Today's "what having older relatives means"

Looking up congestive heart failure online.

We're so well matched

So J & I are sitting here, and in the course of our conversation we wondered how many ex-presidents have ever been alive at the same time. Because I'm a curious sort of person, and a geek, I whipped out my laptop and opened up excel and made a spreadsheet.

So it turns out, the most ex-presidents that have ever been alive at the same time is five.
In 1862, Martin Van Buren (died July 24), John Tyler (died Jan 18), Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, & James Buchanan - Abraham Lincoln was president.

In 1994, Richard Nixon (died April 22), Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, & George H.W. Bush were alive - Bill Clinton was president.

From 2002-2004, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, & Bill Clinton were alive - George W. Bush was president.

Now, if you wanted to know the year that the most were ALIVE, whether they'd been president yet or not... I went back to 1732 (the year Washington was born), but there was at most 18 men alive who either had been, were, or would be president. The last year there were 18 alive was 1845 - there were many years before that.

I am now watching the Adams miniseries with my husband. Doesn't get much better than this!