When the transfer of power between Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy took place on January 20, 1961, it was abundantly remembered that the oldest president to leave office – 71 years – was replaced by the youngest – 43 years – of occupy it, although with an important historical nuance. John Fitzgerald Kennedy effectively became the youngest elected president in the history of the country and still continues to hold that status, but the adjective elected is not superfluous. Theodore Roosevelt was and remains the youngest person (42 years old) to enter the White House, but he did so following the assassination of President William McKinley, of whom he was the vice president.
This historical introduction serves to frame what may become one of the issues, capital questions, of next year’s presidential elections: the age of the candidates. If it now seems plausible that President Biden and former President Trump will avenge the past elections, in the 2024 elections two candidates would face each other who, adding their ages at that election date – in November of next year – they would reach the age of 160, a historical and probably unrepeatable record.
And yet, it is not an extraordinary phenomenon in today’s Washington. Nancy Pelosi, who stepped down as speaker of the House of Representatives in January but retains her San Francisco seat, turned 83 last week, while Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has he has 72 for the 81 of his counterpart in the Republican group, Mitch McConnell, nemesis of Donald Trump, whom he has privately described as crazy, idiotic and ignorant.
These advanced ages are not limited to politics. Warren Buffett, known as the Sage of Omaha and one of the country’s leading institutional investors, has already made 92, the same as the supreme patron of Fox, Rupert Murdoch, who has just announced his intention to marry- for the fourth time. Bob Iger, aged 72, has taken back the reins of the Disney empire after his predecessor’s tussles with the state of Florida and its brand new governor, Ron DeSantis, who at 44 could very well be his son.
Curiously, on this side of the Atlantic, the reverse situation seems to occur. The Italian Meloni is 46 years old, the French Macron 45 – and is running for his second term -, while the one who most recently came to power, the British Sunak, is 42. The youngest is the Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna, with 37 years Spain is a separate chapter. With the exception of Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and Mariano Rajoy, all the presidents after the recovery of democracy arrived in Moncloa when they were barely past the age of 40.
This chronicler leaves the explanation for sociologists and political scientists as to whether this diversity is the result of simple chance or responds to deeper reasons, but a basic reflection is imposed: it does not matter so much the age as the physical and mental health with which ‘reaches this advanced age. The question is tricky, but what’s worse? Stumbling over and over again when climbing the stairs of Air Force One and shaking hands without being very clear about who should shake it or compulsively lying about the past, present and future? In Lincoln’s phrase, probably the greatest of all, you can fool some people all the time and everybody for a while, but you can’t fool everybody all the time.
