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