The Curse

[VermontDem2004]

A death curse threatens the U.S. Presidents elected in years evenly divisible by twenty.

1840 ... William Henry Harrison
1860 ... Abraham Lincoln
1880 ... James A. Garfield
1900 ... William McKinley
1920 ... Warren G. Harding
1940 ... Franklin D. Roosevelt
1960 ... John F. Kennedy
1980 ... Ronald Reagan
2000 ... George W. Bush*

William Henry Harrison, who was elected in 1840, died at the age of 68 after delivering his inaugural address unprotected by an overcoat on a cold, drizzly day. Harrison spoke for an hour and 40 minutes, became ill, and died of pneumonia exactly one month later in April 1841.

Abraham Lincoln, first elected in 1860, was assassinated just after embarking on his second term in office in 1865.

James A. Garfield won the 1880 election. He was shot in the back in a Washington railroad station waiting room in July 1881 and died of his wounds in September 1881.

William McKinley was re-elected in 1900. In September 1901, after giving a speech at an exposition in Buffalo, he was shot while shaking hands with wellwishers. McKinley died of his wounds a little more than a week later.

Warren G. Harding, elected in 1920, expired of a stroke or heart attack in 1923. It was long rumored his wife had poisoned him.

Elected to an unprecedented third term in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt, suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died just after having started an equally unprecedented fourth term in 1945.

John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960 and assassinated in 1963.

Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 but managed to cheat the Grim Reaper by a matter of an inch, the distance by which a would-be assassin's bullet missed his heart in 1981.

George W. Bush?????

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/curse.htm I got this courtesy of snopes, it is a legend which couldn't find it's origin, but it had me thinking.

*the asterisk means Bush was appointed by the Supreme Court of the United States, not elected by the U.S. Citizens.

[MissMillie]

1. Fun fact

The 2000 election lasted longer than the entire WHH presidency....

[PATRICK]

2. the Three Cubs theory

That you can't win a world series with three ex-Chicago Cubs on your roster. I think Royko dreamed that up. It has more statistical sugnificance too. When we get to this kind of thinking can Nostradamus be far behind?

[VermontDem2004]

4. I am not saying it means anything

I just find it to be an interesting fact.

[MUAD_DIB]

3. Maybe with luck

he will drink himself to death or run afoul of another pretzel.


One can only hope...

[StopTheMorans]

6. "run afoul of another pretzel"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA:)

[trof]

5. Mrs. t. brought up the same thing a while back and I said

"Then Al Gore better watch his ass."

[Rainbowreflect]

7. This curse worries me.

I hope nothing happens to Gore.

[demnan]

8. Gee

and I thought this was going to be another menstrual thread!

[VermontDem2004]

9. what do you mean?

:shrug: I just found the info interesting and decided to post it, doesn't really mean anything but it is an interesting fact. From now on I should post BBQ recipes.

[ant]

11. "the curse"

is what some people call getting your period. :)

[VermontDem2004]

12. Oh I see that is what he/she meant by menstrual

lol, can't believe i missed that one.

[ant]

10. origins

Tecumseh's Curse is how I've heard it called.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecumseh's_curse

Edited to say you have to get rid of the \ before the 's in Tecumseh's - I couldn't figure out how to link that properly, and the \ appears on its own.

[AndyTiedye]

15. bullets don't work on his kind

> Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 but managed to cheat the Grim Reaper by a matter of an inch, the distance by which a would-be assassin's bullet missed his heart in 1981.

The bullet could have gone right through his heart for all the good it woulda done. You need a wooden stake for that.

[Aristus]

13. I sincerely wish no harm to Turd Blossom.

At least not while he's in office. Not because I'm a nice guy, but because I don't want those idolatrous Repukes conferring martyrdom and sainthood on his ugly drunken ass!

[Habibi]

14. Heh.

I was in line at a grocery store in a well-to-do community in Florida in early December 2000, before the SCOTUS selected El Chimpedente and the outcome was still uncertain. The elderly couple behind me was (were?) reading aloud the National Enquirer-type headlines that week. One headline pointed out the very thing you've mentioned: that prezes elected in those years died in office. The husband slammed the photo of Bush on page one with his cane and said, quite loudly, "Well, then, I hope Bush becomes president!"

When I turned to them with a big smile they looked a little bit abashed and the wife said, "Okay, we're nasty!" and it was all I could do not to guffaw. I said: "I'm with you, man!" It was a moment. I loved it.

NB: Nope, I don't want the man to die in office. I want him to be prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced.

[EX-CONservative]

16. I heard about Tecumseh's Curse

Some say since Gore was the real winner in 2000, it will affect him . :shrug: