RIP to Daniel Evans, the conservative environmentalist who served as governor and senator from Washington. He was the last living senator born in the 1920s, a dozen of whom have died in the 2020s. That leaves Nicholas Brady, 94, GHW Bush's treasury secretary who briefly held Lautenberg's seat before his first tenure, as the oldest living senator.
RIP to Daniel Evans, the conservative environmentalist who served as governor and senator from Washington. He was the last living senator born in the 1920s, a dozen of whom have died in the 2020s. That leaves Nicholas Brady, 94, GHW Bush's treasury secretary who briefly held Lautenberg's seat before his first tenure, as the oldest living senator.
You'd think, but we've had Jocelyn Burdick, Slade Gorton, Mark Andrews, Roger Jepsen, Walter Mondale, David Gambrell, John Warner, Bob Dole, Jim Broyhill, Jim Buckley, Lauch Faircloth, Dick Clark, and now Dan Evans die in the past five years. The 13 oldest living senators having 100% mortality in half a decade is startling, aided slightly by covid, but yeah, it's Brady at 94, followed by Rudy Boschwitz, Fred Harris, and Mack Mattingly at 93.
Looking a little more closely, it is remarkable how uniform senators lifespans' have become (warning, perhaps slightly morbid). It's not surprising that their lifespans have increased even as Americans' lifespans have essentially plateaued over the past 30 years, given that the vast majority of them are among the top 10% of Americans economically. Still, it's stark:
53 of the 71 senators born in the 1920s (75%) made it to at least 80, and 48 (68%) made it to at least 85, capping out at Jim Buckley's 100 and 41 (58%) passing in the 10-year span from 86 to 95, with an assassination (Bobby) and a plane crash (Tower) accounting for two of the six that didn't make it to 70.
69 of the 79 senators born in the 1930s (87%) made it to at least 80, and as long as we don't lose Tom Harkin in the next few months, 58 (73%) will make it to at least 85, with a suicide (John Porter East) and a plane crash (Heinz) accounting for two of the four who didn't make it to 70.
73 of the 83 senators born in the 1940s are alive, with only Jack Reed and David Perdue yet to hit 75, and 38 of a possible 74 having passed the 80-mark, with a plane crash (Wellstone) accounting for one of the three deaths before 70.
Kay Hagan (66, due to a tick-transmitted virus), is the first and so far only one of the 137 senators born in the 1950s or later to die.
Some historical context of how stark and rapid the change is:
31 of the 55 senators born in the 1910s (56%) made it to 80 and 21 (38%) to 85, with an assassination (Jack) accounting for one of the 15 deaths before 70.
Similarly, 39 of the 72 senators born in the 1900s (54%) made it to 80 and 27 (38%) to 85, with a suicide (William Knowland) accounting for one of the 21 deaths before 70.
Meanwhile, the oldest living former member of the House is Frank Guarini (D-NJ) who serrved from 1979-92. Born in August 1924, he's currently the only living Congressional centenarian.
Second is Merwin Coad (D-IA) who served from 1957-62 and turns 100 on the 28th. Third is G. William Whitehurst (R-VA), who was born in March 1925. served from 1969-86, and who was one of my professors in graduate school at Old Dominion University in the late 1990s. I have an autographed copy of his book "Diary of a Congressman".
Coad's also the last surviving member of congress from the Eisenhower years. He, Lucien Nedzi (99), and Alec Olson (94) are the last surviving members from the Kennedy years.
Nedzi is the fourth oldest living former member. Fifth is Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), the only one of the top 20 I was ever able to vote for, or in my case against, as in 2012 redistricting put my area into his district with the explicit purpose of flipping the seat Democratic. Subsequently Bartlett moved to West Virginia and for over a decade has lived there "off the grid".
RIP to Daniel Evans, the conservative environmentalist who served as governor and senator from Washington. He was the last living senator born in the 1920s, a dozen of whom have died in the 2020s. That leaves Nicholas Brady, 94, GHW Bush's treasury secretary who briefly held Lautenberg's seat before his first tenure, as the oldest living senator.
Are you sure? That seems a few years young to be the oldest living former U.S. Senator. Most of the time the runner up even is at least 96.
It's seems like a lot of the oldest ones have been dying off a lot
You'd think, but we've had Jocelyn Burdick, Slade Gorton, Mark Andrews, Roger Jepsen, Walter Mondale, David Gambrell, John Warner, Bob Dole, Jim Broyhill, Jim Buckley, Lauch Faircloth, Dick Clark, and now Dan Evans die in the past five years. The 13 oldest living senators having 100% mortality in half a decade is startling, aided slightly by covid, but yeah, it's Brady at 94, followed by Rudy Boschwitz, Fred Harris, and Mack Mattingly at 93.
Looking a little more closely, it is remarkable how uniform senators lifespans' have become (warning, perhaps slightly morbid). It's not surprising that their lifespans have increased even as Americans' lifespans have essentially plateaued over the past 30 years, given that the vast majority of them are among the top 10% of Americans economically. Still, it's stark:
53 of the 71 senators born in the 1920s (75%) made it to at least 80, and 48 (68%) made it to at least 85, capping out at Jim Buckley's 100 and 41 (58%) passing in the 10-year span from 86 to 95, with an assassination (Bobby) and a plane crash (Tower) accounting for two of the six that didn't make it to 70.
69 of the 79 senators born in the 1930s (87%) made it to at least 80, and as long as we don't lose Tom Harkin in the next few months, 58 (73%) will make it to at least 85, with a suicide (John Porter East) and a plane crash (Heinz) accounting for two of the four who didn't make it to 70.
73 of the 83 senators born in the 1940s are alive, with only Jack Reed and David Perdue yet to hit 75, and 38 of a possible 74 having passed the 80-mark, with a plane crash (Wellstone) accounting for one of the three deaths before 70.
Kay Hagan (66, due to a tick-transmitted virus), is the first and so far only one of the 137 senators born in the 1950s or later to die.
Some historical context of how stark and rapid the change is:
31 of the 55 senators born in the 1910s (56%) made it to 80 and 21 (38%) to 85, with an assassination (Jack) accounting for one of the 15 deaths before 70.
Similarly, 39 of the 72 senators born in the 1900s (54%) made it to 80 and 27 (38%) to 85, with a suicide (William Knowland) accounting for one of the 21 deaths before 70.
Meanwhile, the oldest living former member of the House is Frank Guarini (D-NJ) who serrved from 1979-92. Born in August 1924, he's currently the only living Congressional centenarian.
Second is Merwin Coad (D-IA) who served from 1957-62 and turns 100 on the 28th. Third is G. William Whitehurst (R-VA), who was born in March 1925. served from 1969-86, and who was one of my professors in graduate school at Old Dominion University in the late 1990s. I have an autographed copy of his book "Diary of a Congressman".
Coad's also the last surviving member of congress from the Eisenhower years. He, Lucien Nedzi (99), and Alec Olson (94) are the last surviving members from the Kennedy years.
Nedzi is the fourth oldest living former member. Fifth is Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), the only one of the top 20 I was ever able to vote for, or in my case against, as in 2012 redistricting put my area into his district with the explicit purpose of flipping the seat Democratic. Subsequently Bartlett moved to West Virginia and for over a decade has lived there "off the grid".