Still boyish, energetic, enthusiastic, Lindsey Graham died suddenly last weekend at the age of 71. Once upon a time, death at such an age was not unexpected. The two Presidents Roosevelt died aged 60 and 63, and in the summer of 1949, two Supreme Court justices in their 50s died of heart attacks. 

But advances in medicine and pharmacology have increased not only Americans’ lifespans but also the professional careers of many notable figures, while the nation, which never had a president over age 70 until the 1980s, now, in the 2020s, has had two over 80.