THE CURSE OF TIPPECANOE @ TECUMSEH'S CURSE

The Curse of Tippecanoe (also known as "Tecumseh's Curse" or the "20-Year Presidential Curse") is one of American history's most famous—and eerie—patterns of coincidence.

It suggests that any U.S. President elected in a year ending in zero would die while in office.

The Origin Story

The legend traces back to the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory, defeated the Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother, Tenskwatawa (known as "The Prophet").

According to folklore, Tenskwatawa set a curse on William Henry Harrison and all future Great Chiefs chosen every 20 years, decreeing they would die in power to remind the world of the falling Shawnee.

The Fatal Pattern (1840–1960)

For over a century, the pattern held with startling accuracy:

Election Year	President	Death Circumstance
1840	William Henry Harrison	Pneumonia (died 31 days into office)
1860	Abraham Lincoln	Assassinated
1880	James A. Garfield	Assassinated
1900	William McKinley	Assassinated
1920	Warren G. Harding	Heart attack / Stroke
1940	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Cerebral hemorrhage
1960	John F. Kennedy	Assassinated

Breaking the Cycle

The "curse" began to lose its grip in the late 20th century, though it still gave the Secret Service plenty of work:

• 1980: Ronald Reagan. He was nearly killed in an assassination attempt in 1981, but he survived and completed two full terms, eventually dying of Alzheimer's years after leaving office.
• 2000: George W. Bush. He survived his presidency unscathed, despite a 2005 incident where a live grenade was thrown toward him during a speech in Tbilisi (it failed to explode).
• 2020: Joe Biden. He completed his term and became the first president since 1960 to "beat" the zero-year pattern without a major medical or security crisis resulting in death.

Authenticity and Origins

• Lack of Historical Record: There is no contemporary record from the 1810s of Tecumseh or his brother uttering such a curse.
• Popular Culture: The legend gained widespread attention in the 1930s via Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and was further popularized by journalists ahead of the 1940 and 1960 elections.
• Skeptical View: Historians and skeptics classify the "curse" as a string of coincidences, noting that presidents not elected in zero-years have also faced assassinations and health crises.

A Note on Reality

While it’s fun (and a bit spooky) to think of this as a mystical hex, historians generally view it as a statistical anomaly.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, medical care was rudimentary, and presidential security was virtually nonexistent. Presidents were "sitting ducks" for both infection and extremists. As medicine and the Secret Service evolved, the "curse" conveniently seemed to disappear.

Google Gemini AI

26 January 2026: 12.44 p.m