There are currently four living ex-Presidents (Ford, Carter, Bush, Clinton). Who was President the first time there were four living ex-Presidents?
John Quincy Adams. From JQ Adams' inauguration until July 4, 1826, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were all alive.
What is the highest number of ex-Presidents to be alive at one time, and when did this happen?
Five, and it happened three times. From Lincoln's inauguration until January 18, 1862, Buchanan, Pierce, Fillmore, Tyler, and Van Buren were all alive. Not surprisingly, Buchanan, Pierce, and Fillmore immediately predated Lincoln as President. However, Tyler and Van Buren were President much earlier but happened to live a while longer. After Tyler were both Polk (who died in 1849) and Taylor, (who died in office in 1850), who did not make it to the Lincoln Presidency.
From Clinton's inauguration until Nixon's death on April 22, 1994, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush Sr. were all alive.
From the current Bush's inauguration until Reagan's death on June 5, 2004, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton were all alive.
As with the post on Living Ex-Justices, my question for you is: When were there were no living ex-Presidents?
UPDATE:
I accidentally listed one of the answers to the second question as an answer to the first question (as some comments correctly pointed out). The answers above are correct as listed, I believe.
FDR died in office and was president for 4 terms. By the end of Truman's time it would have been 20 years since the Hoover presidency.
I think Nixon had the power of fire, but I just can't recall.
I think I agree with Barbara.
12/14/1799 (death of Washington) until 3/4/1801 (end of John Adams' term)
7/31/1875 (death of Andrew Johnson) until 3/4/1877 (end of U.S. Grant's term)
Going back to the original question (first time there were four living ex-presidents), this first occurred during 1825-26, from the commencement of J.Q. Adams' term until the death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826.
Herbert Hoover lived to the ripe old age of 90, dying in October 1964. He thus lived through the entire terms of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and JFK, and into the term of LBJ.
Kevin, I believe your first answer is incorrect. When JQ Adams took office in March 1825, there were four living ex-presidents:
Adams and Jefferson both died July 4, 1826
Madison died June 28, 1836
Monroe died July 4, 1831
Dates collected here.
Truman died on December 27, 1972
LBJ died on January 22, 1973
Nixon resigned on Friday, August 9, 1974
Thus between January 23, 1973 and August 9, 1974
there were no ex-presidents.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died during JQ Adams' presidency, but James Monroe outlived his successor's presidency.
Tyler lived until 1862, in Lincoln's presidency.
Fillmore lived until 1874, during Grant's presidency.
Grant lived until 1885, just after Grover Cleveland was inaugurated. While Chester Arthur died in 1886, Rutherford Hayes lived until 1893.
Grover Cleveland died in 1908, near the end of T. Roosevelt's presidency. It appears that from Grover Cleveland's death until Roosevelt was succeeded in 1909, there were no living ex-presidents.
June 24, 1908 (death of Grover Cleveland) to March 4, 1909, inauguration of William Howard Taft. McKinley and Harrison had died in 1901, leaving Cleveland as the only survivng ex-president during Theodore Roosevelt's term.
January 5, 1933 (death of Calvin Coolidge) to March 4, 1933, inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt. Wilson died in 1924, Harding in 1923, and Taft in 1930.
The "office of president" under the Articles of Confederation is not the same office as that of President of the United States under the Constitution; effectively, under the Articles, the office was the president of Congress. So it is correct to state that there were no living ex-presidents while Washington was president.
An aside: Madison died on June 30. He probably could have lingered on to July 4 with intensive care, but he didn't want to. Given the state of medicine in the early 19th century, I can understand why.
This is correct. Another interesting point of trivia is that July 4th is the only day of the year where more than one President has died.
Your statement squarely applies to those who held "president-like" offices before Huntington. However, it doesn't squarely apply to Huntingon and those who served after him but before Washington. They were "Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled," which was somewhat different than being a mere presiding officer of Congress.
Do any two people in the room have the same birthday?
You can get odds or more than 10-1 from most people if there are less than 50 people in the room.
How many people have to be in the same room before the odds are at least 50/50 that two of them have the same birthday? The answer is around 21 or so. This is due to each additional birthday adding a potential hit. Most people think it would take at least half the possible birthdays, or some 188. At 50 people, the odds are well over 4-1 in favor.
Anyhoo, I wonder what the probabilities of 3 Presidents out of 43 (42? Cleveland counted twice?) having the same death date?
Any really good mathematics types out there?
At the time Monroe succumbed on July 4th, 1831, only four Presidents had died. The odds of three out of four having the same date of death was about 0.014% or the odds of it NOT happening was about 99.986%!