The Birth Month of Presidents

When I was studying American history as a schoolboy, a popular maxim was that Virginia was the "mother of presidents" because seven presidents had been born there.

My teachers never mentioned it, but Virginia's title wasn't undisputed. Ohio also was the birthplace of seven future presidents.

I guess Virginia always got the attention because it was the birthplace of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe — all of whom played key roles in the creation of the United States of America.

Neither state will take the lead this year. Barack Obama, of course, was born in Hawaii. He is the first major party presidential nominee to be born in that state. And John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father was a naval officer.

Both candidates were born in August. Since it is 99.9999% certain that one of them will win the election, that will give the month of August five presidential birthdays.

But that will only be good enough to put August in second place on that list.

Which month has had the most presidential birthdays?

We're in it right now. October.

In fact, today is a presidential birthday. Rutherford B. Hayes (pictured at right), whose disputed election in 1876 had to be resolved by a congressional compromise that ended the Reconstruction period, was born on this date in 1822.

In all, six presidents were born in October.

I started pondering this birthday question the other day when it was brought to my attention that Jimmy Carter turned 84 on Wednesday (Oct. 1).

The other four presidents who were born in October were Chester Arthur (Oct. 5), Dwight Eisenhower (Oct. 14), Theodore Roosevelt (Oct. 27) and John Adams (Oct. 30).

I suppose birthdays by themselves are only significant if one is apt to place a great deal of trust in astrology.

But, in a year when one of the presidential nominees is 72 years old, it is the accumulation of birthdays that is a factor for voters who must choose the next president — not when the birthday falls in the annual calendar.

Unless, of course, one is a follower of the zodiac — in which case, here's the information you need: Obama is a Leo (a sign he shares with Herbert Hoover and Bill Clinton) and McCain is a Virgo (same as Lyndon Johnson and William Howard Taft).