A changing of the generational guard is coming to the halls of American power.
The U.S. government is on the precipice of a changing of the guard, as a new generation of leaders and operators prepare to take power in Washington while the country’s eldest politicos exit stage left.
Of course, the generational change is happening even as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to reclaim his position as the oldest president to enter office on January 20, 2025. Trump first earned the title when he took office in 2017 at 70. President Joe Biden beat Trump’s record in 2020 when he was sworn in at 78. When next month’s inauguration rolls around, Trump will be five months older than Biden was when he was sworn in.
But don’t let Trump’s senior status fool you. His incoming administration include a string of relative youngsters who will be setting their own records when they sweep into power next year.
At 40, JD Vance will be the third-youngest vice president. Karoline Leavitt will become the youngest press secretary in U.S. history, at just 27. And the “big four” of Trump’s cabinet—secretary of state, defense secretary, attorney general and treasury secretary—if confirmed, will have the youngest average age of the last five administrations at 54. (The average age of the “big four” during the administrations of Biden, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and even Trump’s first term was somewhere in their 60s. Barack Obama’s top cabinet officials averaged roughly 57 years of age.)
“As a certifiable ‘Boomer’, from squarely in the center of that cohort’s time span, it hurts a bit to see my peers fading from the political scene”, Barbara Perry, presidential historian and J. Wilson Newman professor of governance at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, told Newsweek.
“But as President Kennedy declared in his inaugural address: ‘The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.’ Except for the president-elect who hails from the very first year of the post-WW II Baby Boom.”
Over the last decade or so, the federal government has earned a reputation as being something of a gerontocracy, with power concentrated among a group of elders significantly older than the majority of the adult population. Decisions from aging officeholders of both parties to hold onto their posts has drawn scrutiny in recent years and raised questions about whether they have the mental acuity or fresh ideas needed to lead the country.
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the late Senator Dianne Feinstein both faced calls to resign in their final years. Ginsberg, who died at 87, and Feinstein, who died at 90, were still serving in their positions up until the time of their death. Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, also drew controversy after the then 81-year-old froze in multiple public appearances last year that prompted concerns of cognitive decline.
