The Curse of the Presidents Trivia Quiz

Answer: William Harrison

Tecumseh was a Shawnee leader. Tecumseh had warned Harrison that the selling of the land that we now know as Ohio was illegal because the tribes who sold did not have the right to sell. Harrison didn't listen and tensions grew between the two. Both Tecumseh and Harrison knew war was inevitable.

Answer: Pneumonia

And so the curse began. His death caused a problem in the country because people were not quite sure what to do at first since they had never had a president die while in office.

Answer: Our American Cousin

"Our American Cousin" is a three act play written by Tom Taylor.

Interesting fact: John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.

We now have two presidents who died while in office, one elected in 1840 and the other in 1860.

Answer: Charles J. Guiteau

Guiteau had plans to assassinate Garfield at an earlier date, but postponed his plans because Garfield's wife was ill at the time and he did not want to upset her while she was sick. Guiteau believed he was doing what God wanted him to do. He didn't mind being hanged because he believed he was going to see the Lord.

We now have the presidents elected in 1840, 1860, and 1880 dying while in office.

Answer: Leon Czolgosz

McKinley was greeting the American people at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. Czolgosz had the gun hidden and walked right up to him. McKinley put his hand out to Czolgosz, who pushed the president's hand away and shot him at point blank range. Czolgosz's lawyers had a difficult time defending him as he refused to speak to either one of them. He was found guilty and given the electric chair.

Emma Goldman, who was also an anarchist, was arrested as the government believed she was part of the conspiracy. However, she was released as no evidence was found that she was involved.

The presidents elected in 1840, 1860, 1880, and 1900 have all died while in office.

Answer: Teapot Dome Scandal

The Teapot Dome Scandal was a scandal based on bribery. The scandal ruined the reputation of Harding who, at the time of his death, was still popular, but posthumously that popularity dwindled.

Mysteriously, while in office Harding died. Many people believed he committed suicide because of the Teapot Dome scandal. He had only been in office for two years when he died.

The presidents elected in 1840, 1860, 1880, 1900 and 1920 have all died while in office.

Answer: Massive cerebral hemorrhage

Roosevelt was the only US president to be elected to four terms. It was his third term in 1940 that made him susceptible to the curse of the presidents, but he did not die in office until his fourth term.

Answer: He shot himself in the head

Kennedy was doomed from the start. Not only was he elected on one of the years affected by the Curse of the Presidents, he was also a Kennedy. People have also said there is a curse on the Kennedy family itself and that very few Kennedys have died of natural causes.

Here is a list of how some of the Kennedy family members have died in ways other than natural causes:
Joe Jr. was killed in action during WWII.
JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Kathleen was killed in an airplane crash.
RFK was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.
JFK Jr and his wife Carolyn were killed in an airplane crash.
Patrick (JFK's son) died in infancy.
David overdosed on drugs.
Michael was killed in a skiing accident.

Answer: John Hinckley, Jr.

Reagan was the first president since the curse began to survive an assassination attempt and not die in office from any other causes. Reagan did not die until many years later, on June 4, 2005.

The curse is now considered broken.

Answer: 31

For those of you who said 32, one president was elected 2 different times so there are actually 31 different presidents.