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Youngest U.S. Presidents

Michael Hurd — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:11:08 +0000

“Youth is wasted on the young,” or so said Irish playwright and Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw.

However, when Barack Obama landed in the White House, the relatively youthful 47-year-old Democrat (born August 4, 1961) became the nation’s fifth youngest president, beating Grover Cleveland by 66 days.

Here are the Top Ten youngest presidents, by age upon taking office, courtesy of Infoplease.

1. Theodore Roosevelt (42 years, 322 days)
2. John F. Kennedy (43 years, 236 days)
3. Bill Clinton (46 years, 154 days)
4. Ulysses S. Grant (46 years, 236 days)
5. Barack Obama (47 years, 285 days)
6. Grover Cleveland (47 years, 351 days)
7. Franklin Pierce (48 years, 101 days)
8. James Garfield (48 years, 105 days)
9. James K. Polk (49 years, 122 days)
10. Millard Fillmore (50 years, 184 days)

Note: Roosevelt was sworn in after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, making Kennedy the youngest president actually voted to the office. At 69, Ronald Reagan was the oldest president to take office.

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U.S. presidents

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:07:22 +0000

As Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, here’s a list of the 42 men who preceded him into office, with years served.

(And, yes, we at GetListy can add…at least most of the time. Why only 42 predecessors? Grover Cleveland was elected to two non-consecutive terms. As a result, Cleveland is both the 22nd and 24 president.)

Meanwhile, back to the list:

Washington, George (1789-97)
Adams, John (1797-1801)
Jefferson, Thomas (1801-09)
Madison, James (1809-17)
Monroe, James (1817-25)
Adams, John Quincy (1825-29)
Jackson, Andrew (1829-37)
Van Buren, Martin (1837-41)
Harrison, William Henry (1841)
Tyler, John (1841-45)
Polk, James (1845-49)
Taylor, Zachary (1849-50)
Fillmore, Millard (1850-53)
Pierce, Franklin (1853-57)
Buchanan, James (1857-61)
Lincoln, Abraham (1861-65)
Johnson, Andrew (1865-69)
Grant, Ulysses S. (1869-77)
Hayes, Rutherford B. (1877-81)
Garfield, James (1881)
Arthur, Chester (1881-85)
Cleveland, Grover (1885-89)
Harrison, Benjamin (1889-93)
Cleveland, Grover (1893-97)
McKinley, William (1897-1901)
Roosevelt, Theodore (1901-09)
Taft, William H. (1909-13)
Wilson, Woodrow (1913-21)
Harding, Warren (1921-23)
Coolidge, Calvin (1923-29)
Hoover, Herbert (1929-33)
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1933-45)
Truman, Harry (1945-53)
Eisenhower, Dwight (1953-61)
Kennedy, John F. (1961-63)
Johnson, Lyndon (1963-69)
Nixon, Richard (1969-74)
Ford, Gerald (1974-77)
Carter, Jimmy (1977-81)
Reagan, Ronald (1981-89)
Bush, George H.W. (1989-93)
Clinton, William J. (1993-2001)
Bush, George W. (2001-2009)
Obama, Barack (2009-)

Source: whitehouse.gov

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Unfortunate political one-liners

Bill Sullivan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:23:54 +0000

After a bruising political season, plenty of Americans are weary of the “gotcha” preoccupation with catching a candidate or public official saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Still, some gaffes are more memorable than others, and more than a few presidents and wannabes would like to be able to go back in time and edit their comments a bit more carefully.

Time recently put together a list of “Top 10 Unfortunate Political One-Liners.”

Here’s a sampling:

“I am not a crook.” — Richard M. Nixon, 1973

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” — Bill Clinton, 1998

“Read my lips: No new taxes.” — George H.W. Bush, 1988

“The fundamentals of the economy are strong.” — John McCain, 2008

“I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” — Jimmy Carter, 1976

Want to see the rest? Visit Time.

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Presidential disapproval ratings

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:25:13 +0000

In the wake of the 2008 elections, President George W. Bush’s approval rating with the American public sank to just 24 percent, meaning that 76 percent of those who responded to a poll taken by CNN and Opinion Research Corporation did not believe the president was doing a good job.

How does that compare to other presidents? In August of 1974, the month he resigned in the face of the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon’s disapproval rating stood at just 66 percent.

CNN offered a chart covering Bush and previous presidents, the rate of disapproval, and the date of the poll representing the lowest point:

George W. Bush: 76% – Nov. 2008

Bill Clinton: 54% – Sept. 1994

G.H.W. Bush: 60% – July 1992

Ronald Reagan: 56% – Jan. 1983

Jimmy Carter: 59% – June 1979

Gerald Ford: 46% – April, Nov., Dec. 1975

Richard Nixon: 66% – Aug. 1974

Lyndon Johnson: 52% – March, Aug. 1968

John F. Kennedy: 30% – Nov. 1963

Harry Truman: 67% – Jan. 1952

Sources: CNN and Politico

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21st Century’s Most Influential People

Tom Kessler — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:39:04 +0000

From Esquire

Esquire magazine set out to find the most influential people “across every field of endeavor, the people who are bending history right now. It was an impossible task, but the result is a determined, defiant, earnest, brilliant, philanthropic, space-going, smoking-hot group, and together they are writing the first chapter of the rest of our lives.” You can see the complete list and read the notes on each influential person at Esquire.com, but here are the first 10:

