Still boyish, energetic, and enthusiastic, Lindsey Graham died suddenly last weekend at the age of 71. Once upon a time, death at such an age was not unexpected. The two Presidents Roosevelt died aged 60 and 63, and in the summer of 1949, two Supreme Court justices in their 50s died of heart attacks.

But advances in medicine and pharmacology have increased not only Americans' lifespans but also the professional careers of many notable figures, while the nation, which never had a president over age 70 until the 1980s, now, in the 2020s, has had two over 80.

Graham had a long political career in his own right. He was the last still serving in Congress of the Republicans of the class of 1994, whose election in November gave the party its first House majority in 40 years—a majority it has mostly maintained ever since.

That was 32 years ago—a longer interval than that between Franklin Roosevelt's first victory and John F. Kennedy's—and closer in time and spirit to Ronald Reagan's years in the White House than President Donald Trump's. And Graham's positions on major issues, such as foreign policy and immigration, have remained closer to Reagan's than Trump's.

But politics is more than a listing of issue positions or committee appointments or even election victories. It is also a matter of personal relationships and the skill of maintaining your principles and working with those who don't share them, without renouncing one or antagonizing the other.

With political instincts honed while running the........

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