President Barack Obama in 2012.
As President Barack Obama reflected on his time in office, he had a way of acknowledging his waning time in the position: a joke about his graying hair.
“Right now, we are waging war under authorities provided by Congress over 15 years ago — 15 years ago,” he said in December 2016.
Indeed, despite his close-cut hairstyle, it was impossible not to notice the trademark presidential graying, as the president’s short black hair became more of a salt-and-pepper color.
Other studies, including a comprehensive analysis of elections dating back to the 1700s, have found that heading a nation can take years off a leader’s life. That analysis, from the Harvard Medical School, found that elected heads of government, on average, have lives almost three years shorter than those of the candidates they defeat.
Here’s how past US presidents have looked near the beginnings and ends of their respective terms:
President Joe Biden took on the mantle as the oldest president to take office at 78 years old when he was inaugurated on January 20, 2021.President Biden speaks about the pandemic at the White House on on January 26, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
Biden, now 79, has not visibly aged much after being in the White House for just under two years thus far.President Joe Biden.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
But the president has had his hands full as the US balances on the cusp of an economic downturn ahead of contentious midterm elections.U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to members of the press prior to his Marine One departure from the White House on October 27, 2022 in Washington, DC. Prior to his departure, Biden spoke to reporters about the third quarter GDP growth. Biden is traveling to Syracuse, New York, where he will deliver remarks on the economy and Micron Technology Inc.’s investing in CHIPS manufacturing.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Donald Trump was 70 when he took office, the oldest in history at the time.
Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Source: AP
Now 76, he doesn’t look much different.Former President Donald Trump walk-on the 18th green during the ProAm of the LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral Golf Club, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, in Doral, Fla.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
By his last year in office, Trump didn’t seem to display the traditional appearance of aging. However, that could be due to his penchant for wearing makeup to appear healthy and robust.President Donald J. Trump speaks about “Operation Warp Speed” in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday, Nov 13, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
In a year where he faced the coronavirus pandemic and a tense bid for reelection, many noticed he had faded in his own ways, with his usual orange hair faded to white, and his hands pale in stark contrast to his orange face.President Donald Trump delivers an update on “Operation Warp Speed” in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on November 13, 2020.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
Now the former president is embroiled in a myriad of legal issues centering on his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, accusations of criminal tax fraud at the Trump Organization, and an investigation into classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago residence.Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Minden Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nev., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.
AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, File
Obama looked youthful when he took the oath of office on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009.
REUTERS/Jim Young
By his year-end 2016 news conference at the White House, he was weathered.President Obama speaks during his year-end 2016 news conference at the White House.
AP
Here’s George W. Bush making a phone call shortly after the 2000 election.
Reuters
And here’s Bush fielding questions during his final White House press briefing, on January 12, 2009.
REUTERS/Jason Reed
Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton looked energetic at a dinner in 1993 several days before his first inauguration.
Reuters/Ira Schwarz
Here’s Clinton giving a brief speech toward the end of his term in October 2000.
WP/RCS via Reuters
Appearing without his trademark glasses, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush answered a question at the second presidential debate in October 1988.
AP Photo/Lennox McLendon
By June 1992, as Bush addressed a crowd of veterans during a ceremony at the Korean War Memorial, several months before losing the presidential election, he looked older.
AP Photo/Greg Gibson
Former President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan greeted fans lined up in Washington at his first inauguration in January 1981. Though he was 69, his movie star appearance held up.
AP
When Reagan returned to Washington after his final trip as president to Camp David in January 1989, he looked quite different.
AP Photo/Doug Mills
Though the photo is black-and-white, you can see Jimmy Carter emerging from a Georgia voting booth on Election Day in November 1976.
AP Photo
Here’s Carter preparing for his farewell address to the nation in January 1981.
AP Photo/Wilson
President Richard Nixon gave a press conference in the East Room of the White House several weeks after being sworn in in 1969.
AP Photo
Plagued by the Watergate scandal, a glassy-eyed Nixon delivered a final speech for White House staff and members of his Cabinet in 1974.
AP Photo/Charlie Harrity, File
President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed a day of mourning for deceased President John F. Kennedy shortly after being sworn in in 1963.
AP Photo
Johnson, who didn’t visibly age too much in his five-year tenure, joins Nixon shortly after Nixon is elected president in November 1968.
AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi
Editor’s note: This list was first published in December 2016 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.
