Guest Editorial: Should the ages of our candidates matter?

When President Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021, he was 78 years old. Former President Donald J. Trump was 74. Biden and Trump are now 81 and 78, respectively, seeking second terms in the White House. The 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns are not the first time that age has been an issue in American politics. During the 1960 election, for example, many questioned Sen. John F. Kennedy’s age and experience. At the time, he was 43. His opponent, Vice President Richard Nixon, was 47. Twenty-four years later, the ages of our presidential candidates were again front and center as President Ronald Reagan, then the oldest occupant of the White House at age 73, was campaigning for a second term against former Vice President Walter Mondale, 61. During their first debate on October 21, 1984, when moderator Henry Trewhitt noted that “you already are the oldest president in history” and expressed concern about how he would respond during a national security crisis, Reagan responded with the now famous retort, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Again, for many glued to their...