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A history on the Curse of Tippecanoe

So, the 2020 election is coming up, and that's going to be interesting. Will Trump stay in office for another 4 years, or will someone new step up? Nobody knows for sure yet. But, this year is special. As it apparently is a year where a curse will take place. The Curse of Tippecanoe. Also known as "Tecumseh's Curse", or the "20 Year President Curse", the curse is said to strike on every election on years equally divisible by 20, since the year 1840. The curse has a long history, so in this weekly marshmallow, we'll dive into every occurrence during this strange curse.

The curse itself

Named in a Ripley's Believe it or Not book, the curse is named after a famous battle by the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, the Battle of Tippecanoe during battles and wars against Native Americans and the leader of a tribe, Tecumseh, in 1811. Harrison, who was governor of the Indiana Territory at the time, used the battles success to boost his popularity during the 1840 election 30 years later, and well, it worked out. He was elected alongside his Vice President John Tyler in 1841. But tragedy struck, as the same year, he would become the first president to die in office, after catching typhoid fever during a very long inauguration speech in the rain, causing him to die only a month after being elected in April of 1841.
William Henry Harrison, 9th president
Because of his 1 month term, he became the president with the shortest term (he still holds this record), leaving the nation without a president. The Senate and the House didn't know what to do, until John Tyler, the previous VP, stepped up and declared himself the new president. Nobody stopped him, and he became the tenth president, and also started the tradition of the Vice President stepping up if the President resigns or dies in office.

During the battle, the brother of the leader of Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa, put a curse on Harrison supposedly, which is the basis of the claim. After he died in office, he became the "first victim" of the curse, and it has struck nearly every president that is elected in a year that ends with 0. Let's look at what happened to each president.

1860: Abraham Lincoln (Sixteenth President)

Abraham Lincoln, 16th president

Wow, it's this guy, didn't expect to see him so soon. Anyway, I think we all know what happened to Lincoln. If you've been living under a rock for the past 154 years, after the civil war ended in 1865, and after winning his second term in 1864, Lincoln attended a play at Ford's Theatre. During the play, John Wilkes Booth opened fire at Lincoln and killed him, to supposedly make him look good to the south. It didn't, and Lincoln became the first president ever to be assassinated, causing his VP, Andrew Johnson, to become President, becoming the second victim of the curse.

1880: James A. Garfield (Twentieth President)

James Garfield, 20th president

Now this guy isn't very well known, probably because he was assassinated a year after he was elected, in 1881. Yes, another assassination. This time, he was shot by Charles J Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker. In 1880, he tried to gain federal office by supporting the who he thought was going to win the Republican ticket. After making a speech about how Garfield should win, he thought he had actually got Garfield elected. He went to the Secretary of the State at the time, James G. Blaine, and asked him to award him consulship in Vienna and then Paris. After being rejected multiple times, Guiteau's narcissistic personality got the best of him, and he shot and killed Garfield in anger. Garfield died 11 days later, and Chester A. Arthur stepped up as president. After this, Guiteau was convicted but not sentenced until 1882, and actually was planning to run for president himself in 1884, until he was sentenced to death in 1882.

1900: William McKinley (Twenty-Fifth President)

William McKinley, 25th president

This guy is sorta well known, but over shadowed by his successor. McKinley was the 25th president, and the first victim of the curse who was cursed during their second term. Shortly after winning his second term, yet another assassination occurred. During a visit in Buffalo, New York, he was delivering an address. Little did he know that one man in the crowd, Leon Czolgosz, was planning to assassinate him. He got close enough to the podium and shot, but missed McKinley. The next day, McKinley was meeting the public when, once again, Czolgosz shot, and actually hit McKinley twice in the abdomen. His health deteriorated during the next 8 days, and he died on September 14, 1901. Czolgosz was accused of murder and was sentenced to death on October 29 of the same year. He was replaced by his VP who I'm pretty sure you know, Theodore Roosevelt.

1920: Warren G. Harding (Twenty-Ninth President)

Warren Harding, 29th president

Finally, someone who DIDN'T die from an assassination. This guy was one of the most popular presidents up to this point, and he promoted going back to being "normal" after World War I. Turns out his popularity wasn't such a good thing, because after dying of a heart attack in 1923, tons of scandals were brought to light, such as the Teapot Dome scandal. During his time of being president, he was actually very well liked, but after he died, he became one of the lowest ranked presidents in history. Not much else to be said, other than he was popular until he died, that's about it.

1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Thirty-Second President)

Franklin Roosevelt, 32nd president

Ah, this guy, I think we know this guy as well. Franklin Roosevelt, the president during basically all of World War II, and the only president to have more than 2 terms, just because it was hard doing elections during major wars, so they just let him win each one until 1945. During his presidency, the country got out of the great depression thanks to the New Deal, the US went to war against the Axis powers in Europe, and won, thanks to our president who had... polio? Yes, he had polio, but desperately hid it from the public. He would ride around in a wheelchair due to his paralyzed legs. Shortly after winning his fourth term in the election of 1944, he went to his private home in Georgia, and said his last words, "I have a terrific headache." Turns out it was more than just a headache, and was actually a Cerebral Hemorrhage. After slumping down in his wheelchair, he was proclaimed dead in 1945. Harry Truman stepped up for him, and ended World War II via the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

1960: John F. Kennedy (Thirty-Fifth President)

John F. Kennedy, 35th president
Wow, it's this guy, we know this guy! Also another assassination, which we also know about. He was in Dallas, Lee Harvey Oswald shot him and he died, we know that. Of course it's a controversial subject, but I don't need to say anything here. We all know what happened.

1980 and 2000: Exceptions

The presidents elected in 1980 and 2000 are the fortieth president, Ronald Reagan, and the Fourty-Third president, George W. Bush. As we know, neither of these guys had anything happen while they were in office, but that doesn't mean that they were excluded from the curse exactly.
Ronald Reagan, 40th president

Let's start with Ronald. He wasn't assassinated, but he was almost in 1981. He was shot by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington D.C.. The reason that Hinckley shot Reagan, as stated himself, was to... Impress Jodie Foster. Wow, what a good reason to shoot and kill the president! Reagan survived the assassination, but was left seriously wounded, while Hinckley was found not guilty due to insanity. He was sentenced to life in prison, and is still living out his sentence today.
George W. Bush, 43rd president

Let's move on to old Dubya. So basically, in 2005, after winning his second term, George W. Bush was speaking in Tbilisi, Georgia (the country) along with it's president at the time Mikheil Saakashvili. Some dude named Vladimir Arutyunian was waiting in Tbilisi's Liberty Square, and threw a grenade at Bush as he started speaking. The grenade was wrapped in a red handkerchief, and landed behind the podium where Laura Bush and other officials were seated. He actually pulled the pin, but after hitting someone behind the podium, and due to the handkerchief, the grenade never detonated. After his plan not working, he ran off, and wouldn't be caught until 2 years later in 2006, where he was sentenced to life in prison, where he is today.


The next year the curse is going to supposedly attack in in 2020, or next year. If the curse does once again occur, the president elected, whether it be Donald Trump or a new person, will face either death in office or a close death. Nobody knows for sure, so let's hope it won't strike. After 2020, the supposed next year will be in 2040. There is many other presidential curses all over the world, so expect me to cover those as well. See you next week!
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