All the presidents Jimmy Carter’s life has overlapped with as he turns 100
The first president Jimmy Carter was alive for, William Taft, signed New Mexico into Statehood in 1912
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Louise Thomas
Editor
Former President Jimmy Carter turned 100 years old on Tuesday, making him the longest living person to hold the nation’s highest office.
At the time of his birth in Plains, Georgia in 1924, Calvin Coolidge was in office as the US was grappling with the effects of prohibition. The Great Depression hadn’t happened yet.
Carter’s life would coincide with several other significant moments in the country’s history. The completion of the Empire State Building, World War II, the Korean War and the first hydrogen bomb test all happened within his storied lifetime.
Carter has also lived at the same time as an astonishing 17 presidents, which we have listed below.
- William Howard Taft (term, 1909 to 1913): Though not president at the time of Carter’s birth, Taft served as chief justice of the US Supreme Court from 1921 to 1930, becoming the only Commander In Chief to hold that seat.
- Calvin Coolidge (term, 1923 to 1929): Coolidge had been in office for a year at the time of Carter’s birth.
- Herbert Hoover (term, 1929 to 1933): Hoover was elected president when Carter was four. He died in 1964 at the age of 90, 13 years before Carter would enter office.
- Franklin D Roosevelt (term, 1933 to 1945): Roosevelt served a historic four terms as president. He died in office in 1945.
- Harry S Truman (term, 1945 to 1953): As vice president under Roosevelt, Truman continued the late president’s fourth term following his death. He would have been the first president to hear of Carter, who had recently started his political career.
- Dwight D Eisenhower (term, 1953 to 1961): The only president to be awarded a five-star military rank while alive. Prior to becoming president, Eisenhower served as a US Army general, leading the landings at Normandy during World War II.
- John F Kennedy (term, 1961 to 1963): Despite the two never meeting, Carter paid tribute to Kennedy while opening the library which bares his name in 1979. He said: Kennedy “was very much a man of his own time...he embodied the ideals of a generation as few public figures have ever done in the history of the Earth. He summoned our Nation out of complacency, and he set it on a path of excitement and hope.”
- Lyndon B Johnson (term, 1963 to 1969): Johnson, who served as vice president under Kennedy, carried out the remainder of the late president’s term after his assassination. Johnson was the last president to not see Carter elected, dying in 1973.
- Richard M Nixon (term, 1969 to 1974): Nixon was elected a second time but cut his second term short when he resigned following the Watergate scandal. He is the only US president to resign in office and lived through Carter’s term. Nixon became the first president to meet Carter.
- Gerald Ford (term, 1974 to 1977): Ford, who served as Nixon’s vice president, took over for him upon his resignation. He became the longest living president when he died in 2006 at 93. Carter has since beat his record.
- Ronald Reagan (term, 1981 to 1989): Reagan was elected president after Carter served his one term from 1977 to 1981. He died in 2004 at the age of 93.
- George H.W. Bush (term, 1989 to 1993): The first in a father-son dynasty to serve as president of the United States, Bush became another one-term president after President Bill Clinton defeated him in 1992.
- Bill Clinton (term, 1993 to 2001): Clinton managed to win his second term with future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side. The majority of his second term was dominated by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He was impeached by the House of Representatives for “high crimes and misdemeanors” in 1998.
- George W Bush (term, 2001 to 2009): The son of George H.W. Bush. Bush was president when 9/11 happened and led the Global War on Terror. Bush is one of five presidents still living, the others being Carter, Clinton, Obama and Trump.
- Barack Obama (term, 2009 to 2017): Obama took over after Bush’s presidency and ended the war in Iraq. He also announced the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
- Donald Trump (term, 2017 to 2021): Trump took over after Obama finished his second term. Trump would go on to be another one-term president.
- Joe Biden (term, 2021 to present day): Biden first served as Obama’s vice president following a 36 year US Senate term representing Delaware.
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