Children of the '30s

The 1930s conjures images of bank runs and the prevalent unemployment lines of the Great Depression.  The face of FDR and the advent of the New Deal also come to mind.  To the collage we can add the Dust Bowl and gangsters such as Capone, Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde.  The '30s also witnessed the rise of Hitler.  

On the milder side, the decade is remembered for Babe Ruth's called World Series home run, the creation of Snow White and the epic Gone with the Wind. Polaroid photography, Monopoly, jet engines, drive-in theaters, the parking meter, and canned beer were all born in the '30s.  What was not born in the 1930s was a U.S. President.  John McCain's loss closed out that possibility.

Not having a president born in a given decade may not be significant but it is rare indeed.  It has happened only twice since the 1730s.  The only other decade to miss out was the 1810s. The most fertile? The 1800s and the 1910s - four presidents each. There is still a chance for those born in the 1950s and this was the first election where someone born in the 1970s was constitutionally eligible to achieve the presidency.

Here's the list. The Presidential order is noted in parenthesis for those who are obsessed with chronological skips (Reagan was skipped by four younger men) and leapfrogs (JFK jumped ahead of four older men):

1730s: Washington (1); Adams (2)

1740s: Jefferson (3)

1750s: Madison (4); Monroe (5)

1760s: Quincy Adams (6); Jackson (7)

1770s: W.H. Harrison (9)

1780s: Van Buren (8); Taylor (12)

1790s: Tyler (10); Buchanan (15); Polk (11)

1800s: Fillmore (13); Pierce (14); A. Johnson (17); Lincoln (16)

1810s: none

1820s: Grant (18); Hayes (19); Arthur (21)

1830s: Garfield (20); B. Harrison (23); Cleveland (22 and 24)

1840s: McKinley (25)

1850s: Wilson (28); Taft (27); TR (26)

1860s: Harding (29)

1870s: Coolidge (30); Hoover (31)

1880s: FRD (32); Truman (33)

1890s: Eisenhower (34)

1900s: LBJ (36)

1910s: Reagan (40); Nixon (37); Ford (38); JFK (35)

1920s: Carter (39); H.W. Bush (41)

1930s: none

1940s: Clinton (42); W. Bush (43)

1950s: not yet

1960s: Obama (44)

1970s: not yet