When the 69-year-old former California governor ran for president in 1980, his political opponents and the mainstream media often focused on the same theme: Ronald Reagan was “too old.”

In February, Gannett News Service ran a story explaining how Reagan's rival for the Republican nomination, George H.W. Bush, made an issue of Reagan's age. (Related article: Brooke Rollins: Joe Biden simply doesn't exist)

“George Bush will not reveal that Ronald Reagan is too old and infirm to be president,” Gannett reported.

“But you can't miss the drift,” it said.

According to Gannett, a New Hampshire resident asked Bush if 69 was too old to be president, to which Bush replied, “I intend to serve two full terms.”

“The point is clear,” Gannett reported. “George Bush is 55. Ronald Reagan is 69. You don't need to calculate how old Bush is if you add Reagan's 69 years plus the eight years of his two terms in office.”

After Reagan defeated Bush for the Republican nomination, syndicated columnist Jack Anderson reported, “The subliminal message from the Carter camp, sources say, is that Reagan is too old and tired for the demanding tasks the presidency demands.”

The first paragraph of an Associated Press article published on September 16, 1980, read: “It was the day Ronald Reagan was scapegoated in the 1980 presidential election. Jimmy Carter said the Republican Party might 'embarrass' the country. [independent candidate] John Anderson suggested that Reagan might be too old for the job.”

But Reagan didn't get whipped. Carter got whipped.

Reagan won the popular vote by more than 8 million votes, carried 44 states, and defeated Carter in the electoral college by 489 to 49.

During his first year in office, President Reagan passed a tax cut bill in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and signed it into law on August 13, 1981.

Three years later, at age 73, he ran for reelection.

Again, his opponents and the media argued that he was “too old.”

“Reagan is too old and he knows it,” columnist Charlie Rees wrote in January 1984.

A month before the 1984 election, after the first debate between President Reagan and Democratic candidate Senator Walter Mondale, columnist Jimmy Breslin argued that President Reagan (who had implemented the policies that won the Cold War) was too old to be entrusted with nuclear missiles.

“And we live in a country where our missile chief is old and has terrible shaking and can barely stand for 90 minutes at a debate,” Breslin said. “He's now asking to be our nuclear missile chief for the next four years. We all saw him on Sunday night. It was 1984. Imagine what he'll be like in 1988.”

Two weeks later, in his second debate with Mondale, Reagan skillfully rebutted critics of his age: “I also want you to know that I have no intention of making age an issue in this campaign,” he said. “I have no intention of exploiting for political purposes the youth and inexperience of my opponents.”

During the 1984 election year, would a then 73-year-old President Reagan have tried to avoid prolonged contact with a hostile media?

The American President Project Data collected On “modern” press conferences held by presidents since 1953.

“The modern concept of a press conference dates back to the Eisenhower administration,” the project states. “In a modern conference, the president answers nominally unvetted questions in a public forum that is broadcast nationally.”

The project further distinguishes between “single-registered” and “joint” press conferences.

“A 'solo meeting' is a one-on-one meeting with the president,” it reads. “A variant of the solo category, but counted separately, is 'prime time.' These meetings were broadcast live during prime time (Eastern time).”

There are also “joint” conferences, in which the President “attends with one or more speakers from outside the United States.”

How many solo press conferences did the 73-year-old Reagan hold in 1984? Five. All were prime time and took place before the election. According to a report from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, his first was on February 22nd of that year, his second on April 4th, his third on May 22nd, his fourth on June 14th and his fifth on July 24th.

How many solo press conferences has Biden held so far in 2024? Zero.

Biden has held three joint news conferences with foreign leaders this year, according to the White House website and a list compiled by the American Presidency Project.

On April 10, he walked into the Rose Garden with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and answered eight questions, and on May 23, he addressed a press conference in the East Room with Kenyan President William Ruto and answered six questions.

On June 13, Biden held a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Hotel Masseria San Domenico in Fasano, Italy.

“We're each going to take one question from two American journalists and one question from two pro-Ukrainian journalists,” Biden said at the start of the briefing, according to a White House transcript. (Related article: Morgan Murphy: Biden's most shocking lies)

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Announced President Trump said Tuesday that Biden will hold a press conference at the NATO summit in Washington next week. If he does, reporters should ask him why he's confusing “supporters” with “reporters.”

Terence P. Jeffery is investigative editor for the Daily Caller News Foundation. To learn more about Terence P. Jeffery or to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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