Jimmy Carter's death underscores that US presidents are living longer and longer
Jimmy Carter's long life brings into sharp focus the remarkable number of presidents who in recent years like Carter have served and returned to long private lives.
Carter, who died at 100 on Sunday, lived longer than the other former presidents in our country's history – something that seemed unlikely in 2015, when Carter announced that cancer had spread to his brain.
The 39th president infrequently ruminated about his longevity. Seemingly the most important milestone to him arrived in 2020, when he celebrated his 75th wedding anniversary with Rosalynn Carter, making the Carters the longest-married presidential couple in history. Rosalynn Carter died in November 2023 at the age of 96.
"The best thing I ever did was marry Rosalynn," Carter said in a C-SPAN interview at The Carter Center in 2015. "That's the pinnacle of my life."
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Still, the longevity of the onetime peanut farmer and decades-long philanthropist likely marks a pivotal moment in post-presidential history.
U.S. presidents living longer
Before 2004, only two presidents lived past 90, including the nation's second president, John Adams, who died July 4, 1826 – the same day as Thomas Jefferson, who was seven years his junior.
Considering the average American man's life expectancy hovered around 40 in Adams' lifetime, it's not surprising that his longevity was an outlier among early presidents.
Most presidents' natural lives, though, have been longer than the average American man's. Since 2004, every former U.S. president has lived into his 90s, while the average man's life expectancy has been in the mid-70s.
The byproduct: A lot of living former presidents.
As early as 1861, there were five living ex-presidents, but that was the exception, rather than what Americans have come to expect in the past couple of decades.
Eras with at least five living former presidents
For four brief periods since 1993, Carter has been among an evolving group of five former presidents.
And when they appeared together at historic junctures, their images offered momentary respites from the growing partisanship in Washington.
Assuming partisan discord doesn't make these images a thing of the past, presidential photographers might need wider lenses on their cameras before long.
Three former presidents were born 66 days apart and turned 78 this year. Barack Obama turned 63 in August.
Beyond those living past presidents, it's interesting to note that President Joe Biden, the oldest U.S. president at 82, has already outlived all but nine past presidents.
Of the four other living former presidents, Bill Clinton, Obama and George W. Bush could surpass Carter with the longest lives after their presidencies. Of course, whether their post-presidency contributions match Carter's will be for historians to debate.