Although it's slightly inappropriate timing, since we in Britain just suffered our first assassination of an MP in centuries, but one reason US Presidents die in office is because of fixed terms. Prime Ministers Campbell-Bannerman and Bonar Law were able to stand down due to illness, as did Eden and Macmillan (although both of those lived on for decades). If Chamberlain hadn't been given a vote of no-confidence in May 1940, he would undoubtedly have resigned later of his own accord, as he died of cancer within that same year. US Presidents don't have that option. One who did, though, was Roosevelt, who should never have stood in 1944.
I don't think that adds up. US presidents: 4 assassinations, 4 other deaths in office. British prime ministers: 1 assassination, 6 other deaths in office. You can see where the real difference is.
Sorry Larry that's incorrect. U.S. president do indeed have the option of resigning. Nixon did so in order to save himself from impeachment. Any president is free to resign the office for any reason and at any time.
I think he’s saying that a president is less likely to resign due to a temporary health problem because it counts as one of their two times in office, which then makes it more likely to die in office. But I don’t think there’s much of a mortality difference between the two positions in reality.
It has been confirmed Zachary Taylor was not poisoned, and he likely died of gastroenteritis and William Henry Harrison likely died of typhoid, not pneumonia.
I don't think it has been officially confirmed on either. Taylor's symptoms were consistent with arsenic poisoning (no foul play), but some say it was gastroenteritis. There is also a theory that the White House water supply gave Harrison Typhoid, and maybe even Taylor and Polk got Typhoid from the White House. I'll add these in to both. Harrison's death is officially pneumonia. (Not because he wasn't wearing a coat, because that's not how you get pneumonia, but from bacteria.)
I recently read an article that suggests cold weather does make you more susceptible to allowing a virus to enter your nose. So maybe there is something to the theory of Harrison not wearing a coat. You still have to contract the virus/bacteria though.
Good quiz. Only got Harrison, Lincoln, and Kennedy for some reason. There has been research that shows that it was probable that Lincoln would've died shortly after even had he not been shot, do to taking pills containing mercury.
Wait, why did Lincoln take mercury pills? It's not that I don't believe you, I just haven't heard anything about that, and I'd be interested in hearing more!
On a similar note, I've heard that JFK would have probably died of Addison's disease in a few years had he not been shot.
Never heard of that despite studying those sorts of things for years. Also, it didn’t help that, as noted in an account by one of Lincoln’s doctors, said doctor proved Lincoln’s BRAIN where the bullet had gone it to try to find it UNGLOVED. That certainly did not help Lincoln’s cause.
On a similar note, I've heard that JFK would have probably died of Addison's disease in a few years had he not been shot.
Only got Harrison, Lincoln, and Kennedy for some reason.
Maybe those are the only ones you knew.
And that's with a crappy keyboard.