For roughly 120 years of American political history, being elected President of the United States could be hazardous to your health.
A recurring fatal phenomenon became known as the 20-Year Presidential Curse (also The Curse of Tippecanoe or Tecumseh's Curse), because presidents elected in a year divided by 20 had a tendency of dying while in office. It began with William Henry Harrison (who carried the nickname Tippecanoe) in 1841, and ended with John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Since Kennedy's assassination, however, each successive President has survived their terms in office, even though there were attempts on their lives. President Ronald Reagan was nearly fatally shot in 1981 but survived after surgery, while the grenade meant to kill George W. Bush in 2005 simply (and rather miraculously) didn't go off.
It also should be noted that the two presidents elected at 20-year intervals before Harrison did not die in office either. Both Thomas Jefferson (1800) and James Monroe (1820) passed away well after their terms in office.
While called a curse, there is no actual evidence that one actually exists (if one actually could), other than in the minds of many who saw a pattern, or tried to justify one. The circumstances of each presidential death were different, and in many cases, successors didn't really know their predecessors.
In addition, there isn't really any proper justification for the curse skipping multiple presidents in between. In fact, in one case, it didn't—during this 120 year period there was a president who died in office, but was elected in 1848: Zachary Taylor. His death came a scant 10 years after Harrison's.
Now, it's quite possible that some of these deaths may well have been prevented through modern medicine, especially the earliest ones, since better treatments and technology have certainly been a contributing factor as to why presidents have not perished in office since Kennedy.
Regardless of connections or actual curses, the fact remains that presidents did die while in office of different causes within 20 years of each other, and while purely coincidental, it did make many people wonder if it might continue to happen, especially after individuals in the media began making note of it in the early half of last century.
Here's a list of the presidents who died in office at these 20-year intervals and the causes.
William Henry Harrison
What started out as a cold worsened and was eventually diagnosed as pneumonia, but in Harrison's case, the treatments essentially sealed his fate. From bloodlettings to boiled crude petroleum, nothing the doctors attempted worked (in fact they did the opposite and probably accelerated his death), and Harrison passed on April 4, 1841 after just about a month in office.
Abraham Lincoln
One of the better known U.S. Presidents, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 (the president would die the next day) during the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. By this time, the Civil War was all but officially over, but that only compelled Booth even more to see Lincoln dead.
Incidentally, Lincoln's successor, Vice President Andrew Johnson, may have suffered a similar fate had his assassin gone through with it. George Atzerodt didn't, though he was executed by hanging along with three others for conspiring to kidnap and kill Lincoln, Johnson and Secretary of State, William Seward.
James A. Garfield
Elected in 1880, Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881. The President was actually leaving on vacation and was met by Guiteau at the railroad station. Needless to say, Garfield didn't get much farther, and was taken back to the White House. Garfield, however, did not die immediately, but held on for several weeks after that with a bullet lodged behind his pancreas that his doctors apparently couldn't find and therefore failed to remove. Eventually, that led to his death.
William McKinley
McKinley had actually served a term and was re-elected in 1900. He was subsequently shot on September 6, 1901 by Leon Czolgosz in the reception line inside the Temple of Music during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Similar to Garfield, McKinley was shot at twice, with one bullet grazing him while the second went through his abdomen.
McKinley would die on September 14, 1901, as the bullet wounds became infected with gangrene.
It should be noted that it was after McKinley's passing that the Secret Service, although already formed and available to protect a president, was officially charged with the task by Congress.
Also, McKinley's assassination could have been avoided completely had the trip to the Temple of Music been cancelled as McKinley's secretary attempted to do. Twice. Both times, McKinley insisted he go ahead and attend.
Warren G. Harding
After three successive assassinations of U.S. Presidents, Harding's death broke the trend. He died of a heart attack on August 2, 1923. It happened in his first term, having been elected in 1920.
However, that didn't stop rumors of his death being blamed on poison or suicide, thanks to accusations by a former investigator Harding's wife hired to follow her husband and a mistress. Doctors, however, insisted that the symptoms were of congestive heart failure, and that Harding died of natural causes.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Roosevelt was the longest serving president ever. It was because of him, and his gradually deteriorating health while in office, that the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be instated. After being elected to an unprecedented fourth term, he passed away on April 12, 1945 of a stroke. His inclusion in the so-called curse comes because he was re-elected in 1940, though he was originally elected in 1932 and again in 1936.
John F. Kennedy
Kennedy became the fourth president to be fatally shot during this 120-year period as his presidential motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Conspiracy theories survive to this day regarding his assassination despite multiple conclusions, official and otherwise, that no one other than his lone killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was involved.
Kennedy was elected for his one and only term in 1960.
Now It's The Election Of 2020
As already mentioned, the death of a U.S. president while in office ended with Kennedy. Both Reagan (1980) and Bush (2000) served out their two terms, and while the former did pass in 2004 at the age of 93, Bush is still alive and periodically makes appearances.
So, why am I posting about this now? Could it be that I think the "curse" might come back, since we've just had the election of 2020?
Not me, but even before he was elected, there were those who have wondered on social media and elsewhere whether President Joe Biden will actually make it through his first term in office. Claims that his health is not all that good, that he's sometimes incoherent when he speaks, and his age (at 78, Biden becomes the oldest candidate to be elected President of the United States, surpassing the previous record holder, Donald Trump, by over seven years), have contributed to this idea.
Biden has suffered brain aneurysms in the past, included the one in 1988 that nearly proved fatal. Apparently, among other things, he's on blood thinners to try to prevent clotting and thus another aneurysm.
What Could Have Been
I find this all very interesting. I remember the idea of a curse and it's near perpetuation when Reagan was shot. The fact that it didn't happen is nearly as fascinating as the idea of a curse itself. The fact is, modern medicine (nearly 40 years old now), saved a president's life. If what saved Reagan was available so much earlier, would Garfield and McKinley have survived their assassination attempts? Would Harrison and Taylor been nursed back to health?
I think there's a strong case for it. Surely, modern technology would have found the bullet left in Garfield, and McKinley would have been properly treated against infection. Harrison's pneumonia could have been treated and most likely extended his life (although his health may have never been as good as it was). Taylor, while odd man out in this 20 year scenario, died of what was described as a very acute diarrhea, due to eating quite a bit of different things during a fourth of July celebration.
Who knows if that was actually what led to his death, but I believe modern medicine could have made a more accurate assessment of his condition and prescribed a better treatment.
As for Harding, Roosevelt and Kennedy, there probably wouldn't have been much even medicine in 2021 could have done. However, despite being shot in the head at close range, it's believed that technology and techniques available today may have not only saved Lincoln's life, but kept most of his cognitive and neurological functions intact.
And, I suppose, it's possible that a modern health checkup and some preventive treatment could have helped Harding and Roosevelt avoid their heart attack and stroke, respectively.
I think one could go as far to say that Biden's life has been saved and perpetuated by modern medicine so he lived long enough to even be elected President of the United States. Thus, in his case, having these treatments and technologies available has already been helping him, whereas in previous eras, he may not have survived to do so.
What Do You Think?
Obviously, these life saving abilities weren't available, and so these presidents, along with so many others, passed on.
Even so, I find it an interesting exercise and a curious thought experiment to pursue of what could have been. Unquestionably, had these presidents survived, history would be different than what we know of it today. Just how, be it for good or ill, is anyone's guess.
But maybe we can take a look at what's happened over the last 40 years and get a hint of what may have been?
Perhaps. What I do know is, that's a topic for another day.
Until then...
...Enjoy!
All images source—Pixabay