Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Here’s a by-the-numbers look ahead at this historic event.
{ 1 } Obama will be the first president born in Hawaii. (Small surprise: Hawaii didn’t become a state until 1959. Obama was born in 1961.)
{ 77 } Days until Obama’s inauguration on 20 January 2009.
{ 47-5-16 } Obama’s age in years, months and days when he takes office in January.
He’ll be the fifth-youngest American president ever. Theodore Roosevelt is still the champ at age 42, followed by John Kennedy (43), Bill Clinton (46 years, 5 months), and Ulysses Grant (46 years, 11 months). Obama will bump Grover Cleveland (47 years, 11 months) from the top five.
{ 8 } Presidents, including Obama, schooled at Harvard.
Of those eight, he is the second to attend Harvard Law School. Rutherford B. Hayes was the first; he graduated in 1845, 146 years before Obama.
{ 24 } Years Michelle Obama will be older than the youngest first lady.
Michelle Obama will turn 45 on January 17th, three days before her husband takes office. Frances Folsom married Grover Cleveland at the White House in 1886, when she was only 21. There have been many youngish First Ladies; most recently, Jackie Kennedy was 31 when JFK took office in 1961.
{ 2 } Michelle Obama will be the second First Lady with a law degree. Hillary Clinton was the first.
{ 7 } and { 10 } Ages of Obama’s daughters Sasha and Malia when he takes office.
Jenna and Barbara Bush were 19 when George W. Bush was inaugurated. Chelsea Clinton was 12 at the start of her father’s term in 1993. Amy Carter was nine when Jimmy Carter took office in 1977.
{ 1 } Obama will be the first Columbia University undergraduate to become president. (Dwight Eisenhower was president of Columbia when he was elected U.S. president in 1952.)
{ 4 } Presidents, including Obama, with strong ties to Illinois.
Abraham Lincoln remains the state’s favorite son (though he was actually born in Kentucky). Ulysses Grant was a clerk in Galena, Illinois when the Civil War broke out; he was living there again in 1868 when he received word he had been elected president. And Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico in 1911.
{ 44 } Obama will be the 44th U.S. president. (Grover Cleveland — him again! — is counted as both the 22nd and 24th presidents, having served non-consecutive terms.)
{ 55 } Obama’s age on leaving office in 2017, if he serves two terms. That’s one year older than George W. Bush was when he took office in 2001. In the year 2017, Michelle Obama will be 53. Sasha and Malia will be 15 and 18.
{ 1 } Barack Obama will be the first African-American president. It has been 138 years since the 15th Amendment guaranteed African-Americans the right to vote.
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