# The Presidential 'curse' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914 "2004-12-03T17:03:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/1 "2004-12-03T17:03:23Z")
Up until Ronny, all the presidents elected in a year ending in 0 had died in office. And old Ronny got shot in his first term, coming pretty close to death. I got to wondering if W has made it past the curse as well, but I wasn’t sure. Did all those other presidents die in the 0 term? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/2 "2004-12-03T17:08:27Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Up until Ronny, all the presidents elected in a year ending in 0 had died in office. And old Ronny got shot in his first term, coming pretty close to death. I got to wondering if W has made it past the curse as well, but I wasn’t sure. Did all those other presidents die in the 0 term? Ooo, Does this curse also entail him being assassinated by Dick Cheney? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/3 "2004-12-03T17:08:30Z")
[Was there an Indian curse that presidents elected in “0” years would die in office?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_082.html) by the Master. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/4 "2004-12-03T17:10:41Z")
Going by what the “curse” is about, if the current President makes it to November 2008 without major fatal mishap, the curse is bogus. I think it is, anyway, because Reagan survived. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/5 "2004-12-03T17:11:09Z")
If there was a curse, it only started with the 1840 election. Jefferson (elected 1800) and Monroe (elected 1820) did not die in office. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/6 "2004-12-03T17:14:08Z")
All the presidents starting in 1840, who were elected in a year ending in 0 died in office. Neither Thomas Jefferson (elected in 1800) or James Monroe (elected in 1820), did. And, no, they didn’t all die in their first terms. Abraham Lincoln (first elected 1860) was assassinated in his second term (1864-68, in 1865. Franklin Roosevelt (first elected 1932), died in his fourth term (1944-48), in 1945. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/7 "2004-12-03T17:28:39Z")
No, W. didn’t make it past the curse. As you noted, Ronny came close with a gunshot wound, and W. fell off of his mountain bike. I can’t wait to see how the curse affects the Pres. that gets elected in '20. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/8 "2004-12-03T18:05:48Z")
Pretzels, remember? The bike was nothing. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/9 "2004-12-03T18:14:32Z")
Most of the “curse” has to do with the oddity that all four succesful assasination attempts occurred to men elected in a year ending with zero, and the nearly successful one against Reagan. It wasn’t that surprising that Harrison or FDR would die in office. Harrison was well past the average life expendency of the time when he was elected. Similarly, FDR died when he was about 63, but he had been a victim of polio since his late 30s. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/10 "2004-12-03T18:54:35Z")
On the flip side, have there been any Presidents who died in office who were \*\*\*not \*\* \* elected in a year ending in 0? ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/11 "2004-12-03T19:03:18Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > On the flip side, have there been any Presidents who died in office who were \*\*\*not \*\* \* elected in a year ending in 0? Zachary Taylor-elected in 1848, died in 1850 of either illness or arsenic poisoning, depending on whether you wear tin-foil hats. None others, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/12 "2004-12-03T19:04:08Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > On the flip side, have there been any Presidents who died in office who were \*\*\*not \*\* \* elected in a year ending in 0? Zach Taylor was elected in 1848 and died in 1850. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/13 "2004-12-03T19:06:09Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > Zachary Taylor-elected in 1848, died in 1850 of either illness or arsenic poisoning, depending on whether you wear tin-foil hats. None others, AFAIK. Taylor’s body was exhumed several years ago to test the arsenic poisoning theory. I don’t know how well such tests work after a hundred and some-odd years, but no evidence of poison was found. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/14 "2004-12-03T19:26:26Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Taylor’s body was exhumed several years ago to test the arsenic poisoning theory. I don’t know how well such tests work after a hundred and some-odd years, but no evidence of poison was found. [tinfoil hat on] Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence!! [/tinfoil hat on] ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/15 "2004-12-03T19:30:22Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Taylor’s body was exhumed several years ago to test the arsenic poisoning theory. I don’t know how well such tests work after a hundred and some-odd years, but no evidence of poison was found. Arsenic is an elemental substance. If it was in him when he died, it should still be in his corpse. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-presidential-curse/277914/16 "2004-12-03T19:33:00Z")
It’s possible to get carried away with this curse thing. For instance I heard that everyone who ate one of the first tomatoes imported into the UK is now dead. Scary or what?