President Bush's 60th Birthday: The Historic Significance of a Milestone

July 4, 2006 — -- On July 6, President Bush reaches a personal milestone and turns 60 years old. But the president celebrated a bit early, on Tuesday, July 4, with a small private party of family and friends at the White House. ABC reports it was a casual affair, with the president wearing a red and white short sleeved Hawaiian shirt and dining on fried chicken, cajun shrimp, biscuits, salads and a three-tier chocolate cake that included a repica White House on the cake. After dinner, the guests watched the Independence Day fireworks from the Truman balcony.

We turned to one of our own experts, ABC News political analyst Cokie Roberts, to reflect on presidential birthdays and the Fourth of July, .

Besides covering politics and public policy for 30 years, Roberts has written several books, including "Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation." ABC News' Sara Just spoke to Roberts on July 3, from her home in Bethesda, Md.:

Sara Just: President Bush turns 60 this week. How does this age fit into the age of presidents in history, especially the earliest presidents?

Cokie Roberts: It's really interesting. I went back to look because of President Bush's birthday and discovered that almost all our early presidents -- the presidents of the founding era as we consider them -- turned 60 in office. The one exception was John Adams who was 61 when he was elected. But George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams all turned 60 in office. And of course 60 in that era was very old. The lifespan was nowhere near as long as it is now. But with the exception of Washington -- who died soon after he left office -- he died in 1799 age 67 -- the others lived to ripe-long old ages. James Monroe died at 73. But the others lived to 90, 80, 86 -- very long times, particular for the late 1830s, early 19th century.

Just: And you mentioned earlier that several presidents had died on a particularly interesting day?

Roberts: It has been so fascinating. This is one of those little quirks of history that people who love this period always talk about, which is that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson -- who had been great friends, had worked together to write the Declaration of Independence but then became partisan, bitter partisan enemies --