President John F. Kennedy is struck by an assassin's bullet as he travels through Dallas in a motorcade. (Credit: Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

CHICAGO (CBS) — When President Obama awoke in his Kenwood home on the South Side this morning, he set an American record.

No U.S. president has died in office since Nov. 22, 1963, making the past 18,967 days the longest stretch in U.S. history during which the nation has not lost a sitting commander in chief.

The obscure historical note was reported on the website Quartz.

Put another way, about 75 percent of Americans currently do not know what it is like witness a president die in office.

The nation got off to a very good start.

The previous record stood from President Washington’s inauguration in 1789 until William Henry Harrison died in office on April 4, 1841.

The reasons for the longevity? Increased security and medical advances.

Anybody who was downtown on Tuesday can attest to how difficult it is to get near the president.

Secret Service, local police, road closures and road blocks were everywhere Obama traveled. Even CTA trains in the Loop were stopped for a time as the president arrived and left for an afternoon fundraiser.

As for medical advances, two presidents who were assassinated–James Garfield and William McKinley–might have survived today.

Indeed, in the case of Garfield, historians argue he should have survived his shooting even back then, if not for blunders by his doctors.