Here we are near the end of the first year of the Donald Trump Presidency, and we have seven living Vice Presidents of the United States, the second time we have had that number.
The first time was from the inauguration of Bill Clinton on January 20, 1993 to the death of Richard Nixon on April 22, 1994.
At that time, we had seven living Vice Presidents, including Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Gerald Ford, Walter Mondale, George H. W. Bush, Dan Quayle, and the incumbent Vice President, Al Gore.
So while we have six living Presidents for the fourth time, after 1861-1862, 1993-1994, and 2001-2004, now we have seen seven Vice Presidents for the second time, due to the fact that while Ronald Reagan passed away in 2004, his vice President and his successor as President, George H. W. Bush, is about to break the longevity record held by Gerald Ford. Bush passed Reagan’s age on October 11, and will pass Ford on November 25, just two weeks from today.
The earliest Vice President still alive is Walter Mondale, who has lived 37 years beyond his time in office, as has his boss, Jimmy Carter, an all time record for both. Mondale will be 90 years of age on January 5, making for the second Presidential-Vice Presidential team to reach age 90 after Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
George H. W. Bush is the only one of the living Vice Presidents to have also served as President, while his Vice President, Dan Quayle, is now 70 years old.
Al Gore served under Bill Clinton, and is now 69 years old.
Dick Cheney served under George W. Bush, and is now 76 years old.
Joe Biden served under Barack Obama, and is now 75 years old as of his birthday on November 20.
And the incumbent Vice President, Mike Pence is now 58 years old.
If all seven living Vice Presidents live beyond April 22, 2018, it will be the longest time we have had seven Vice Presidents alive at the same time, and by that time, Jimmy Carter will have passed Gerald Ford as longest lived (on March 16, 2018), but of course still 111 days behind George H. W. Bush, if both former Presidents are still alive then.
Additionally, we have the amazing statistic that four Presidents in a row have lived beyond the age of 90, and all four of their First Ladies have now reached 90 as well, with Rosalyn Carter having reached it in August, and previously the cases of Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush. Finally, Lady Bird Johnson and Bess Truman also reached the age of 90, although their husbands did not do so, although Harry Truman lived beyond the age of 89.
Ronald,
What did you think of George Bush (R-Texas) while he was in office as the 41st president of the United States?
D, I think George H. W. Bush was more moderate than his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, having a few achievements worthy of note.
The passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990 is a major accomplishment, as was the Immigration Act of 1991, and education reform.
The disastrous environmental policies of the Reagan administration were changed into a more positive way, although far less than Jimmy Carter before Reagan and Bill Clinton after him.
He signed the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, seen as a positive point by many scholars.
Bush was in office when Germany was reunited with his support, within a year after the end of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and he also handled the collapse of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 with great skill.
His leadership in the Persian Gulf War led to a quick result, but also marked the permanent intervention of US military force in Saudi Arabia, which led to later wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the spreading of Islamic terrorism.
The intervention in Panama succeeded also, but reflected US dominance of events in the Canal Zone, but the Jimmy Carter treaty on handing over the Canal still went forward in 2000.
The economic recession of 1992, after Bush agreed to a tax increase, undermined Bush, having to deal with Pat Buchanan’s challenge in the primaries, and Ross Perot’s independent candidacy, and led to his defeat to Bill Clinton in 1992, the second worst percentage loss of a sitting President in American history, with only 37 percent, with William Howard Taft gaining only 23 percent of the vote in 1912 against TR and Wilson.
C Span poll of scholars in 2017 rates him number 20 of 43, so a slightly above average President, and way above his son, who is rated number 33.
Let me add, D, that George H. W. Bush made two appointments that were absolutely horrible.
Dan Quayle as Vice President
Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court, now 26 years and counting, and if one goes by what Thomas said when he was approved by the smallest margin in modern American history, 52-48 in 1991, he intended to stay on the Court for 43 years, double his age when he was appointed, “to confound the damn liberals”, who brought up sexual harassment charges, revealed by Anita Hill.
Who would think that sexual harassment would be still a major issue in 2017 after the hullabaloo in 1991?
On the other hand, Bush did appoint a moderate Justice, David Souter, who performed admirably overall.
Ronald,
Thank you for answering.
I was 17 when George Bush defeated Michael Dukakis in 1988.
I did not follow politics back then, as I was in my senior year in high school and graduated in 1989.
For the presidency of George Bush, the positives which stood out for me (during that time) were already mentioned by you: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the war in the Persian Gulf.
When it came to war, I think Bush Sr. was the last Republican who was decent with handling war. He did not get the U.S. bogged down in war.
I totally agree with you, D, on Bush and war leadership.
That was the time of General Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, and a sane Dick Cheney as Secretary of Defense, before he went crazy after September 11.