0:02 From eating raw cherries to contaminated
0:04 water at the White House to getting
0:07 assassinated in broad daylight, this is
0:10 how every US president died and their
0:12 final words. And spoiler, while some
0:14 left an epic message, others talked
0:17 about soup. But first, let's start at
0:19 the beginning with George Washington,
0:21 our first president, who got a serious
0:23 throat infection after riding his horse
0:26 in cold, snowy weather. He likely had
0:28 epiglatitis, which is when the little
0:29 flappy thing at the base of your tongue
0:32 becomes inflamed. Today, that's an easy
0:35 fix with antibiotics. But back then,
0:37 doctors tried bloodletting, which is
0:39 when they cut your arm and drain blood
0:41 from your body. They thought it would
0:43 somehow help, but it ended up making
0:45 things way worse. And it's believed
0:48 Washington lost 80 ounces of blood.
0:51 That's like six Red Bulls. He told his
0:54 doctor, "I die hard, but I'm not afraid
0:57 to go." And as he struggled to breathe,
1:00 his final words were, "Tis well." But if
1:02 you thought that was dramatic, this is
1:04 the most insane coincidence in US
1:07 history. Where John Adams and Thomas
1:09 Jefferson, the second and third
1:12 presidents, died on the exact same day.
1:14 They started out as friends and
1:16 revolutionary bros. Jefferson wrote the
1:18 Declaration of Independence and Adams
1:21 helped defend it. Squad goals. But in
1:24 the election of 1800, the two became
1:27 political rivals. Then after a decade of
1:29 not speaking, Adams and Jefferson
1:31 reconnected as pen pals and became
1:34 besties again. However, on July 4th,
1:38 1826, exactly 50 years after signing the
1:40 Declaration of Independence, the
1:42 spookiest thing happened. Jefferson grew
1:45 ill from diarrhea, pneumonia, and a
1:47 kidney infection. And on the night
1:49 before his death, he asked, "Is it the
1:51 fourth?" When they told him not yet, he
1:54 held on for one more day. And his final
1:57 words were, "No, doctor, nothing more."
1:59 Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in
2:02 Massachusetts, John Adams was a sickly
2:04 90-year-old man dealing with heart
2:06 failure. Completely unaware that his
2:08 bestie Jefferson died hours earlier,
2:11 Adam said his famous last words. Thomas
2:14 Jefferson survives. It's kind of crazy
2:16 that these two, who spent their whole
2:18 lives being frenemies, ended up checking
2:20 out on America's birthday. Kind of like
2:23 our fourth president, James Madison, who
2:25 almost completed the Fourth of July
2:27 trifecta. Because after dealing with
2:29 congestive heart failure, the father of
2:32 the US Constitution was on his deathbed
2:34 and doctors were trying desperately to
2:36 keep him alive until July 4th. But when
2:38 offered more stimulants by his niece,
2:41 Madison said, "Nothing more than a
2:43 change of mind, my dear. I always talk
2:45 better lying down," which basically
2:47 meant he was ready to go. And died on
2:49 June 28th,
2:52 1836. I mean, come on. He was so close
2:54 to making it to the fourth. But you know
2:57 who did make it? The fifth president,
2:59 James Monroe, who became the third one
3:02 to die on Independence Day. He had heart
3:03 troubles which worsened after
3:06 contracting tuberculosis. But his final
3:08 words were about how he missed his old
3:10 friend James Madison. I regret that I
3:12 should leave this world without again
3:14 beholding him. And while most presidents
3:16 die on their deathbeds, some die on the
3:19 floor of Congress, like the sixth
3:21 president, John Quincy Adams, who after
3:23 serving as president, didn't retire to
3:26 play golf, but instead went back to
3:28 Congress as a representative. And while
3:30 casting a no vote, he suffered a massive
3:33 stroke, grabbing his desk and collapsing
3:35 on the House floor. And after they
