How Old Is Too Old To Be President

Is Age a Justified Reason to Discriminate in Presidential Politics?

May 28, 2008

A Candidates Health

Some say that even health should not be a major issue, unless, of course, it is mental health or a severely debilitating or impairing condition! A safety net in the form of the 20th Amendment of the Constitution stipulates that if the President dies or is incapacitated that the Vice President “shall assume the office of President.” It also stipulates that "the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified". Currently the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 provides a succession order that is 18 men and women deep. That would seem to be sufficient even in the worst calamity!

Outdated Presidential Morbidity

The Office of the United States President is, arguably, the most important political office in the world. Is the actual occupant of this office indispensable? It can be argued that the Republican form of Democracy that has been adopted by the United States has continued to function smoothly even though four Presidents have died in office, four more have been assassinated and one has even resigned. Did you know that of the 4 presidents who died in office from health related issues that Zachary Taylor died of cholera and William Harrison died of pneumonia and that their ages were 66 and 67, respectively? Even one who is making the point that older Presidents face significant health issues could not in good faith use Cholera or Pneumonia, the calamities that did in these two presidents, as viable arguments. These diseases simply are not considered as major impediments to any age in the population of America today.

“Youthful” Presidential Health Threats

The other two Presidents who died in office also do not offer health conditions that would be considered support of discrimination based on age. Franklin Delano Roosevelt suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that was brought on by arterial sclerosis. While this is a serious issue, his age was a comparatively young 63 years of age. His death would also not be a viable candidate for age discrimination because the 25th amendment now states that a president shall only serve two terms. FDR was in his fourth consecutive term when he died. Under today’s Constitution he would have retired from the office in his mid fifty’s. That leaves only one President, Warren Harding, who died of a so called age related illness that is still considered a major threat today, a stroke. It should be noted however, that his case would also tend to skew the statistics as he died at the chipper age of 58.

Presidential Assassination

Historically, it is interesting to look at Presidential assassination as it applies to the issue of age and Presidential life expectancy. Four presidents have had their terms cut short due to murder. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln was 56 years old when John Wilkes Booth shot him in Ford’s Theater. James Garfield was 49 years old when he was shot on July 2, 1881. On September 6, 1901, at the World’s Fair in Buffalo, William McKinley was gunned down at the age of 58. John F. Kennedy was the youngest, at 47, when sniper Lee Harvey Oswald killed him in Dallas on November 22, 1963. If age discrimination is taken into consideration with these assassination statistics in mind it may be more important to enact another Constitutional amendment to increase the 35 year limit. The average age of an assassinated President is only 52 years and youth may be a contributing factor.

Source

The copyright of the article How Old Is Too Old To Be President in Modern US History is owned by Roger Saunders. Permission to republish How Old Is Too Old To Be President in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

May 30, 2008 7:14 AM

Pink :

I think this is an important issue for consideration as we enter the main campaign segment of the 2008 national elections. But, this is what makes the choice for veep so important.
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But, I think there are other issues that require our deeper consideration than age.
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I think McClellan has put his finger on an important issue that needs to surface and that is the perpetual campaign in which Washington has come to be so deeply involved. It appears that Obama has got his fingers on that issue; but, that he is having some trouble getting it on the table. The political parties, it seems, would rather play their political games than take care of the interests of the people.
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Rober, will you create an article for discussion on the subject of the American Mind that we were trying to discuss in the Protestant site?

Sep 9, 2008 7:25 AM

Guest :

In the entirety of human existance the young were the leaders on the battlefield and we have looked to the old and wise for guidance at home. I say the older the better.