PRESIDENTS' CURSE

History is full of stories involving mysterious curses that have made even the most skeptical of people open their minds to possibility. Death came to the founders of King Tutankhamen’s tomb just as the curse warning trespassers away said. The Romanovs, Russia’s royal family, were victims of a mass execution within the year of a curse mumbled by Rasputin on his death bed.

My personal favorite is an American curse that some claim has taken the lives of several U.S. Presidents. In 1931 Ripley’s Believe It or Not published the earliest known source of the curse. It has been called by many names: The Curse of Techumseh, The Curse of the Year Zero, the Curse of Tippicanoe, and The Presidents’ Curse, among others.

The exact words of the curse are unknown, but according to Ripley’s the curse details that every President of the United States elected on a year ending with the number zero, will die in office beginning with the election of 1840.

The identity of whoever cast this curse is also a mystery, but popular opinion suggests it was one of two Native American brothers who lost everything at a battle near a river called Tippiecanoe.

In the Early 1800’s two brothers decided to work together in finding a means of protecting their people and their lands from the encroaching white settlers. Their names were Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa. The former was a chief among their people and the later was believed to be a prophet. One night the prophet had a vision in which he was told if his people should abandon all the customs and goods of the whites then the Great Spirit (Master of Life, God) would reward them by driving out the whites. The brothers spread word of this revelation and their people gathered in large numbers to a place near Tippecanoe.

In the fall of 1811 the Indian population settled near the river had grown so vast that the white settlers became quite nervous. Rather than flee as Tenskwatawa prophesied they would, the settlers demanded the government protect them from the savages. The Governor himself, William Henry Harrison, at the head of over one-thousand infantry and cavalry marched toward the Indians’ settlement, and in the battle that followed they drove off the Indian forces and burnt the settlement to the ground. The Indians were crushed; never again would Tecumseh rally his people and no longer would the people look upon Tenskwatawa as a prophet.

The date on which these brothers, if not another being, cast this curse is also a mystery. Although there was an election in 1820 it is easy to see why the curse began with the election of 1840.

The Election of 1840 - William Henry Harrison defeats Incumbent Martin Van Buren

The curse begins with William Henry Harrison, the same man who not thirty years earlier was victorious in the battle of Tipicanoe. He even used that victory to help himself get elected. President Harrison took office in March of 1841and died of pneumonia April 4 that same year. He was the first president to die while in office, and to this day holds the record for the shortest presidency.

The Election of 1860 - Abraham Lincoln defeats Stephen A. Douglas

On the fourteenth day of April, 1865, little more than a month into his second term as President of the United States, Lincoln was shot and killed while attending the theater by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln was the first president to be killed.

The Election of 1880 - James A. Garfield defeats Winfield S. Hancock

On July 2, 1881 President Garfield was shot by a disgruntled man whose political ambitions had been setback. The bullet was never removed, for it was never found, and though for a time it appeared that President Garfield might recover, an infection and internal bleeding took him in mid September of that same year.

The Election of 1900 - Incumbent William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan

Roughly a year after his reelection, President McKinley was shot twice by a deranged anarchist in September of 1901. He survived another eight days before succumbing to his wounds.

The Election of 1920 - Warren G. Harding defeats James M. Cox

Whilst contemplating to unveil a scandal in his administration, Harding died of a heart attack in a San Francisco hotel in the late summer of 1923.

The Election of 1940 - Incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Wendell L. Willkie

On April 12, 1945, mere months before the surrender of Japan, F.D.R. died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

The Election of 1960 - John F. Kennedy defeats Richard M. Nixon

While parading in Dallas, TX in November of 1963 President Kennedy was shot in the head by an assassin and killed.

The Election of 1980 - Ronald W. Reagan defeats Incumbent Jimmy Carter

On January 20, 1981, Reagan was shot while getting into his car, but… he quickly recovered and returned to work. He completed two full terms in office, and died a civilian over a decade later.

The Election of 2000 - George W. Bush defeats Al Gore

It suffices to say that shoes are not lethal weapons, and the former President survives to this day.

Now, with this knowledge in hand let us ask ourselves two questions:

First, is the curse real or was it invented to fill the pages of Ripley’s Believe It or Not? We may never know, but consider the following: Ripley’s first published this in 1931, prior to two of these Presidents’ deaths. Also, of so far 44 Presidents, eight have died in office and seven of those are on this list.

Second, did Ronald Reagan defeat the curse? It is possible, after all he survived as did Bush after him. However of 9 presidents elected on a year ending in 0, the curse’s record is currently 7 to 2. That’s a success rate of greater than 75% a conclusive result in most any experiment.

Whether you are a skeptic or a believer, we shall have to wait and see the results of the next election in 2020 before exploring the matter further. Consider what you have read when a friend or a loved one tells you they intend to go into politics.