List of vice presidents of the United States by age
This is a list of vice presidents of the United States by age. The first table charts the age of each vice president of the United States at the time of that person's inauguration (first inauguration if that person was elected to multiple and consecutive terms), at the time that that person left office, and at the time of that person's death. Each vice president's age at death and that person's lifespan are measured in two ways; this is to allow for the differing number of leap days occurring within each one's life. The first figure is the number of days between date of birth and date of death, allowing for leap days; in parentheses the same period given in years and days, with the years being the number of whole years that the vice president lived, and the days being the number of days after that person's last birthday. Where the vice president is still living, lifespan is calculated through January 1, 2025.
Age of vice presidents
The median age upon accession to the vice presidency is around 54 years and 10 months. This is about how old John Adams and Hubert Humphrey were at the time they entered office. The youngest person to assume office was John C. Breckinridge, at the age of 36 years, 47 days. Serving only one term, he became and remains the youngest at the time of leaving office; the oldest at the time of entering office was Alben W. Barkley, at the age of 71 years, 57 days. He was also the oldest when he left office.
Born on January 16, 1821, John C. Breckinridge was younger than five of his successors, the greatest number to date: Andrew Johnson (12 years and 18 days); Hannibal Hamlin (11 years, 4 months, and 20 days); Henry Wilson (8 years and 11 months); William A. Wheeler (1 year, 6 months, and 17 days); and Thomas A. Hendricks (1 year, 4 months, and 9 days).
Three vice presidents—Hannibal Hamlin, Charles G. Dawes, and Lyndon B. Johnson—were born on August 27 (in 1809, 1865, and 1908 respectively). This is the only day of the year having the birthday of multiple vice presidents.[1]
The oldest living vice president is Dick Cheney, born on January 30, 1941 (age 83 years, 337 days). The youngest living vice president is the incumbent, Kamala Harris, born on October 20, 1964 (age 60 years, 73 days). The shortest-lived vice president was Daniel D. Tompkins, who died at the age of 50 years, 355 days, only 99 days after leaving office. The longest-lived was John Nance Garner, who died on November 7, 1967, at the age of 98 years, 350 days. He is one of six U.S. vice presidents (along with Levi P. Morton, George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Walter Mondale and John Adams) to have lived into their 90s.
Daniel D. Tompkins had the shortest post-vice-presidency timespan, dying just three months after leaving office. Walter Mondale had the longest post-vice-presidency timespan, dying 40 years after leaving office.
^ abConfirmed by U.S. Congress to fill an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency.
Graphical representation
The following chart shows vice presidents by their age (living vice presidents in green), with the years of their presidency in blue. The vertical blue line at 35 years indicates the minimum age to be vice president.