Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

Was it only yesterday the news came out that John F. Kennedy was the first president born in the 20th century? Seems like it, but that was more than half a century ago when the post-World War II generation was taking its place on the world stage. It was a time of hope, as we like to remember, but in those days of the Cold War, it was also a time of knowing fear that nuclear war was only a push-button away in some office either in Washington or Moscow.

Time for new leaders to come up with new solutions was the watchword. Little did we know that Vietnam was only beginning to fragment American society on one hand while the Civil Rights movement was at the same time starting to show the nation and the world our problems with making the Constitution a reality for all people. Unprecedented.

Now we face a new world — or do we? The last two American presidents have been among the oldest in modern times, approaching their 80s in the most powerful office (we think) in the world. The Senate Majority Leader is 80 already while the Speaker of the House is now 82. Walking gingerly, speaking slowly and thinking ahead do not always seem to go hand in hand these days.

Wonder where the young leaders are? Surely there must be some, if indeed it is true that perilous times always provide the people to guide the nation through them. After all, the Constitution that we so often bend to suit our own ideas states that the rule for being a president is to have reached the age of 35 years.

There was consternation when Theodore Roosevelt became president at age 42 upon the William McKinley’s assassination. Kennedy was only slightly older than that when he took the oath in 1961. Both were warriors in their way. Roosevelt had served in the Spanish American War while Kennedy had been a Navy man from World War II. They had led privileged private lives, to be sure, but had been toughened by combat both in the field and in political campaigns.

It was said that Teddy came from the best branch of the Roosevelt family, the one that was highest on the family tree while JFK was made of “new money” complete with the claim that his father, Joe, had paid just enough — and not a penny more — to ensure that he won the nomination for president in 1960.

When Teddy lost his wife and mother on the same Valentine’s Day in 1884, he eventually went West to the Dakotas, where he was not only able to recover but bought vast acreage where he developed a ranch and love of nature that eventually blossomed into the National Park system we enjoy to this day.

Kennedy endured major medical issues, lost a child during his rise to national power and also overcame those problems to bring hope to a nation that had been seemingly stuck in neutral for a few years. His vision of helping others prompted organizations like the Peace Corps to flourish and bring hope to those in other areas of the world not so blessed as most of the United States.

One does not have to be young, of course, to be a good leader. Benjamin Franklin, who may have been the all-around most intelligent of any of the Founding Fathers, was already in his 60s during the American Revolution and nearly 80 when George Washington was first president. Franklin, who devised some of the earliest institutions including the post office, fire department and the almanac when he was not busy trying to show how electricity worked, may have been a great leader but birthdays got in the way.

Harry Truman arrived at Pennsylvania Avenue when he was 60, the only president in decades to have been only a high school graduate. Nevertheless, Mr. Common Sense oversaw the end of World War II, approved the use of the atomic bomb to finish it, spearheaded the Marshall Plan, helped to provide social and financial equality in the U.S. Armed Forces and generally kept a firm hand on the reins.

Abraham Lincoln was barely 50 when he got the nomination to run for president and very likely saved the nation during his tumultuous term from 1861-64 and then made it possible for slavery to officially conclude before his brief second term ended with Boothe’s bullet. Lincoln, also a man with limited formal education, served only until his 56th year.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who likely changed the office more than any other man, and who was in charge during most of the Great Depression as well as nearly all of World War II, served for a record 12 years, taking the office when he was 51 and dying at the age of 63. Along the way, he overcame crippling paralysis to bring leadership to a nation that got back on its feet during his tenure.

It may be time for one of these younger folks to again step up and take control in this technology-driven 21st century.

Maybe, just maybe, one of the younger men or women will be able to arrive in Washington and do as a few gifted others before them have, proving to be the kind of leader who develops not more followers but more leaders.

Larry Hypes, a teacher at Bluefield High School, is a Daily Telegraph columnist. Contact him at larryhypes52@gmail.com.

Saturday, 11 a.m., at Cravens-Shires Funeral Home in Bluewell. Burial will follow at Shillings Conley Cemetery on Browning Lambert Mountain.

Saturday, 4 p.m., at the A. Vest & Sons Funeral Home Chapel in White Gate, Va.

Saturday, 11 a.m., at Seaver Funeral Home in Princeton.

Saturday, 5 p.m., at the Fredeking Funeral Service Chapel in Oakvale. Inurnment will follow at the Hill Family Cemetery.

Saturday, 2 p.m., at the First Christian Church in Princeton.

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