When will the next person to be President have a son?

[phk]

The last president who had a son was George H.W. Bush. Followed by 3 presidents who have never had one. Even if Obama loses in '12 to a candidate who has a son it will be 2 decades of son-less presidents.

Pure coincidence or does having only daughters make you more electable?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Complete and total coincidence.  And we don't know that Clinton doesn't have any sons

[tpfkaw]

Awful Mitt Romney has 5, doesn't he?

[??????????]

Sarah Palin

[RIP Robert H Bork]

I wondered about this, too. I think it's pure coincidence, though.

[opebo]

Maybe more people are having daughters due to our corporation-poisoned food.  One things for sure, little girls are fat as heck and have ridiculous bazoombas at a disturbingly young age nowadays.

[Silent Hunter]

I wondered about this, too. I think it's pure coincidence, though.

Probably. However, it's worth pointing out that Reagan and Bush senior didn't have young children when they were in office. Carter had a young daughter while in the Oval Office.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

angus

[angus]

angus

Hmmm.  Well, the country would probably go to hell, sans handbasket, if that happened. 

Let's see.  My serious take on this is that folks who start having children when they're old have females and folks who start having children young have a mix of males and females.  You can look up the average age of the a person's father when he or she was born and it's like 28 for males and 31 for females.  Something like that.  That I had my first child at 37 and it was a boy is an outlier.  Usually folks who wait so long to sire progeny end up with females. 

Now, the sorts who run for president these days are the sorts who have children later in life.  Dubya had his children at 31.  Bubba had his at 34.  The Messiah had his at 37.  Contrast this with Herbert ("No New Taxes") Walker, who had his first child at 22 or with the average Joe, who has his first child at the age of 25.6 and ends up with 1.8 children, of whom 0.9 are males and 0.9 are females.

There are some hypotheses about the "female" sperm being stronger than the "male" sperm, or about how one's pH level affects their growth as a man grows older, so that you start out with an odds ratio of roughly 53:47 for male-to-female when you're like 15 years old, but that by the time you're 35 the odds are down to about 44:56.  But whatever the scientific reason, it is statistically relevant that you have more females to males as you grow older.  If you pick a guy like Mitt Romney for president, even without knowing whether he has children, just ask him how old he was when his first child was born and how many he has, and how old he was when they were each born and you can use combinatorics and a binomial model to judge the odds that any of his children are male.  If we continue to elect folks who waited later in life to have children and who only had one or two children, as opposed to eight or nine (both trends with the boomers and beyond), then we're likely to have more females among the First Offspring than males.

[jimrtex]

I did a little research and there are currently 27 living children of former presidents:

Eisenhower (1): John 88.
Kennedy (1): Caroline 52.
Johnson (2): Lynda Bird 66; Luci 63.
Nixon (2): Tricia 64; Julie 62.
Ford (4): Michael 60; Jack 58; Steve 54; Susan 53.
Carter (4): Jack 63; Chip 60; Jeff 58; Amy 43.
Reagan (3): Mike 64; Patti 58; Ron 52.
Bush (5): George 64; Jeb 57; Neil 55; Marvin 54; Doro 51.
Clinton (1): Chelsea 30.
Bush (2): Barbara 28; Jenna 28
Obama (2): Malia 12; Sasha 9.

The record was 37 in 1913 at the time of Wilson's inauguration (4 Tylers, 1 Lincoln, 3 Grants, 4 Hayes', 5 Garfields, 1 Arthur, 3 Harrisons, 4 Clevelands, 6 Roosevelts, 3 Tafts, and 3 Wilsons)

There were 34 when FDR became president in 1933, but this had declined to 26 by the time he died.  With Truman and Eisenhower both having only one adult child and serving 8 years each, the number had declined to 20 in 1958 when the last Garfield died.  20 was the lowest number since Buchanan was president.

The more recent records are 30 at the beginning of Carter's, Reagan's, and Bush's (GHWB) terms.

