How The Presidency Ages Men (SLIDESHOW)

It's a fact of life: we grow older. But if you're President of the United States of America, it would appear that this process happens at an accelerated rate, the most obvious example being GWB, who, as he gets ready to leave office, looks about 15, 20 years older than he did coming in. Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush didn't have much opportunity to age with only one term in office, but Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton certainly did. See the before and after images below.

Just campaigning alone added some grays to Obama's head, but his barber says the President-elect is not bothered by it. See a slideshow of other 2008 campaign transformations or check out a slideshow of GWB's casual 'ready for retirement' clothes.

• • • • • • • • • • Jimmy Carter, at age 52, in 1976.

Comments

[donorman]

01:03 PM on 11/24/2008

I recieved an email last week with the same pics. The last two pics were Obama who aged into Redd Foxx & Michele aged into Aunt Ester (from Sanford & Son)

[happylittlevegemite]

08:45 PM on 11/23/2008

I have to agree that there doesn't really seem to be that much difference beyond what you'd expect over 4-8 years, with the exception of Dubya. I think if you want to see a world leader really age check out Tony Blair in 1997 when elected and 2007 when he resigned. He has the self-awareness to know what chaos and carnage he's partly responsible for

[darker]

05:25 AM on 11/23/2008

Bush and Reagan AGED LIKE CRAAAAZY! !
compared with the rest of the presidents in those photos.

Both FAKERS: GUILT AGED THEM.

[cdsister]

12:37 AM on 11/23/2008

I agree with Solja. A lot of these guys were old when they started out. I do wonder however......why does GW the 2nd look older? He has not worked one day in the last 8 years!

[Solja]

11:57 PM on 11/22/2008

They all look old because they actually WERE old from the start. If we allowed people to run for the Presidency who were under 50 (Dems have been the exception), then we wouldn't see this aging process. This country wants to be ruled by old people, men in general, and it makes no sense to pick a person that is not fit and in the prime of their life.

Both Clinton and President Obama had to go through the talk of not being ready, or too young, etc. We need to eliminate that and open the door for younger people; at least between 40-50 years old.

[GravitonX]

10:02 PM on 11/22/2008

Let's say...different ethnic groups age differently.

[MichaelCanfield]

09:40 PM on 11/22/2008

Carter looks younger in the second picture to me. This is stupid.

[mapman]

10:28 PM on 11/22/2008

I'm glad you said that. It's the first thing that occurred to me.

[dont-blink]

07:33 PM on 11/22/2008

What strikes me is the eyes; you see the sparkle and hope in the beginning.

In the end it looks like the light has gone out

[JohnnyKong]

07:55 PM on 11/22/2008

wow you're totally right about that.

[Fernando]

06:43 PM on 11/22/2008

I do think that such a stressful job ages people then again, everyone "ages" in eight years. It's eight friggin' years!

[bighillaryfan]

07:15 PM on 11/22/2008

Exactly. The aging President thing is a total myth.

[clarinetmama]

05:49 PM on 11/22/2008

Imagine if W. had taken the job seriously...how much more would he have aged? My nine year old just said, "He'd have been turned to dust."

[ormondotvos]

06:21 PM on 11/22/2008

Bad journalism. The pictures all show a smiling happy younger person, and a pensive older person.

With all the thousands of photos you must have, why play these games? Couldn't be that the job doesn't really age them much, could it?

How about some pictures of retirees and how they age with less stress

[farrightwing]

06:34 PM on 11/22/2008

That is exactly why we should worry about the future leaders of the world.

[BushSunkOurShip]

04:08 PM on 11/22/2008

Another reason other then stress (which really should exclude (Bush Sr. Reagan and Bush Jr.)You have to also take in consideration that they are at the age, where men's age start showing more quickly... When you are around a person often you just do not notice it as much......

[MissingAmerica]

02:24 PM on 11/22/2008

How about pictures of how this administration has aged us!

[BillMelater]

07:17 PM on 11/22/2008

Here here!

http:/billmel8er.wordpress.com

[ProfessorDuh]

01:54 PM on 11/22/2008

The Bush presidency did them one better. It aged everybody considerably.

[Natalie4Obama]

01:40 PM on 11/22/2008

Could it also be that men naturally age over an 8 year period?

[AmbivalentGuy]

01:50 PM on 11/22/2008

Yep.
You want a change - look at Roosevelt.
FDR was about 50 in 1932, and died at 63.
It's hard to think of him as only 63 when we
wee the pictures of him at Potsdam.

Now there's a case where being president,
and a bad heart, really aged a man.

[Bright Creature]

04:13 PM on 11/22/2008

I agree. It's hard to tell how much they would have aged 10 yrs in or out of office. That's a lot of time.

I will concede that the office is stressful, however, and we all know how stress ages.

[Chippy020]

01:05 PM on 11/22/2008

W. BUSH PROBABLY DIDN'T GET MUCH SLEEP AFTER HE FIGURED OUT THAT CHENEY DUPED HIM INTO GOING INTO IRAQ TO FIND THOSE WMDs.....

[AmbivalentGuy]

01:45 PM on 11/22/2008

Oh, come on,
do you honestly think that W
has EVER figured anything out for himself?

[happylittlevegemite]

08:39 PM on 11/23/2008

I don't think he's realised yet that he's been duped...I suspect he sleeps like a baby every night