29
01
Dead Presidents
Ex-presidents and political
rivals John Adams and Th
omas Jef-
ferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826—50 years to the day
after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Jeff er-
son died fi rst (after asking, “Is
it the Fourth?”), but Adams
was unaware of it when he
mumbled his own last words a
few hours later: “Th
omas Jef-
ferson still survives.”
✖ ✖ ✖
Underrated
president Millard
Fillmore had suff ered a stroke
that his doctor felt would
best be treated by withhold-
ing food (you know what they
say—“Feed a fever, starve a
stroke!”). Desperately hun-
gry, Fillmore was fi nally given
a spoonful of soup. “Th
e nour-
ishment is palatable,” Fill-
more noted dryly—and then
died.
Dying in Offi ce
According to the Bureau of La-
bor Statistics, “timber cutter”
was one of the most dangerous
jobs in America in 2002, with
an annual fatality rate of 117.8
per 100,000 workers, or 0.12
percent. Now, we don’t want to
take anything away from timber
cutters—partly because they
tend to own chainsaws—but,
technically, American president
is a more dangerous job. In the
216
years the gig has existed,
eight presidents have died while
in offi ce—an overall annual fa-
tality rate of 3.7 percent.
30
S C A T T E R B R A I N E D
✖ ✖ ✖
Remarkably, Ulysses S. Grant is the only American president
ever to have died of cancer. Grant suff ered for the last years of
his life from then-untreatable throat and tongue cancer. But
something about being near death did wonders for his literary
talents:
His presidential memoirs, which he was still revising in
his fi nal days, were published by Mark Twain and are still con-
sidered the greatest literary achievement of any president.
(Jimmy Carter’s picture book—see p. 158—aside.)
✖ ✖ ✖
No U.S. president has ever
died in the month of May.
✖ ✖ ✖
Th
e morning of July 4, 1850,
dawned bright and hot in
Washington,
and President
Zachary Taylor spent the day
dedicating the Washington
Monument. Already over-
heated, he got home and made
the mistake of gorging on
cherries and milk. Th
e combi-
nation caused—well, there’s no polite way to put it—diarrhea,
which combined with his heat stroke proved fatal.
✖ ✖ ✖
Now and then some riddle lover will query, “Which American
presidents are not buried in U.S. soil?” Th
e
two technically
true answers:
1.
“Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and
Gerald Ford.” Th
ey are not buried in U.S. soil because
they are not dead.
By the Numbers
9
entirely or partly caused by
stroke
7
heart disease
4
pneumonia
1
asthma (Van Buren)
1
alcoholism (Franklin Pierce)
1
cherries and milk (Really.
See below.)
31
2.
“Adams, Quincy Adams, Garfi eld, and Wilson—among
several others.” Th
ey are not buried in U.S. soil because
they are all interred in aboveground sarcophagi.
✖ ✖ ✖
William Henry Harrison’s inauguration day in 1841 happened
to be extraordinarily cold and wet.
Harrison, wanting to ap-
pear presidential, decided to give his inaugural speech with-
out a topcoat or a hat. Th
at might have worked out okay, except
he proceeded to give the longest
inaugural address in Ameri-
can history, clocking in at just over one hour and 45 minutes.
Shortly thereafter, Harrison developed pneumonia. He died
on April 4, 1841, having been president for 31 days—and all
for want of a hat. . . .
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: