Beyond the Trivia-First U.S. President Born in a Hospital

Today's trivia question involves presidential history. Which U.S. president was the first to be born in a hospital? All the presidents before this person were all born at home. Was that president Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan?

Answer:

The answer is Jimmy Carter, who just celebrated his 99th birthday on Sunday. He's the oldest president in the nation's history. Carter was born on October 1st, 1924 at the Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia. A major reason he was born in a hospital is that his mother, Lillian Carter, worked at the facility as a registered nurse.

A dramatic shift in childbirth from home to hospital took place in the United States starting in the mid-1920's and continuing into the 1940's. Jimmy Carter's presidency, (1977-1981), came after Richard Nixon's and before Ronald Reagan's. But Reagan was born 13 years before Carter, and he was born in a second floor apartment above a bakery in Tampico, Illinois. George H.W. Bush, who followed Reagan, was born the same year as Carter, but he was born in a house in Milton, Massachusetts. Bush was the last president to be born in a house and not a hospital. All of the five presidents born since Carter were born in hospitals, Joe Biden (1942), Donald Trump (1946), George W. Bush (1946), Bill Clinton (1946), and Barack Obama (1961).