and Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
The odds of surviving the Presidency aren't really all that good. Of forty-four Presidents, eight died in office (Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, FDR, and JFK). Nearly one in five Presidents will succumb to natural causes or be knocked off by a kook while they are in office.
Do you remember the "20 year curse" (sometimes called the curse of Tecumseh)? Since 1840--with two exceptions--U.S. Presidents elected in years ending in zero have been killed or have died of natural causes while in office. One of those exceptions--Ronald Reagan, just barely escaped death--John Hinckley's bullet missed his heart by only an inch. Gerald Ford had a gun aimed at him twice in one month! FDR had five bullets shot at him by Giuseppe Zangara--even before he was sworn in for his first term. Theodore Roosevelt was shot after he'd left office, but was running for a new term. In fact, he carried the bullet in his body until he died. Two Puerto Rican assassins attempted to shoot Harry Truman. One guy was going to kill Dick Nixon by flying a commercial airline into the White House, 9/11 style. He killed the pilot and co-pilot, but was shot before he could take off. Reagan broke the "every 20 years" curse, but some people think the curse is just taking a little break. George W. Bush extended that little break. Interestingly enough, only one President--Zachary Taylor--who died in office didn't follow the 20 year pattern.
Some people believe the 20 year curse was an ancient Indian curse, spoken by the great Indian chief Tecumseh after he and his braves were routed by the notorious Indian-fighting President William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe.
Obviously a sample of 44 Presidents is such a small statistical sample that it may not be really relevant. But, at the moment, we've had nearly fifty years without a Presidential mortality. We're on a roll.
---o0o---
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