3:37 carried him out, John Quincy Adams said,
3:40 "This is the last of Earth. I am
3:42 content." But some presidents have more
3:44 peaceful endings, like Andrew Jackson,
3:46 who is one of the most insane presidents
3:48 in American history. He was a tough dude
3:50 who fought in duels, survived the first
3:53 ever presidential assassination attempt,
3:55 and beat up his wouldbe killer with a
3:57 cane. But despite all this, he didn't go
3:59 down the way you might think. He got
4:01 tuberculosis, had heart problems, and
4:03 suffered from dropsy, which is when your
4:06 body fills with too much water. Hydrate
4:08 or dehydrate, am I right? And on his
4:10 deathbed, surrounded by family, this
4:13 tough guy turned into a softy. With his
4:16 last words being, "Oh, do not cry. Be
4:18 good children, and we shall all meet in
4:20 heaven." And then there's Martin
4:22 Vanurren, our eighth president, who
4:24 struggled with asthma and heart
4:26 problems. He died quietly at his fancy
4:28 house called Lynenwald, with his last
4:30 words being, "There is but one
4:32 reliance." Which was his way of
4:34 expressing his trust in God. And while
4:37 Van Beern lived a long 79 years, our
4:39 next president holds the record for the
4:41 shortest presidency because of this one
4:44 dumb mistake. During his inauguration,
4:46 William Henry Harrison gave an insanely
4:49 long 2-hour speech in the freezing cold
4:52 rain without even wearing a coat. And
4:54 for over a century, we thought he caught
4:56 pneumonia and died. However, recent
4:59 studies suggest this probably wasn't the
5:02 cause because he didn't get sick until 3
5:05 weeks after the inauguration. Experts
5:07 now believe he either died from typhoid
5:09 fever or septic shock due to
5:11 contaminated drinking water at the White
5:14 House. That's insanely unlucky cuz
5:17 Harrison only lasted 31 days in office,
5:19 which means his vice president, John
5:21 Tyler, got a promotion. But this
5:23 president didn't have the best record
5:25 with the people. He was the only
5:27 president whose death wasn't officially
5:29 mourned by the country because during
5:32 the Civil War, John Tyler sided with the
5:34 South. He was even elected to the
5:36 Confederate Congress. But before he
5:38 should start the job, he started having
5:40 dizzy spells and died of a stroke with
5:43 his last words being perhaps at his
5:46 best. Agreed, John. Then there was James
5:49 Pul, who died far too young at 53 years
5:51 old. And it's because 3 months after
5:53 leaving office, he was on a tour of the
5:55 South where he contracted chalera, a
5:58 nasty disease that gives you explosive
6:00 diarrhea. But despite the circumstances,
6:02 he went out as a romantic with his last
6:05 words to his wife being, "I love you,
6:08 Sarah, for all eternity. I love you."
6:12 I'm not crying. You're crying. But for
6:13 this next president, you might be
6:16 laughing because Zachary Taylor died
6:17 from eating too many cherries and
6:21 drinking too much milk. Or did he?
6:23 During a Fourth of July celebration in
6:25 the sweltering heat of DC, Zachary
6:28 Taylor desperately needed to cool off.
6:30 So, he ran into the White House, ate a
6:32 bowl of raw cherries, and drank several
6:35 glasses of milk. The problem was food
6:37 safety was basically non-existent back
6:40 then and Taylor came down with
6:42 gastroenterteritis and died 3 days
6:45 later. However, many believe Zachary
6:47 Taylor was poisoned because he was the
6:49 current president when this went down
6:52 and pre-Ivil War tensions were rising.
6:54 But when forensic scientists looked at
6:56 his body in the9s, they found nothing
6:59 fishy. So it really was just some bad
7:01 cherries. And before he died, Taylor
7:04 said, "I'm about to die. I expect the
7:06 summon soon. I've tried to discharge my
7:09 duties faithfully. I regret nothing."
7:12 And after death by Cherries, VP Millard
7:14 Filillmore stepped up to the plate. And
7:16 unlike Taylor, Filmore lived a long time
7:19 after his presidency until he had a
7:20 stroke. But right before he died,
7:22 someone gave him soup. And Filillmore
7:25 said, "The nourishment is palatable."
7:27 Which basically means in fancy talk, it
7:30 tastes good. Five stars for the soup.
7:32 But our next president had one of the
7:35 saddest deaths ever. Just weeks before
7:37 taking office, Franklin Pierce's son was
7:40 killed in a horrific train accident. And
7:43 this sent Pierce on a downward spiral of
7:45 depression. He started drinking too
7:47 much, became an alcoholic, and destroyed
7:50 his liver with a disease called cerosis.
7:52 He died after losing re-election, and
7:55 nobody wrote down his last words because
7:59 he was all alone. Dang, that's sad. And
8:01 unfortunately, the downward spiral of
8:03 America continued with the next
8:05 president, James Buchanan, who many view
8:07 as one of the worst presidents because
8:10 the Civil War was coming and he did
8:12 nothing to stop it. Buchanan died of a
8:15 bad respiratory infection. Although some
8:17 believe he fell victim to the mysterious
8:19 National Hotel disease outbreak, but
8:22 that's just rumors. He went out
8:24 proclaiming, "Oh Lord God Almighty, as
8:27 God wilt." But you know what they say,
8:30 weak men create hard times and hard
8:33 times create strong men. Which leads us
8:34 to this tall drink of water with a top
8:36 hat. Abraham Lincoln, one of the
8:39 greatest presidents in American history.
8:41 Although the Confederate South might
8:43 disagree because while watching a play
8:45 at Ford's Theater, Abraham Lincoln was
8:48 shot in the head by John Wils Booth and
8:50 unfortunately couldn't leave us with any
8:52 words of wisdom. Instead, his final
8:54 words were casual reassurance to his
8:56 wife in the theater box. She won't think
8:58 anything about it. He was referring to
9:00 what a friends might think of them
9:02 holding hands at the theater.
9:04 Scandalous. But after Lincoln's crazy
9:07 assassination, VP Andrew Johnson took
9:10 over, and he wasn't exactly popular.
9:12 Congress tried to kick him out of the
9:14 office with impeachment. And years
9:16 later, Andrew Johnson died from two
9:18 strokes he suffered while visiting his
9:20 family in Tennessee. The second stroke
9:22 left him paralyzed on one side with his
9:24 final words being, "My right side is
9:27 paralyzed." I need no doctor. I can
9:30 overcome my own troubles. And while some
9:32 presidents were hated, others were
9:34 celebrated as war heroes, like President
9:36 Ulissiz S. Grant, who led the Union
9:39 forces to victory in the Civil War. But
9:41 after his presidency, things took a turn
9:43 for the worst. Where Grant lost his life
9:46 savings in a bad investment scam. Turns
9:47 out some dude was running a Ponzi
9:50 scheme. And to make matters worse, Grant
9:52 was diagnosed with throat cancer,
9:54 probably from all the cigars he loved
9:57 smoking, sometimes 20 a day. Get this
10:00 guy a nicotine patch. But before he
10:02 died, Grant wanted to write his memoirs
10:04 so his family wouldn't be broke after he
10:06 passed. So he sat there every day
10:08 writing as cancer ate away at his
10:12 throat. And his last word was water. A
10:13 simple request for a glass of water
10:16 because his throat was so dang dry.
10:18 Pretty crazy way to go out. But our 19th
10:20 president, Rutherford Be Hayes, died
10:23 like most of the others at old age from
10:25 heart failure. His emotional last words
10:28 were, "I know that I'm going where Lucy
10:30 is." Referring to his wife, who passed
10:32 away 4 years earlier. But things got
10:34 even crazier with our 20th president,
10:36 James Garfield, who after being in
10:38 office for a 100 days, was walking
10:40 through a train station when a mentally
10:42 unstable man stepped behind him and
10:45 fired two shots. The first bullet graced
10:47 his arm. The second bullet was lodged in
10:50 his back, but Garfield didn't die
10:52 because the bullet never hit any organs.
10:55 All right. However, it all went downhill
10:57 when doctors stepped in. They probed
11:00 around with unsterilized instruments and
11:02 one even punctured his liver. So,
11:04 although Garfield initially survived, he
11:06 suffered from massive infections over
11:09 the next 80 days until he slowly died
11:12 with his last words being, "Swame, can't
11:14 you stop the pain?" Poor guy was
11:16 basically the victim of medical
11:19 malpractice. Man, I hate Mondays.
11:21 Garfield was succeeded by Chester A.
11:23 Arthur, who eventually suffered from
11:25 Bright's disease, which is kidney
11:28 failure, and died from a stroke at 57.
11:30 No definitive last words were recorded,
11:33 but some say he whispered, "Life is not
11:36 worth living." That's a bummer because
11:38 our next president was a dude living
11:40 life to the fullest, Grover Cleveland,
11:43 who was our 22nd and 24th president. You
11:46 go, Grover. He died from heart failure
11:49 at 71 with his last words being, "I've
11:52 tried so hard to do right." And the
11:54 president caught between Cleveland's two
11:56 terms was Benjamin Harrison, who came
11:58 down with a bad case of the flu, which
12:00 progressed to pneumonia. And despite
12:03 good medical care, his lungs failed. and
12:05 his last words being, "Are there any
12:08 doctors here? Doctor, my lungs." Poor
12:10 guy couldn't breathe. But at least he
12:12 wasn't one of the four US presidents
12:15 assassinated. Like William McKinley, who
12:17 was attending a meet and greet in
12:18 Buffalo when one of the people waiting
12:21 in line was Leon Cholosh, a Polish
12:24 American anarchist. He concealed a 32
12:26 caliber revolver under a handkerchief
12:28 wrapped around his right hand. When it
12:30 was his turn to meet the president, Leon
12:32 fired two bullets into McKinley's
12:35 abdomen. Luckily, one bullet grazed him,
12:36 but the other went deep into his
12:38 stomach. So, they rushed him to the
12:40 hospital. But the problem was doctors
12:43 couldn't locate the bullet. So, 8 days
12:45 after the doctor's attempted game of
12:47 operation, gang green set in and
12:49 McKinley died with his last words being
12:52 spoken to his wife. We're all going.
12:55 We're all going. God's will be done, not
12:58 ours. But after this, Americans were fed
13:00 up with presidents being killed. So, the
13:02 Secret Service gained full-time
13:04 responsibility for protecting the
13:06 president. Yeah, I think it's about
13:08 time. Now, VP Teddy Roosevelt got
13:11 promoted to the top job, and this guy
13:12 was one of the toughest presidents we've
13:15 ever seen. He served two full terms and
13:17 wanted to come back for a third. In
13:20 1912, Teddy ran again as a third party
13:22 candidate for the Bull Moose Party. And
13:24 when stepping out of his hotel to give a
13:26 speech, he was shot in the chest.
13:29 However, he didn't die. In fact, he got
13:31 right back up and gave an 84minute
13:34 speech with a bullet lodged in his
13:37 chest. That's pretty wild. Teddy went on
13:39 to live another 6 years where he led a
13:41 deadly expedition through the Amazon
13:44 rainforest and once again almost died.
