Puzzleblogger Kevan Choset has a couple of trivia posts about presidential life spans (and here), and I thought of another trivia question: when were the most ex-presidents, presidents, and presidents-to-be all alive at the same time? A database of presidential births and deaths would make the question easy enough to solve with a computer.
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> when were the most ex-presidents, presidents,
> and presidents-to-be all alive at the same time
I didn't fact check this, but the MSM said that when both Nixon and Reagan were still alive, it was then:
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Bush 1
Clinton
Then Nixon died in 94, and we were down until Clinton went on the ex-list and Bush 2 to replace him:
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Bush 1
Clinton
Bush 2
Then Reagan died in 2004 and won't have a replacement until Bush 2 retires at the next election. However, Ford must be in ill health since his public profile has been really, really low lately.
DM: Sure, but in the first case Bush 2 was also alive, and was a persident-to-be, so that number would be at least seven. Plus, of course, there are other presidents-to-be alive right now that we just don't know about yet.
I think, by that reason alone, you can't count Presidents-to-be on any "record" list...
Since the original question advised using already existing data on Presidents, it seems that we can only deal with what has happened up to the present, and thus it is absolutely possible to include "presidents-to-be," even if they are infants at the moment of death of the oldest man on whatever largest list is being compiled.
Sure, there are presidents-to-be that are alive now that we can't put on that list, but that just makes that list limited and forces us to look somewhere in the past (presumably).