Yesterday marked an interesting milestone. It had been 18,967 days since a US President died in office. The last President to die in office, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Prior to the current record, the longest period of non-death was April 30, 1789, when George Washington was inaugurated, to April 4, 1841, when William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after only 30 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes as President.
As of today, eight Presidents have died in office:
Presidents Who Died in Office
| President | Elected | Term | Cause of Death |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Henry Harrison | 1840 | 1841 | Pneumonia |
| Zachary Taylor | 1848 | 1849-1850 | Stomach Illness |
| Abraham Lincoln | 1860 | 1861-1865 | Assassinated |
| James A. Garfield | 1880 | 1881 | Assassinated |
| William McKinley | 1900 | 1897-1901 | Assassinated |
| Warren G. Harding | 1920 | 1921-1923 | Heart Attack |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | 1940 | 1933-1945 | Stroke |
| John F. Kennedy | 1960 | 1961-1963 | Assassinated |
Interestingly, with the exception of Zachary Taylor, all of the Presidents who died in office were elected in twenty-year increments, which has led the speculation of the Curse of Tippecanoe, which posits that Presidents elected in years ending in zero are cursed. Combined with assassination attempts on Ronald Reagan (elected in 1980) and George W. Bush (elected in 2000), the conspiracy theories abound.