13:46 This time from a leg infection, weight
13:49 loss, and malaria. And many believe this
13:52 permanently weakened him because at 60
13:54 years old, Teddy died from a blood clot
13:57 in his sleep with his last words being,
13:59 "Put out the light, James." Man, pour
14:01 one out for Teddy. Cuz while some
14:04 presidents are warriors, others are
14:06 William Howard Taft. The president
14:08 famous for being so fat he got stuck in
14:11 his bathtub. Charming. But believe it or
14:13 not, that's not how he died. At only
14:17 5'11, William Taft ballooned to over 300
14:19 lb, which drained his heart. And
14:21 although he lost a great deal of weight,
14:24 the damage was already done. With Taft
14:26 dying from heart failure at 72, and his
14:29 final words weren't recorded, so we'll
14:31 just have to use our imagination. Woodro
14:33 Wilson never fully recovered from a
14:35 massive stroke he suffered while in
14:38 office. Unfortunately, he lived his
14:40 final years partially paralyzed with his
14:43 last words being, "I am a broken piece
14:45 of machinery. When the machine is
14:48 broken, I am ready." But at least this
14:51 dude died after being president. Unlike
14:53 Warren G. Harding, who is dealing with
14:55 corruption scandals while president, so
14:57 in an effort to rebuild public trust, he
14:59 went on a cross-country speaking tour.
15:02 But the situation was so dang stressful,
15:03 he developed pneumonia. And while
15:05 resting in bed with his wife reading the
15:08 paper, Harding died from a heart attack.
15:10 Poor guy's last words were, "That's
15:13 good. Go on, read some more." And his
15:15 VP, Calvin Culage became the next
15:17 president, who after a few years of
15:19 leaving office died suddenly of a heart
15:22 attack at age 60. Silent Cal was
15:25 famously super quiet, so upon news of
15:27 his death, Dorothy Parker joked, "How
15:30 can they tell?" Cal's last words were,
15:32 "Good morning, Robert." a simple
15:34 greeting to a worker in his home. And
15:36 while some presidents lives are cut
15:38 short, others live a long life, like
15:40 Herbert Hoover, who was the second
15:43 president to reach 90 since John Adams.
15:45 Hoover eventually died of internal
15:47 bleeding, but because he was so weak, no
15:50 last words were ever documented. And
15:53 then we have Franklin D. Roosevelt, who
15:54 was elected president of the United
15:57 States a ridiculous four times in a row.
15:59 I mean, leave some for the rest of us.
16:02 But by his fourth term, FDR's health was
16:04 falling apart. He dealt with high blood
16:06 pressure, heart disease, and secretly
16:09 had polio, which left him paralyzed from
16:11 the waist down. Oh, and on top of all
16:12 that, he had to deal with the stress of
16:14 the Great Depression and a small
16:17 conflict called World War II. Pretty
16:20 crazy. So, in his fourth term, FDR
16:22 suffered a massive stroke while posing
16:24 for a portrait at his Georgia retreat.
16:27 His last words were, "I have terrific
16:29 pain in the back of my head." which
16:32 means VP Harry Truman became the next
16:34 president and he lived for several more
16:36 decades until he was hospitalized at 88
16:39 years old from pneumonia. Truman's
16:41 condition worsened as multiple organs
16:43 failed and he slipped into a coma. And
16:46 because he was in a coma, no last words
16:48 were recorded when he died. On the other
16:50 hand, we know the exact last words of
16:52 Dwight D. Eisenhower and they were
16:54 pretty direct. After a long history of
16:56 heart attacks and strokes, Eisenhower
16:59 was hospitalized at the famous Walter
17:01 Reed Hospital. He ultimately died from
17:03 congestive heart failure with his last
17:06 words being, "I want to go. God take
17:08 me." Sometimes presidents are ready to
17:11 go, while others are taken far too soon.
17:13 Like President John F. Kennedy, who is
17:16 famously riding in an open motorcade in
17:18 De Plaza when a sniper's bullet struck
17:21 his head, killing him in an instant.
17:22 Now, we're not going to get into all the
17:25 theories about who really killed JFK,
17:26 but most believe the main dude
17:29 responsible was Lee Harvey Oswald, who
17:31 was murdered himself just 3 days later.
17:34 Making things even more suspicious. But
17:36 before the assassination, Nelly Connelly
17:38 was sitting in the middle row when she
17:41 told JFK, "Mr. President, you can't say
17:43 Dallas doesn't love you." And JFK
17:45 responded, "No, you certainly can't."
