ANNOUNCER: Viewer Karen McKenzie asks</s>CNN: "With former President Reagan's 90th birthday recently, has there ever been a time when this many former presidents were alive at one time?"</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Twice. Right now, five former presidents are alive: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Now, Carter, Bush and Ford were all one-term presidents -- or, in Ford's case, a little less than a full term. When Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993, there were five former presidents alive as well: Richard Nixon, plus Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush. Now, the only other time five former presidents were alive at the same time was when Abraham Lincoln took office in 1861: Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. They were all one-term presidents -- or in the case of Tyler and Fillmore, less than a term, because they were vice presidents who succeeded presidents who died in office. We have never had more than five former presidents alive at the same time.
Ask CNN: Have This Many Former Presidents Ever Been Alive at One Time?