Special Report

American Presidents Who Lived the Longest and Shortest Lives

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt
> Age at time of death: 63 years
> Date of death: April 12, 1945
> Cause of death: Cerebral hemorrhage
> Place of death: Warm Springs, Georgia

Franklin D. Roosevelt holds the record for longest tenure as president, serving three terms and winning reelection to a fourth. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage while sitting for a portrait on a retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945 — less than three months into his fourth term. According to some historians, the stresses of World War II and the 1944 reelection campaign had taken a toll on the former president’s health. Roosevelt’s body was carried by train from Georgia to his New York burial place on a route lined by hundreds of thousands of mourning Americans. Roosevelt was 63 years old at the time of his death.

33. Harry S. Truman
> Age at time of death: 88 years
> Date of death: December 26, 1972
> Cause of death: Heart failure
> Place of death: Kansas City, Missouri

After his presidency, Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess Truman returned to his hometown of Independence, Missouri. He enjoyed a long retirement of 19 years, during which he wrote memoirs, constructed a presidential library, and remained influential in American political life. He eventually died on December 26, 1972 at the Kansas City Research Hospital. The former president was 88 years old at his time of death.

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower
> Age at time of death: 78 years
> Date of death: March 28, 1969
> Cause of death: Heart failure
> Place of death: Washington, D.C.

After his two terms as America’s 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower retired to a farm on the border of the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania. The former president remained involved in American political life, occasionally advising presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He and his wife Mamie Eisenhower also traveled extensively. Eisenhower’s health began to deteriorate in 1968, and he passed away on March 28, 1969 in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Eisenhower was 78 years old at the time of his death.

35. John F. Kennedy
> Age at time of death: 46 years
> Date of death: November 22, 1963
> Cause of death: Gunshot wound
> Place of death: Dallas, Texas

On November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, John F. Kennedy was shot and killed by assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. He was about three years into his presidency. The lack of a clear motive for the killing as well as the subsequent assassination of Oswald by Jack Ruby inspired a number of conspiracy theories concerning the Kennedy assassination. However, a commission established to investigate the assassination concluded that Oswald had been the sole party involved. At 43 years old, Kennedy was the youngest person ever to be elected president. And at 46 years, he was the youngest U.S. president to die.

36. Lyndon B. Johnson
> Age at time of death: 64 years
> Date of death: January 22, 1973
> Cause of death: Heart attack
> Place of death: Johnson City, Texas

After his two terms as America’s 36th president, Lyndon B. Johnson retired to his Texas ranch. There he worked on his memoirs and the construction of his presidential library. After suffering a heart attack in his home on January 22, 1973, Johnson was airlifted to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The former president had been in poor health for many years, with heart complications dating back to 1955. Johnson was 64 years old at the time of his death.

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