THE YEAR “ZERO” CURSE FOR AMERICAN PRESIDENTS

By Lou Mancina

It’s a fact that every president elected in a year ending in 0 between 1840 and 1960 died in office, some by natural causes and some by assassination. Was there a curse? If so, how did it start and how did it end—after all, Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, a year ending on 0, yet he served two terms and died on June 5, 2004, many years after he left office. It should also be noted that other presidents—who were not elected in a “0” year—died in office or survived assassination attempts.

The curse supposedly began with the death of William Henry Harrison, who was elected in 1840 and died on April 4, 1841. His death was blamed on pneumonia, which he contracted after making an inordinately long inauguration speech in the rain. The curse ended when Ronald Reagan was shot on January 30, 1981, and survived. The “curse” was brought to light just before Franklin Roosevelt’s election in 1940. Were FDR’s opponents hoping the curse would continue?

The curse has been called the Curse of Tippecanoe or Tecumseh’s Curse. In 1811, William Henry Harrison, then governor of Indiana Territory, paid (bribed) Native Americans to give their lands to the U.S. government. Some of the payment was in the form of whiskey, which caused rampant alcoholism. This angered Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnee. He and his brother organized a group of tribes to keep the U.S. government from spreading westward over their lands. In 1811 Harrison defeated Tecumseh at Tippecanoe River, which earned him the nickname Old Tippecanoe and spawned the campaign slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” (Tyler being Harrison’s opponent). Angered over the defeat, Tecumseh’s brother Tenskwatawa, a spiritual leader, reportedly cursed not only Harrison but future leaders of the U.S. government.

The presidents who died:

1840 – William Henry Harrison.  Died of pneumonia April 4, 1841.

1860 – Abraham Lincoln.  Assassinated in his second term of office. Died April 15, 1865.

1880 – James Garfield. Assassinated. Shot on July 2, 1881. Died September 19, 1881.

1900 – William McKinley. Assassinated in his second term of office. Died September 14, 1901.

1920 – Warren G. Harding. Cause of death during his first term is uncertain. He could have had a heart attack or stroke, though there is a theory he was poisoned. He died August 2, 1923.

1940 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Suffered a cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) in his fourth term. Died April 12, 1945.

1960 – John F. Kennedy. Assassinated. Died November 22, 1963.

I found several other things of interest in my research.

The vice presidents who succeeded the dead president survived their term of office.

Although assassination attempts were made against presidents who were in elected in years without a “0”, none of those presidents died as a result.

America has been involved in many wars, so it’s probably no coincidence how the dates of wars fit in when a president died in office:

Harrison – Mexican War broke out in 1846.

Lincoln - The American Civil War broke out within months of Lincoln's inauguration.

Garfield - The battle of Little Bighorn took place a few years prior to Garfield’s assassination.

 McKinley – The Spanish American War ended just two years prior to McKinley’s election.

Harding – World War I had just ended.

Roosevelt – World War II.

Kennedy – The U.S. was deeply embroiled in Vietnam less than two years after JFK’s assassination.

I also note that, of the seven presidents listed above, three died in April and two in September. Is there some symbolism there?

The presidents who survived:

1980 – Ronald Reagan. Injured in an assassination attempt a few months into his first term. Survived.

2000 – George W. Bush. Assassination attempt May 10, 2005, when a live grenade was thrown at him during a speech. Survived.

How did Ronald Reagan beat the curse? It is well known his wife Nancy consulted an astrologer on a daily basis to determine what was “go” and what was “no” in her husband’s schedule. Some believe this thwarted the attempt because his schedule was altered just enough to avoid John Hinckley’s bullet. This may have broken the curse for subsequent presidents.

I was also struck with the numerology of the events. Perhaps the “zero” isn’t as important as the number that precedes it: “Nine”. In numerology, nine is considered a number of completion. Further to the “nine” theory: the first president afflicted by the alleged curse, William Henry Harrison, was our ninth president.