List of First Ladies of the United States by longevity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lady Bird Johnson is the oldest living First Lady.
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Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's first wife, lived to be only 22 years, 200 days old. She died the same day as Roosevelt's mother.
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Letitia Tyler died at 51 years, 302 days old, making her the youngest woman to have served as First Lady to die.
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This is a list of First Ladies of the United States by longevity, followed by a list of women who were married to Presidents but never became First Ladies. Where the person in question is still living, the longevity is calculated up to March 24, 2007.[1]
To allow for the differing number of leap days occurring within the life of each First Lady or wife, two measures of longevity are given. The first column is the number of days between date of birth and date of death, allowing for leap days; the second column breaks this number down into years and days, with the years being the number of whole years the First Lady or wife lived, and the days being the remaining number of days after her last birthday.
If Lady Bird Johnson is alive on August 26, 2010, she will become the longest lived First Lady.
| Name | Date of birth | Date of death | Longevity | Reason | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| days | yrs days | |||||
| 1 | Jane Wyman | January 4, 1914[5] | 34,046 | 93y 78d [2] | Divorced before her husband became President. | |
| 2 | Mary Dimmick Harrison | April 30, 1858 | January 5, 1948 | 32,756 | 89y 250d | Married her husband after he was President. |
| 3 | Caroline Fillmore | October 21, 1813 | August 11, 1881 | 24,766 | 67y 294d |
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| 4 | Rachel Jackson | June 15, 1767 | December 22, 1828 | 22,470 | 61y 190d | Died before her husband became President. |
| 5 | Ellen Lewis Arthur | August 30, 1837 | January 12, 1880 | 15,475 | 42y 135d |
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| 6 | Hannah Van Buren | March 8, 1783 | February 5, 1819 | 13,117 | 35y 334d |
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| 7 | Martha Jefferson | October 19, 1748 | September 6, 1782 | 12,364 | 33y 311d |
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| 8 | Alice Roosevelt | July 29, 1861 | February 14, 1884 | 8,235 | 22y 200d |
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First Ladies who died while their husband was U.S. President
Most former First Ladies who died during a single Presidential administration
- Three former First Ladies died during Benjamin Harrison's administration as well as his wife Caroline Harrison; They were Lucy Webb Hayes, Julia Gardiner Tyler, Sarah Childress Polk respectively; Two former First Ladies died during the administrations of Fillmore, Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Wilson, Kennedy and Clinton.
Presidential couples who died during a single administration or term
- James and Elizabeth Kortright Monroe both died during Andrew Jackson's first term.
- Margaret Taylor died before Millard Fillmore finished her late husband Zachary's only term.
- Andrew and Eliza McCardle Johnson both died during Ulysses S. Grant's second term.
- Rutherford and Lucy Webb Hayes both died during Benjamin Harrison's only term.
- Florence Harding died before Calvin Coolidge finished her late husband Warren's only term.
- Richard and Pat Nixon both died during Bill Clinton's first term.
- ^ It is anticipated that this article be updated on the first day of each month.
- ^ a b c d e f g h To March 24, 2007.
- ^ a b c Married her husband while he was President.
- ^ a b c Died while her husband was President.
- ^ Jane Wyman's actual birth year is disputed. It is often given as 1917.