Our next president will be old

Amid the hurly-burly of a raucous presidential election cycle, one fact is clear: Our next president is going to be old.

Hillary Clinton, born Oct. 26, 1947, is, at 68, the youngster of the group.

Donald Trump, born June 14, 1946 and about to turn 70, is a smidge older.

Longshot Bernie Sanders, born Sept. 8, 1941, will be 75 by Election Day.

As humorist Garrison Keillor said in an op-ed essay about the youth-challenged candidates, "Speaking as an old guy, let me just say: Blecchhhhh. And let me add to that: Arghhhh."

Having candidates of such advanced ages is an anomaly. The average age of a president at inauguration is 54. Ronald Reagan was the oldest, just shy of 70 when he took office, followed by William Henry Harrison at 68, who was inaugurated and promptly died. Andrew Jackson was almost 70 at the end of his second term.

The youngest man elected was John F. Kennedy, at 43, though Theodore Roosevelt took office at 42 upon the death of William McKinley.

Barack Obama was only 47, and Bill Clinton a mere 46.

So the big question is: Does it matter that the candidates are old?

It's important to remember that people today live longer and healthier lives than did previous generations, says Steven N. Austad, an aging expert and chair of the biology department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

And indicators of successful aging have emerged. Two Harvard studies spanning 75 years point to education and intellectual stimulation, good coping skills, no smoking or alcohol abuse, proper weight, regular exercise and fulfilling relationships as key components of successful old age.
From what can be gleaned from the media, the candidates seem overall to do fairly well in those categories.

Dr. Angela Catic warns against generalizing about anyone based on age. "If you've seen one 70-year-old, you've seen one 70-year-old," says Catic, who teaches at the Huffington Center on Aging at Baylor College of Medicine.

Only a few generalities apply.

Of the 70 million Americans over age 50, she says, four out of five have at least one chronic condition that affects their daily lives, a number that increases with age.

Among other near-universal effects of aging are changes in the way people walk (slower, feet farther apart), decreased muscle and increased fat.

"The capacity to learn information slows," Catic says, "but we often feel that's balanced by wisdom."

One key to good aging is to find or continue meaningful work, she says.

Of course, dementia is unusual before age 60, but the odds of it increase as the years pile up. Family history, too, plays a role.

"Many people are doing amazing things" at advanced ages, Catic says. "That's a real change from even 20 or 30 years ago."

But Jeremi Suri, who has studied older presidents and how they have performed in office, paints a darker picture. "The office has changed a lot since Jackson, and even since Reagan," says Suri, a professor at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs. "There's much more intense pressure and a nonstop media cycle."

Older presidents seem to do fine early in their first term, "but they decline more quickly and more precipitously."

Ronald Reagan's dementia was diagnosed in 1994, five years after he left office, but his son Ron has written that he thinks it was evident as early as 1984, during his second election campaign.

In the 1820s, Andrew Jackson didn't even have to campaign, Suri says, but now the campaign stretches for month after grueling month even before the candidate takes office.

"Think of the stress level," he says.

Franklin Roosevelt, who guided the country through the Depression and the Second World War, died in office, in his fourth term, at 63. "Everyone on his staff died young," Suri says. "They worked themselves to death."

Even relatively young and fit presidents such as Clinton and George W. Bush left office after two terms and endured serious heart problems, possibly due to the accumulated stress. (The presidents who have enjoyed long and happy post-presidencies, such as Jimmy Carter, Bush Sr. and Gerald Ford, served one term or less.)

Why, then, is the current trio of candidates so advanced in age?

Suri points to older voters. Current candidates reflect "an older electorate," he says. "The bias toward older people might even be subconscious."

Sanders' appeal to young voters, Suri adds, may reflect his perceived lack of personal ambition, reflected in his advanced age.

Suri poses the question another way: Would any major corporation hire any of these candidates as CEO with the expectation that they would carry on through the next five or seven years?

"Probably not," Suri says.

Suri insists it's not a question of age discrimination.

"If you designed the ideal president," he says, "it wouldn't be someone in their 60s or 70s."

Bookmark Gray Matters. And let me add to that: Arghhhh.