The Zero Year Curse - Only 11 Days Left

Posted by admin on 2009 January 9

After the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee prophesied that if William Henry Harrison became President of the United States, he would die in office, and that after him every President elected every twenty years after that would die in office. Elected in 1840, Harrison died of pneumonia after just one month as President. Thus began the Zero Year Curse.

Also known as Tecumseh’s curse, it held true for the President elected in 1860, Abraham Lincoln, and for James A. Garfield, elected in 1880, assassinated in 1881. McKinley was re-elected in 1900, assassinated in 1901. Elected in 1920, Warren G. Harding either had a heart attack or was poisoned in 1923. Re-elected in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 after having been elected in 1960.

Then came Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, he was shot just months after taking office, the bullet narrowly missing his heart. Some say Reagan’s survival broke the curse, and since Bush is still around it looks like they might be right.

Of course, if you really looked at the numbers, you’d probably find that the “curse” was no better than chance. There have been 21 assassination attempts on US Presidents, and two suspicious deaths. Four out of 42 Presidents have been killed in office, almost 10%. When you consider that 5% of all election years end in zero, and that three of those who died in office had been re-elected, and that one of those was on his 4th term when he died, the “rules” for this curse start to look like simple coincidence pretty fast.