Presidential records: Jimmy Carter is America's longest-lived commander-in-chief

Jimmy Carter isn’t just America’s oldest living president. At 98 years old, he is America’s oldest former president, period.

Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924 in Plains, Ga.

Carter’s family announced this week that he has opted to forgo medical intervention and will receive hospice care at home.

Several presidents of the modern era have rivaled Carter in longevity. George H.W. Bush (94 years, 171 days), Gerald Ford (93 years, 165 days) and Ronald Reagan (93 years, 120 days). No. 5 on the list isn’t found until the 1820s in John Adams, who was born in 1735 and lived to be 90.

Here are some other president-related records.

AP

Theodore Roosevelt, is shown speaking when he stumped the country for William McKinley during the presidential campaign of 1900. Roosevelt was McKinley’s running mate on the Republican ticket.

Youngest

At 42 years old, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest U.S. president when he assumed office, although he was not elected, having succeeded President William McKinley following his assassination. He is followed by John F. Kennedy (43), Bill Clinton (46 years, 154 days), Ulysses S. Grant (46 years, 311 days) and Barack Obama (47).

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

President Joe Biden, then a Democratic presidential candidate, speaks at the Lodges at Gettysburg on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Oldest presidents

At 78, Joe Biden holds the title for oldest at the time of his inauguration, followed by Donald Trump (70), Ronald Reagan (69), William Henry Harrison (68) and James Buchanan (65).

AP

U.S. President Jimmy Carter shown April 1, 1979, in the control room of the nuclear plant at Three Mile Island in Middletown, Pa. Standing with Carter from left: Harold Denton, Director of the U.S. Nuclear Agency; PA. Gov. Dick Thornburgh; an unidentified control room employee.

Odd jobs

Jimmy Carter is well-known for having been a peanut farmer prior to becoming president — which led to Carter dubbing his campaign plane “Peanut One” — but he’s certainly not the only president to have a unique career before taking a spot in the Oval Office. Abraham Lincoln once worked a job chopping rails for fence-building; Andrew Johnson was a tailor before becoming president; and Harry Truman was a haberdasher dealing in men’s clothing, specifically hats.

AP

This undated file photo of a 1796 Gilbert Stuart oil on canvas painting portrays George Washington, founding father and first president of the United States. With nearly 60,000 acres and more than 300 slaves, Washington is considered the big daddy of presidential wealth, with estimated wealth equivalent in 2010 to $525 million dollars, according to research by 24/7 Wall St., a news and analysis website. Yet Washington had to borrow money to pay for his trip to New York for his inauguration in 1789, according to Dennis Pogue, vice president for preservation at Mount Vernon, Washington’s Virginia estate. His money was tied up in land, reaping only a modest cash income after farm expenses.

The first!

Here are a few presidential “firsts” throughout U.S. history:

• George Washington was not just the first president, but he also gave the first and shortest inauguration speech, at only 135 words.

• Martin Van Buren was the first president who was born an American citizen. Previous presidents had been British subjects for most of their time in America until a little thing called the Revolutionary War, which of course is why we have presidents here now. Ironically, Van Buren is also the first president to speak English as his second language, having grown up speaking Dutch.

• James Garfield, America’s 20th president, was the first to be left-handed.

• Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C., and with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, was also the first president to add territory to the country through a treaty.

• Millard Fillmore, the 13th president, was the first to have a stepmother.

Library of Congress

Portrait of President William Henry Harrison

• William Henry Harrison (above) is the only president to have studied to become a medical doctor.

• Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an airplane.

AP

Gov. of Ohio William McKinley makes a campaign speech during the U.S. presidential elections in 1896. The location is unknown. McKinley, who became the 25th president in 1897, was the first presidential candidate to effectively tap big corporate campaign donors.

Random facts

Here are a few presidential facts that don’t fit into any particular category, from The History Channel:

• William McKinley appeared on the $500 bill, which the U.S. Treasury stopped producing in 1969.

• Woodrow Wilson officially established Mother’s Day as a U.S. holiday in a 1914 proclamation. Fathers, however, had to wait until 1972 for Richard Nixon to officially recognize Father’s Day, although Calvin Coolidge signed a 1924 resolution and Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order in 1966 noting the holiday and emphasizing its importance.

• Two presidents have middle initials that don’t stand for anything, and they’re the same initial. Presidents Harry S. Truman and Ulysses S. Grant have only an initial and no middle name.

• Speaking of Grant, he was originally invited to join Abraham Lincoln on the night of Lincoln’s assassination at the Ford Theatre in 1865, but Grant and his wife had already made plans to visit their children in New Jersey.

• John Tyler had 15 children, the most of any president.