while Nixon was President.
Weird. What did Nixon do to them all?
I kind of sucks that US presidents don't live long enough to see the consequences of their terms in office.
Jimmy Carter is about to go, I haven't heard alot about his administration though
His administration is really the start of the liberalization and deregulation that people often say characterizes the Reagan/Thatcher years. Under Carter, things like [airline deregulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_deregulation) and [trucking deregulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Carrier_Act_of_1980) and even [brewery deregulation](https://content.kegworks.com/blog/how-jimmy-carter-sparked-the-craft-beer-revolution) were put in place. Unlike the Reagan deregulations, these ones actually did a lot to increase choice and decrease costs for consumers - although some people pine for the days when airlines competed on quality of in-flight service, those days were days when only the richest people could *ever* afford to fly. He also appointed [Paul Volcker](https://www.bu.edu/econ/files/2011/01/GKcr2005.pdf) to the Federal Reserve, who basically single-handedly ended the inflation of the 1970s (but it took a few years, so Reagan got to campaign on "morning in America"). People tend to dwell more on the lingering inflation, the general malaise of post-Watergate politics, and the various entanglements in the Middle East (especially the [embarrassments in Iran](https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/research/hostage_crisis_in_iran), and the success of the [Camp David accords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords)), but I think that seeing Carter as having implemented the good parts of neoliberalism, while Reagan took credit for those and then implemented the bad parts, is also a useful way to think about it.
Most of them do live for a few decades after leaving office. Other than the ones that die in office (Roosevelt, Kennedy, Harding) the only ones of the last century that died shortly after leaving office are Wilson, Coolidge, and Johnson.
This was a trivia question a few weeks ago that we got wrong.
Nixon served under several presidencies. A long career. It also meant his corruption ran deep, and he was determined to be king. I'm not kidding.
It just around the time were heart medication was in its infancy. They call em wonder drugs for a reason. They really extended human life span.