Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 20:02:08 -0500 (EST)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at keithlynch.net>
To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Re: lifespan of Presidents, and feeling old
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Ted White <tedwhite at compusnet.com> wrote:
> But while childhood disease wiped out a lot of people the survivors
> to adulthood were likely to die of either an accident (like being
> thrown by a horse) or old age.

True.  The statistics for presidents vs. other Americans alive at
the time are thrown off by the fact that no presidents ever died in
childhood.

JFK was the youngest dying president.  Reagan holds the record for the
oldest ex-president.  (Look up who was in second place.  You might be
surprised.)

Four out of the 42 presidents were assasinated.  That may account for
much of the five year difference.

Modern medicine does make some contribution to longevity.  FDR died
as a result of severe untreated high blood pressure, which wouldn't
happen to a president today.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but
unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable.  Please do not send me
HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread.