Youngest elected as US president

John F. Kennedy (b. 29 May 1917; d. 22 November 1963), Democratic victor in the 1960 US presidential election, was 43 years 236 days old at his inauguration on 20 January 1961.

Kennedy was the youngest man ever to have been elected president, but Theodore Roosevelt (b. 27 October 1858; d. 6 January 1919) succeeded to the US presidency on 14 September 1901 at the age of 42 years 322 days, after the assassination of of his predecessor, William McKinley.

The Role of Age in US Presidential Politics

There are three core requirements for any aspiring US presidential candidate: they must have been born in the USA, have lived there for at least 14 years and be aged 35 years or more. The average age for US presidents at their inauguration is 55 years, although the two most recent incumbents at the White House – Donald Trump and Joe Biden – bucked the trend: both were septuagenarians when they took office. In many respects, however, age is just a number: Trump’s energy made him seem far more dynamic than Biden – then the oldest elected US president at 78 years 61 days on 20 Jan 2021 – who was also prone to worrying verbal gaffes, not least in their public debates, and was eventually replaced by the far younger Kamala Harris.

Historical Context: Early Presidents and Their Ages at Election

Interestingly, America’s Founding Fathers only set a minimum age for presidential hopefuls, not a maximum. Older candidates were not discouraged – quite the reverse. George Mason, one of the signatories to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, even complained at the “deficiency of young politicians”, arguing that their lack of experience should make them unfit for public office. Six of the country’s first 10 leaders were aged 51–57. George Washington, the first US president, was 61 years old.

That said, the White House has seen its share of celebrated younger presidents whose energy and vitality ushered in a period of perceived hope and optimism. John F Kennedy epitomized that spirit to many of his generation, using his inauguration speech in 1961 to single out challenges his country now faced and demanding, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Nearly 50 years later, the election of Barack Obama rode on a wave of aspirations for change, embodied in the 47-year-old Obama himself as the first African-American US president .

Today’s presidential campaigns are very different from those of the past. Well into the 19th century, candidates refrained from actively campaigning for office themselves; instead, they recruited surrogates to do the hard yards for them. By the end of that century, however, presidential hopefuls were taking a more central role, via “stump speeches” to crowds, or whistlestop campaign tours across the country by railroad.

The advent of television enabled candidates to address the entire country at once, of course. The year 1960 saw the very first presidential TV debate, one of four between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Of the two, Kennedy was more attuned to television’s value to a campaign, and proved more astute at exploiting it, even checking the camera positions with the show’s producer beforehand.

Since Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008, social-media platforms and websites have become part of every candidate’s armoury. Obama’s campaign was particularly successful in reaching younger voters, not least in the use of a Facebook app that gave his team access to the Facebook friends of all the 1 million-plus supporters who signed up to it. It was  a revolutionary innovation, a way of reaching out to potential young voters who regularly used social media but didn’t have landline phone numbers.

The Challenges Faced by Young Presidents

Trump and Biden are older than all previous presidents – both well beyond the usual retirement age in the USA. And that raises certain questions. What if a president dies in office, and is replaced with someone that no US citizen voted for? What if their faculties fail them, or the extreme demands of the job prove beyond their capacity?

Certainly, Kennedy made his youth a core part of his inauguration address in 1961, declaring that “the torch has been passed on to a new generation of Americans”. But George Mason had a point: while energy and stamina is admirable in younger presidents, that alone doesn’t qualify them for the job of most powerful world leader. Ambitious plans for social change easily run aground if a president’s plans are stymied by Congress, as both Kennedy and Obama found to their frustration, and failure to follow through on election promises taints every politician’s public image. Surrounding oneself by an experienced body of advisers can help younger presidents find their feet, but can backfire too, as Kennedy discovered when a planned invasion of Cuba via the island’s Bay of Pigs in 1961 went disastrously wrong. (He subsequently fired the head of the CIA, Allen Dulles, and forced two of his aides, blaming their poor planning for the debacle.)

Notable U.S. Presidents Elected in Their 40s or Younger

Theodore Roosevelt became president unexpectedly, after the assassination of William McKinley in September 1901, making him the youngest US president to assume office at the age of 42 years 322 days. He went on to become one of the country’s most dynamic (and respected) leaders, pushing through progressive reforms, overseeing a strong foreign policy that cemented the USA as a global world player, instigating major irrigation projects and greatly expanding the country’s national forests. For his part in brokering negotiations that ended the Russo-Japanese War, he became the first US president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

With his tan, dazzling smile and clean-cut good looks, John F Kennedy epitomized a new spirit of hope to many citizens at the dawn of the 1960s. He vigorously promoted the US space programme and backed new legislation to support the civil rights movement (although it was painfully slow to develop).

Kennedy’s skilled statesmanship in resolving the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis – the 13 days when the world famously “held its breath” - helped to avert nuclear conflict between the US and Soviet Union. And mere months before his death, he negotiated a treaty that imposed a partial test ban on nuclear weapons – a world first.

The election of Barack Obama in 2009 rode on a wave of aspirations for change, embodied in the 47-year-old Obama himself as the first black president. In his first term, he signed bills to make healthcare more affordable and accessible (“Obamacare”), launch an unprecedented fiscal rescue package in the wake of economic collapse under his predecessor, and reform US financial institutions. Later that year, he became the fourth US president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, for promoting the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and attempting to foster improvements in international relations – notably to Muslim states.

Under Obama’s fellow Democrat Bill Clinton (aged 46 when he took office), the USA enjoyed its longest-ever period of economic expansion, with the highest budget surpluses and debt reductions in the country’s history. Education standards rose under his tenure. The State Children’s Health Insurance Plan provided cover for uninsured children from low-income families. Employment rose to its highest level in 30 years, while the crime rate dwindled dramatically.

How Age Shapes Presidential Legacies

Roosevelt, Clinton and Obama experienced huge popularity at various stages of their presidencies, and all three served two terms (eight years altogether) in office – the maximum permitted in the USA. Certainly, their youthful enthusiasm and vigour helped them to push through pioneering legislation, especially early on during their first terms, whereas older presidents tend to be more conservative in their approach. But the legacies of Clinton and Obama also became somewhat tarnished during their time in power – partly through their own errors (political naivety, errors of judgement in personal life) but also owing to political opponents vigorously blocking their agendas.

John F Kennedy is the exception. He was assassinated on 22 November 1963 – 2 years 306 days into his presidency. The start of his term was peppered with setbacks and mistakes, but by the time of his demise, he was enjoying the highest approval ratings of any post-World War II US president. To many people, Kennedy embodied a new optimism for the USA and for the world at large, leaving many to speculate to this day about what he might have achieved had he lived.