The maximum number of broods was 14 when Reagan became president.   The Roosevelts (Teddy) and Tafts died off while he was president; Roosevelts (FDR) while Bush was president; and Clevelands, Coolidges, and Hoovers while Clinton was president reducing the number of 10.

Long periods with children of one sex:

1801-1825: females only Jefferson, Madison, Monroe (excluding Jefferson's possible children with Sally Hemings; and Madison's stepson).

1993-2010 (current): females only: Clinton, Bush (GWB), Obama

1825-1841: males only Adams (JQA), Jackson, Van Buren,

1853-1865: males only Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln (Pierce's sons died before he was president)

1963-1974: females only Johnson (LBJ), Nixon.

1923-1933: males only Coolidge, Hoover.

1881-1889: females only Arthur, Cleveland (Cleveland's children were born after his first term).

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

The next president will have a son who will happen to be a Senator from Kentucky.

[angus]

I did a little research and there are currently 27 living children of former presidents:

Eisenhower (1): John 88.
Kennedy (1): Caroline 52.
Johnson (2): Lynda Bird 66; Luci 63.
Nixon (2): Tricia 64; Julie 62.
Ford (4): Michael 60; Jack 58; Steve 54; Susan 53.
Carter (4): Jack 63; Chip 60; Jeff 58; Amy 43.
Reagan (3): Mike 64; Patti 58; Ron 52.
Bush (5): George 64; Jeb 57; Neil 55; Marvin 54; Doro 51.
Clinton (1): Chelsea 30.
Bush (2): Barbara 28; Jenna 28
Obama (2): Malia 12; Sasha 9.

The record was 37 in 1913 at the time of Wilson's inauguration (4 Tylers, 1 Lincoln, 3 Grants, 4 Hayes', 5 Garfields, 1 Arthur, 3 Harrisons, 4 Clevelands, 6 Roosevelts, 3 Tafts, and 3 Wilsons)

There were 34 when FDR became president in 1933, but this had declined to 26 by the time he died.  With Truman and Eisenhower both having only one adult child and serving 8 years each, the number had declined to 20 in 1958 when the last Garfield died.  20 was the lowest number since Buchanan was president.

The more recent records are 30 at the beginning of Carter's, Reagan's, and Bush's (GHWB) terms.

The maximum number of broods was 14 when Reagan became president.   The Roosevelts (Teddy) and Tafts died off while he was president; Roosevelts (FDR) while Bush was president; and Clevelands, Coolidges, and Hoovers while Clinton was president reducing the number of 10.

Long periods with children of one sex:

1801-1825: females only Jefferson, Madison, Monroe (excluding Jefferson's possible children with Sally Hemings; and Madison's stepson).

1993-2010 (current): females only: Clinton, Bush (GWB), Obama

1825-1841: males only Adams (JQA), Jackson, Van Buren,

1853-1865: males only Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln (Pierce's sons died before he was president)

1963-1974: females only Johnson (LBJ), Nixon.

1923-1933: males only Coolidge, Hoover.

1881-1889: females only Arthur, Cleveland (Cleveland's children were born after his first term).

Nice work.  I don't know whether to stand in awe of your internet research savvy and attention to detail, or to wallow in pity for a man who apparently has no life. 

[Psychic Octopus]

Romney, Palin, Huckabee, and Paul all have male children. Gingrich, Pawlenty, Daniels, and Thune do not.

Looking ahead to 2016, I know that Christie and Jindal have sons, while Cuomo and Warner only have daughters.

[ag]

Maybe more people are having daughters due to our corporation-poisoned food. 

As the recorded births in the US seem to be stable at 105 boys for 100 girls, your hypothesis suggests that the only people who eat the corporation-poisoned food are potential presidents. Everybody else seems to be doing fine )))

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The next president will have a son who will happen to be a Senator from Kentucky.

I'm sure (sarcastically).