Five Presidents

This photo was taken in November, 1991. It was, so far as I know, the first photograph taken of 5 living presidents, all together at the same time. For the last two years of Nixon’s presidency, he was the only living U.S. President (Johnson died in January 1973, Harry Truman a few weeks before that).

 

I was born in the last year of Nixon. These 5 men represent the U.S. Presidency from my birth until I was old enough to vote. The first one I actually remember being president was Reagan – I was too young to understand the concept during the terms of Nixon, Ford and Carter.

 

I was 22 when Nixon died. His was the first death of a U.S. President I ever experienced. My friend and I stayed up all night talking about his legacy, and I waited impatiently for Rolling Stone to publish the Hunter Thompson eulogy to his dead enemy I knew would come (and I still have it).

 

It was another ten years before another President died (Reagan), followed not long after by Ford. Another 12 years passed before Bush died in 2018. Between the deaths of Ford and Bush, I got married and divorced, raised three children and launched my own business.

 

Two of my children were born under the first black President. A similar photo of the Presidents who shaped their childhood will look a bit different than this one, and I hope the one their children will have looks even more diverse. But, this one defines my childhood.

 

Jimmy Carter is the only President from this photo still alive. He was 67 years old when it was taken, and is now 99. I know he won’t be around much longer, because with his beloved wife gone he’ll have little motivation to linger. He looks like the oldest one in this photo, and looks so much older now.

 

Five Presidents.

 

The stewards of America for my entire childhood, and their era on Earth is about to end. These are the men who raised Generation X. Regardless of what you may think of each of them personally, together they shaped the persona of a generation, through their actions, their inactions, their good ideas, and their bad ones.

 

That, at the very least, is worth taking a moment to reflect upon as we prepare to say goodbye to the last of them.