Who was the youngest elected President of the United States?

Who was the youngest elected President of the United States?

• A. Theodore Roosevelt
• B. John F. Kennedy
• C. James K. Polk
• D. Barack Obama

Answer: (B)

The question checks whether you distinguish between becoming president by election versus by succession. John F. Kennedy holds the record as the youngest person elected to the presidency because he was 43 when he won the 1960 election and took office in 1961. Theodore Roosevelt was younger when he first became president (42), but that happened through succession after an assassination, not by election. Barack Obama and James K. Polk were older at the time they took office, at 47 and 49 respectively. If the prompt asked for the youngest to serve as president, Roosevelt would hold that distinction, but the youngest elected—the one who won the office in an election—was Kennedy.