17:48 Just seconds before he was shot. At just
17:51 46 years old, Kennedy was the youngest
17:53 president ever killed in American
17:55 history. And the man that took his place
17:58 was Lynden B. Johnson, who died 10 years
18:00 later when he had a massive heart attack
18:02 at his Texas ranch. And as he felt it
18:04 come on, he grabbed the telephone and
18:07 said, "Send Mike immediately." Referring
18:09 to his Secret Service agent, but it was
18:12 too late. Those were his final words as
18:14 he dropped dead. Now, Richard Nixon died
18:16 in a similar fashion. Famous for dealing
18:18 with Watergate and getting impeached,
18:20 dude lived a pretty stressful life, but
18:24 Nixon didn't die until he was 82. After
18:26 suffering a massive stroke in his home
18:29 in New Jersey, Nixon yelled, "Help!"
18:31 That was his last word as he was rushed
18:33 to the hospital and slipped into a coma
18:35 before finally passing. But I wonder if
18:37 that was more stressful than the time he
18:39 resigned from being the president.
18:41 Because the next man up was Gerald Ford,
18:43 who served out the rest of his term. And
18:45 thanks to modern medicine, Gerald Ford
18:48 lived to the ripe age of 93 years old
18:50 when he died from cerebrovascular
18:52 disease, which is a fancy way of saying
18:54 blood couldn't flow to his brain. He
18:56 also struggled with arterioclerosis,
18:58 which is hardening of the arteries. All
19:00 of this led to the peaceful passing of
19:02 Gerald Ford in his California home,
19:04 where he set the new record for the
19:06 longest living president in US history.
19:09 But no last words were made public. His
19:11 family wanted to keep things private.
19:13 But Ford's record didn't last very long
19:15 because the next president, Jimmy
19:18 Carter, seemed to live forever. In fact,
19:21 he literally just died. Jimmy Carter
19:23 lived to be a 100red years old before
19:25 dying of natural causes on December
19:28 29th, 2024. Although his actual moment
19:30 of death last words weren't publicly
19:32 reported, in the final weeks, Carter
19:34 told his family that he was ready to see
19:37 Rosalyn again, referring to his wife who
19:39 had died a month earlier. It's pretty
19:41 crazy to see a president reach the
19:44 century mark. And Ronald Reagan wasn't
19:47 too far behind, dying at 93 years old
19:48 after a decade long battle with
19:50 Alzheimer's. And since he had
19:53 Alzheimer's, Reagan had no lucid final
19:56 words before he died. Man, I hate that
19:58 disease. Kind of like I hate
20:00 Parkinson's, which is what George HW
20:02 Bush suffered from in his final years,
20:04 which left him wheelchair bound. His
20:06 last phone call was to his son, the
20:08 other President George Bush, where he
20:10 said his final words, "I love you, too."
20:13 Right before dying at 94 years old. But
20:15 that takes us to today, where five
20:17 presidents remain. And although it's the
20:19 most dangerous job in the world,
20:21 modern-day presidents live longer than
20:23 ever before. Shout out to the Secret
20:25 Service and top-notch medical care cuz
20:28 the average lifespan of presidents went
20:30 from 70 years old in the 18th and 19th
20:33 centuries up to 78 years old in the 20th
20:36 century. In fact, we have an old guy in
20:38 office now and he had to dodge a couple
20:40 bullets to get there. But if you think
20:42 that's crazy, I'll leave you with the
20:45 most insane presidential death facts.
20:48 Eight presidents died while in office.
20:50 Four were assassinated and four died
20:52 from natural causes. The youngest
20:55 president died at 46 while the oldest
20:58 president died at 100. Remarkably, Adams
21:00 and Jefferson died on the exact same
21:02 day. And don't get me started on the
21:05 insane coincidences between Lincoln and
21:07 JFK's assassinations, but I guess we'll
