Harry S. Truman |
The annoyance of the young boy has become now the curiosity of an adult man. I was alive at the same time as Harry S. Truman!
And this got me to wondering, how many lifetimes removed am I from the founding of our Nation?
Ulysses S. Grant |
The answer, surprisingly, is Ulysses S. Grant, who died on July 23, 1885!
And so, who was the oldest living president when Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822?
John Adams |
John Adams, at the age of 90, died on July 4, 1826 (Thomas Jefferson died on the very same day).
I decided now to play this back toward the future, starting from George Washington.
George Washington |
George Washington, at age 67, died on December 14, 1799. Who was the longest living future president who had been born when he died?
James Buchanan |
In other words, a president born before Washington died saw the entirety of the Civil War.
And who was the longest living president alive when Buchanan died?
William Howard Taft |
And what future president, alive when Taft died, lived the longest?
The answer is, there are two presidents, who were born before Taft died, who are still alive!
Jimmy Carter |
George H.W. Bush |
George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924.
I will admit to being surprised how few lifetimes separate us who are alive today from people we assumed were distant history.
As a Christian, I close in contemplating the following.
What was the year when the last Christian who had a memory of an Apostle died? Based on the spans of lives I show here, it is not unreasonable to assert that a number of such people were still alive in the year AD 150.
What was the year when the last Christian who learned Christianity from someone who in turn had learned it from an Apostle died? The answer will be, somewhere deep in the 200's.
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