Roman Abramovich — 41, oilman and owner of the Chelsea football club, Moscow and London
Mukesh Ambani — 51, chairman of Reliance industries, Mumbai
David Chang — 31, chef, futurist, New York
Bill Clinton — 62, former president, Chappaqua, New York
Hillary Clinton — 60, politician, Chappaqua, New York
Guillermo Del Toro — 43, film director, high priest of the comic-book age, California
Deng Xiaoping — Chinese Communist leader (dead)
Larry Page and Sergey Brin — 35 and 35, co-founders, Google, Mountain View, California
Ratan Tata — 70, chairman of the Tata Group, India’s largest privately held company, Mumbai
Danger Mouse — 31, musician and producer, Los Angeles

Source: Esquire

Top Convention Moments

GetListy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:39:52 +0000

Whether you’re a fan of elephant or donkey, just about anyone would have to agree that the Democratic Convention hardly lacked for good theater. From Teddy Kennedy’s dramatic first-night appearance to Barack Obama’s closing act, the party did its best to capture America’s attention and win over a few hearts.

No one knows for sure if that will carry over to November, of course, and many a rousing Democratic gathering has ended in Election Day defeat. For whatever it may prove to be worth, here’s a list of some of the highlights from four days and nights in Denver:

– Kennedy Rallies the Troops: The ailing Massachusetts Senator insists that “nothing could keep him away” from this gathering. He sets the tone with an emotional and riveting talk on opening night.

– Michelle Obama Takes the Stage: Described by some as distant or angry, Barack Obama’s wife moves to soften that image by talking about their family and makes a personal plea for her husband’s candidacy.

– Hillary Buries the Hatchet: Hillary Clinton publicly sets aside any lingering rancor with the Obama camp and urges her supporters to put themselves behind the Democratic ticket.

– Bill Eases on Board: Still smarting from a bruising campaign that resulted in his wife’s defeat, former President Bill Clinton casts his lot with Obama and turns up the heat on the Republicans and John McCain.

– Biden Takes a Bow: Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden follows a touching introduction from his son and mixes a personal appeal with reminders of his status as a an experienced foreign policy expert.

– Obama Closes the Deal: In front of some 80,000 supporters at Invesco Field, Barack Obama attempts to set aside fears that he is too inexperienced for the job by promising to cut taxes and end the Iraq war in an honorable fashion. It is a big speech in a big venue, and it plays well to the faithful. How the rest of the nation will view the candidate remains to be seen.

Democratic Nominees

Bill Sullivan — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:17:52 +0000

While Barack Obama is unique in terms of being the first African-American to earn either the Republican or Democratic Party nomination for the presidency, the Illinois Senator has an even bigger hurdle to overcome in November.

WInning as a Democrat.

It hasn’t happened often over the last 40 years. Spanning 10 elections, only Jimmy Carter (1976) and Bill Clinton (1992, ‘96) have carried the day in the general election, giving the Republicans a 7-3 edge over that period.

Here are the Democratic nominees since 1968, with the election result in parentheses:

2004 — John Kerry (L)

2000 — Al Gore (L)

1996 — Bill Clinton (W)

1992 — Bill Clinton (W)

1988 — Michael Dukakis (L)

1984 — Walter Mondale (L)

1980 — Jimmy Carter (L)

1976 — Jimmy Carter (W)

1972 — George McGovern (L)

1968 — Hubert Humphrey (L)

Top TV Political Convention Moments

Ed Bark — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:08:03 +0000

From unclebarky.com.

Representatives of the donkey and elephant parties will be stampeding into Denver and St. Paul during the next two weeks to hold their quadrennial national conventions.

The Democrats go first, staring April 25th, with the Republicans right on their heels (Sept. 1-4). Here’s a top 10 countdown of televised moments to remember from previous conventions. Some are odd, others eventful. All made their marks.

10. Matthews vs. Miller — Two blowhards had a head-on collision after former Democratic senator Zell Miller of Georgia ripped into his old party as the keynote speaker at the 2004 Republican convention. MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews then questioned Miller’s insinuation that Democratic nominee John Kerry intended to defend the nation with “spitballs” after voting against various defense systems. During a live exchange, an increasingly angry Miller finally told his antagonist, “I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel.” Matthews milked their confrontation for weeks and of course Saturday Night Live parodied it.

9. Read their lips — Three seconds seemed like an eternity when nominee Al Gore and wife Tipper locked themselves in an amorous embrace on the final night of the 2000 Democratic convention. “The Kiss” was twitted, dissected and viewed by many as a calculated effort to soften Big Al’s robotic, wooden image.

8. And furthermore . . . — Bill Clinton had his national coming out party on opening night of the 1988 Democratic convention. Instead he threw a slumber party with a widely ridiculed and interminable 32-minute speech in which he put Michael Dukakis’ name in nomination. Clinton proved resilient, though, turning his disaster into a triumphant appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, where he played “Summertime” on his saxophone after the host first made fun of him.

7. Mondale’s Waterloo — The Democrats’ 1984 nominee, Walter Mondale, already was seen as a decided underdog to incumbent Ronald Reagan. He then dug his own grave at the 1984 convention with a memorably inept acceptance speech. The former vice president chopped himself off at the knees by telling America, “Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.” Mondale later lost in a landslide.

6. The big brush-off — Sen. Ted Kennedy feverishly contested President Carter for the Democratic Party’s 1980 nomination, but came up shorter than Hillary Clinton’s bid to outlast Barack Obama. At the 1980 convention, though, Kennedy remained combative to the end. As Carter and running mate Mondale raised their hands in victory to the tune of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” Teddy turned his back on the incumbent president and refused to join him in any visible way. The lack of a conciliatory photo spoke volumes, with Carter eventually denied a second term by Reagan.