It’s not quite “six degrees of separation” (or Kevin Bacon) but the Washington Post has an interesting piece on how the entire 239-year history of the U.S. covers the lifetimes of just three former presidents and President Obama:

When President Obama was born (1961), President Herbert Hoover was still alive (1874-1964). When Hoover was born, President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was still alive. When President Johnson was born, President John Adams (1735-1826) was still alive. And just like that, we’ve connected present day to the Founding Fathers.

Not to say that any of these people knew each other, of course. I just find this sort of thing interesting, in a terribly geeky way.

This tidbit was also intriguing:

Rutherford B. Hayes was alive at the same time as John Adams and at the same time as Dwight Eisenhower. That’s pretty remarkable.

Few American presidents could beard like Rutherford B. Hayes could beard.

As you may or may not know, Adams was president from 1797 to 1801, Hayes from 1877 to 1881, and Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. Hayes was born in 1822, four years before Adams died in 1826. Hayes died in 1893, three years after Eisenhower‘s birth in 1890.

That’s it for now. I’m done geeking out.

Photo credit: Matthew Brady (1822-1896) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.