# What have been the closest family member deaths of a U.S. President while in office?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 8, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279 "2016-05-08T10:52:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/1 "2016-05-08T10:52:54Z")
Although he seems a physically fit and healthy guy, if Hillary Clinton is elected President then Bill Clinton will be the oldest First Spouse ever. He’ll be older than Nancy Reagan was _at the end_ of her eight years. So, that got me wondering how the White House would handle it if Bill Clinton were to die _during_ Hillary Clinton’s Presidency.
Then, _that_ got me wondering what have been the closest family deaths for a U.S. President during that President’s time in Office. Abraham Lincoln probably wins the contest having had a minor child die during his Presidency. From a cursory glance, it doesn’t seem that any First Lady has ever died during her Husband’s time in office- did I overlook anyone?
How about other deaths of children of the President?
Parents?
Siblings?
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/2 "2016-05-08T11:08:30Z")
It’s pretty hard to beat Patrick Kennedy, son of John F. and Jacqueline, dying two days after he was born.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/3 "2016-05-08T11:11:12Z")
[Three first ladies died](http://www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org/learn/exhibits/past-exhibits/19-learn/exhibits/past-exhibits/56-death-in-the-white-house-a-nation-mourns). Letitia Tyler, Caroline Harrison, and Ellen Wilson.
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### Author:  [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/4 "2016-05-08T11:34:50Z")
Abraham Lincoln’s son died while Lincoln was in office.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/5 "2016-05-08T11:58:32Z")
[Bush Snr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Walker_Bush) mother die during his lame duck period.
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/6 "2016-05-08T12:55:21Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> From a cursory glance, it doesn’t seem that any First Lady has ever died during her Husband’s time in office- did I overlook anyone?
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#):
>
> [Three first ladies died](http://www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org/learn/exhibits/past-exhibits/19-learn/exhibits/past-exhibits/56-death-in-the-white-house-a-nation-mourns). Letitia Tyler, Caroline Harrison, and Ellen Wilson.
Um, yeah, seems I overlooked _three_ people! :smack:
I was all ready to tell you that you were mistaken about Wilson since I knew very well that Wilson’s wife took over the Oval Office after the President had a stroke. Then I looked it up… his wife Ellen died during his first term and then he remarried, marrying Edith, _still within his first term in office_!!! I can’t believe I never knew this.
> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> It’s pretty hard to beat Patrick Kennedy, son of John F. and Jacqueline, dying two days after he was born.
Here’s another I can’t believe I never knew about. Just three and a half months before JFK himself would be killed. There really may be something to the notion that that family was cursed!
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/7 "2016-05-08T13:07:11Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> I was all ready to tell you that you were mistaken about Wilson since I knew very well that Wilson’s wife took over the Oval Office after the President had a stroke. Then I looked it up… his wife Ellen died during his first term and then he remarried, marrying Edith, _still within his first term in office_!!! I can’t believe I never knew this.
It was considered quite a scandal at the time.
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### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/8 "2016-05-08T13:55:28Z")
I say **Franklin Pierce,** president from 1853-1857, might take the top honor.
He and his wife had two sons who died very young. Their third son died after Pierce was elected but prior to his inauguration in a grisly train accident that nearly decapitated the boy which both parents witnessed.
Pierce and his wife never recovered from the incident. Pierce was an ineffective one-term president who sought comfort from a bottle and spent his remaining years lost in the sauce.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/9 "2016-05-08T14:03:04Z")
> [@Pai325](#):
>
> Abraham Lincoln’s son died while Lincoln was in office.
Mentioned in the OP:
> [@](#):
>
> Abraham Lincoln probably wins the contest having had a minor child die during his Presidency.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/10 "2016-05-08T19:57:57Z")
While his father was in office in 1924 Calvin Coolidge Jr. died of an infected blister he got playing tennis.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/11 "2016-05-08T20:17:14Z")
Presidential children who have died while their fathers were in office:
1800 Charles Adams, son of John Adams
1802 Thenia Hemings, putative illegitimate daughter of Thomas Jefferson
1804 Mary Jefferson, daughter of Thomas Jefferson
1862 Willie Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln
1924 Calvin Coolige, Jr, son of Calvin Coolidge
1963 Patrick Kennedy, son of John F. Kennedy
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/12 "2016-05-08T20:36:10Z")
It happened before he entered public life, but Theodore Roosevelt deserves mention for having his mother and wife die on the same day.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/13 "2016-05-08T20:39:38Z")
> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> It’s pretty hard to beat Patrick Kennedy, son of John F. and Jacqueline, dying two days after he was born.
And then she lost her husband less than 4 months later. She was one tough woman.
Had Patrick been born 5 years later, he probably would have left the hospital within a few weeks and gone on to live a completely normal life. ☹
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/14 "2016-05-08T21:11:20Z")
Andrew Jackson’s wife Rachel died after his election but before his inauguration. Their marriage had been somewhat scandalous–since her divorce from husband number one was not quite complete at the time.
But Jackson loved her dearly & her death cast a pall on his presidency.
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### Author:  [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-the-closest-family-member-deaths-of-a-u-s-president-while-in-office/754279/15 "2016-05-10T01:20:42Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> So, that got me wondering how the White House would handle it if Bill Clinton were to die _during_ Hillary Clinton’s Presidency.
I’d think that if Bill died during Hillary’s presidency the government would probably handle it in exactly the same manner as they would if Hillary never became president. It would be handled as the death of a former president. Which is probably quite a different situation than would be the case if a First Lady died who had never held public office.