According to the U.S. Constitution, there are several requirements for being eligible to become the president of the United States of America, such as being a “natural born citizen” (a phrase that the Constitution fails to define). One of these requirements is that you must be at least 35 years of age. But there haven’t actually been any 35 year old presidents up until now. So just who was the youngest president and how old were they when they took office?
Who was the youngest president of the United States?
The lowest age of any U.S. president to date, at the time that they took office, is 42, though of course many have been significantly older than this. One of the most notable of these is Ronald Reagan who was almost 70 years old when he was elected and was 77 when he left office.
The youngest ever president is often thought to be John F. Kennedy who was 43 years of age when he took the presidential Oath of Office. To be precise, he was 43 years and 236 days old.
But while it’s true that Kennedy was the youngest person ever to actually be elected president, he wasn’t in fact the youngest to hold the office.
In fact, that honor belongs to Theodore Roosevelt who became president in 1901 following the assassination of William McKinley. At the time that he took office, Roosevelt was 42 years and 322 days old.