Joe Biden, 80 today, will never become the oldest Western leader of all time

President Biden turned 80, but there’s no lavish party today. Biden’s predecessors, Reagan and Eisenhower, celebrated their 70 years in the White House as a big moment, but for Biden, his age is a sore point he prefers to downplay. “I can’t even pronounce that number,” he recently said in a radio interview, also suggesting he was 50.

Fortunately, his birthday is overshadowed for him by the wedding of his 28-year-old granddaughter, Naomi, who said yes to Peter Neal yesterday in the White House garden in front of 250 guests. Today, the family celebrates grandfather’s birthday with brunch.

Never before has an American president lived so long in the White House. The oldest president to date, Reagan, was just 78 when he stepped down.

Some Americans have a problem with the age of their president, others not at all:

Biden’s age is part of a trend. His predecessor Donald Trump was 74 when he left the White House, Nancy Pelosi resigned as Democratic leader of the House of Representatives last week at the age of 82.

Other major powers are also led by leaders who were once called the Elders. Vladimir Putin has just turned 70, Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be next year.

Compared to this, most European heads of government are remarkably young. German Chancellor Scholz is already 64, but French President Macron is only 44, Italian Prime Minister Meloni 45 and Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez 50. Mark Rutte, although he has been Prime Minister for 12 years, n am still only 55 years old.

That’s old compared to Finland’s Prime Minister Marin, who was 34 when she took office and turned 37 last week. British Prime Minister Sunak is also still remarkably young: 42 years old.

European heads of government were not always young. Charles de Gaulle was 78 when he left the presidency of France, three years before the end of his term. Winston Churchill was 80 when he left 10 Downing Street. But that was nothing compared to Konrad Adenauer, who was almost 88 when he resigned as chancellor of West Germany in 1963.

In any case, Biden will not reach that age as President of the United States. If he seeks a second term and is reelected, he will be 86 when he leaves the White House in early 2029.