In 1984, President Ronald Reagan answered the age question with a clever joke that reset his campaign from a stumbling debate performance to a 49-state landslide and a second term. The wobbles came during his first debate with Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale.
FILE - President Ronald Reagan, left, and his Democratic challenger Walter Mondale , shake hands before debating in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 22, 1984. The age question for presidential candidates is more than four decades old. FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. The age question for presidential candidates is more than four decades old.
Today, Democratic President Joe Biden, 81, is struggling for such a redemptive moment after a disastrous debate performance against Republican former president Donald Trump, 77. Those 90 minutes last week set off alarms among Democrats hoping Biden would keep Trump from returning to the White House — and heightened concern amongof how either elderly man would govern a complex nation of more than 330 million people for four more years.
“If I were president and had any feeling at all that my capabilities had been reduced before a second term came, I would walk away,” he told the New York Times on June 10, 1980. “By the same token, I would step down also.” For Reagan, the age issue faded in his first term as any health questions focused on his recovery from a nearly fatal assassination attempt in 1981. He seemed headed for an easy reelection. And debates seemed natural settings for the smooth-talking former Hollywood actor. But his performance in the first showdown with Mondale in the 1984 campaign brought the age issue roaring back.
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