Since 1840 a president has died in office every twenty years. Known to most as the curse of Tecumseh, the streak of presidential deaths held true until stubborn Ronald Reagan decided to cheat death after a bullet from an aspiring assasin's gun missed Reagan's heart by an inch in 1981.
Supposedly in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh, after his defeat by William Henry Harrison, predicted Harrison's future presidency but assured the man that he would not live to see the end of his reign. A second version attributes the prediction to Tecumseh's brother, who was known as The Prophet (this makes more sense).
Here's the list:
1840: William Henry Harrison
1860: Abraham Lincoln
1880: James A. Garfield
1900: William McKinley
1920: Warren G. Harding
1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt
1960: John F. Kennedy
1980: (Ronald Reagan almost)
2000: ????????
Some of these presidents, such as Lincoln and Roosevelt and McKinley, were reelected in zero years and died later. Astrologists provide an explination for Reagan's survival. They say that every twenty years Jupiter and Saturn are in alignment, but that all deaths occured when the planets were aligned under earth signs (Taurus, Capricorn) and that in 1980 the planets were aligned under an air sign. However in 2000 the sign was again an earth sign, so. . .
Perhaps in these trying times, Tecumseh's greatest curse, his greatest injustice to the American people (his oppressors) was to not follow through on his promise.
2000: George Bush lives. OH THE HUMANITY!
The only president to die outside of this pattern was Zachary Taylor, who was elected in 1848 and died in 1850 (also a zero year).
Side note: Tecumseh was voted #37 on The Greatest Canadian List
To put this in perspective, #18 is Shania Twain. #20 is Mike Myers.
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/curse.asp
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