Has it occurred to anyone else that in the upcoming U.S. Presidential election, the thing to do is to vote for the candidate you most want to see DIE IN OFFICE?
Note: This does not mean voting for someone you dislike; Kennedy was assassinated in office, and became a martyr. Lincoln and FDR survived the terms beginning in 1861 & 1941, respectively, and had HUGE impacts on the Republic, but died after being re-elected to further terms.
Okay, here’s the history:
Apparently, a curse was placed on William Henry Harrison back in the 1830’s. (I just now found this on the web. Beats me if it’s true.)
http://wvec.k12.in.us/battle/curse.html
OK, so the thing started with Wm. Henry Harrison, who got sick the day of his inauguration and died that spring (1841).
About eight years later (1849), Zachary Taylor died in office, but it doesn’t fit the pattern.
Abraham Lincoln began his first term in 1861 and was assassinated in his second term–understandably, considering Lincoln.
James A. Garfield was assassinated shortly after being inaugurated President in 1881.
William McKinley had served one term as President beginning in 1897; he was re-elected, and promptly assassinated in similar manner to Garfield. (1901)
Woodrow Wilson, despite being sickly, managed not to die in office. He was replaced in 1921 with Warren G. Harding, who died (in his bed) later in his first (thus only) term.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President four times: 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944. [The terms began in '31, '37, '41, & '45.] He died near the beginning of his fourth term (1945).
John F. Kennedy became President in 1961, and was killed after not quite three years in office (1963).
Ronald Wilson Reagan was shot in the first year of his Presidency (1981). Medical science was able to save him. Unless they replaced him…
Some people say the curse was broken. I think, however, that the operative thing here is not so much “curse” as “tradition.” Some people think Americans have no respect for tradition, and re-invent our society constantly. But I think some of us have respect for some traditions. Maybe it’s the prophet’s vengeance on Harrison and the USA. Maybe it’s sheer orneriness.
Anyway, when I vote for a President this fall, I will bear in mind that whomever is elected must be able to serve well in his time in office and his remaining less-than-eight years of life, and also will probably buy the farm. This is why I would’ve been loathe to vote for Steve Forbes. Whatever his politics, he seems like a nice enough guy; I’d hate for him to suffer that fate.
My inclination is to vote for Al Gore. He’s ostensibly an environmentalist, which I like. He’s also one of the most despicably dishonest & hateful politicians in this country–a man who cannot be trusted to tell the truth about anything, especially not his own record. This untrustworthiness makes me suspect I might like him better dead thatn alive. I figure some right-wing type, a Clinton/Gore-hater and/or anti-environmentalist, will blow him away pretty quickly, and we Greens will have a nice high-profile martyr.
Of course, I’ll have to look very closely at who the major-party nominees pick as running mates. Really, I’ll be voting for the Veep candidate, 'cos that’s gonna be who defines the legacy.
Thank you for your time.
Comments?
A new world order has been formed/between the cheque book and the dawn/A new renaissance man is born"
Jim Moginie/Peter Garrett/Martin Rotsey(Midnight Oil), “Renaissance Man”
