Family values in the White House.

presidents, including Cleveland and Wilson were married while living in the White House. Three presidents became widowers while in office: Tyler, Benjamin Harrison and Wilson. And six former first ladies are still alive: Elizabeth Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson, Hannah van Buren, Ellen Arthur and Alice Roosevelt died before their husbands assumed the presidency. Jane Wyman was divorced from her husband, Ronald Reagan, before his election to the presidency. And the known children of the first 43 presidents? Ninety male and 62 female babies were born to those elected to the White House, a total of 152 offspring. The male:female ratio was 1.45, substantially greater than the general newborn 1.05 ratio in this nation. Of the first ten presidencies (Washington through Tyler), there were an average of 4.6 offspring per president. In the next ten presidencies (Polk through Garfield), there were an average of 3.9 offspring per president. In the next ten presidencies (Arthur through Hoover), there were an average of 3.0 offspring per president. In the final 12 presidencies (Franklin Roosevelt through George W. Bush) there were 3.1 offspring per president. Can anything be concluded from these meager statistics? The fecundity of those elected to the Presidency seems to have diminished since the office was established in 1789; the number of children per American family has gradually decreased in the 22 decades since Washington’s inauguration, for a variety of cultural and medical reasons including a drastically reduced infant mortality rate leading to more prudent family planning. The presidential fecundity may be little more than a reflection of a general trend. The increasing stress of the office must also be considered. And as a corollary observation, the deeper significance of which will require a more intensive scrutiny, namely: Presidents aligned with the Republican party are more fertile than Democrats.