Random Facts About How All the Departed US Presidents Have Died (39 items)

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  (#1) George Washington

  • Dec. at 67 (1732-1799)

  George Washington died at the age of 67 on December 14, 1799, in Mount Vernon, VA. His exact cause of death is still a mystery, but it was likely epiglottitis. Shortly before his death, Washington presented his wife with two wills, instructing her to burn one and execute the other.
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  (#2) John Adams

  • Dec. at 91 (1735-1826)

  John Adams died at the age of 90 on July 4, 1826, of heart failure in Quincy, MA. It was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. His last words were “Thomas Jefferson still survives,” a reference to his successor, a former adversary who had become a close friend. At that time, he was not aware of the fact that Jefferson had died a few hours earlier.
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  (#3) Thomas Jefferson

  • Dec. at 83 (1743-1826)

  Thomas Jefferson died at the age of 83 on July 4, 1826, in Charlottesville, VA. Jefferson was suffering greatly at the end, though we only know for sure about his collection of symptoms, not his exact diagnosis. He was having trouble urinating, had severe diarrhea, kidney damage, and a kidney infection. It's possible that all these things simply overwhelmed his body's ability to fight off disease, but some speculate that it was actually prostate cancer that caused his death. He died with $100,000 in debt.
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  (#4) James Madison

  • Dec. at 85 (1751-1836)

  James Madison died at the age of 85 on June 28, 1836, from heart failure in Orange, VA. After his death, a statement he had written two years previously was made public, saying “the advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.”
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  (#5) James Monroe

  • Dec. at 73 (1758-1831)

  James Monroe died at age 73 on July 4, 1831, of tuberculosis in New York City, the third president to die on Independence Day. Initially buried in a family plot in New York City, his body was moved 27 years later to the President's Circle at the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA.  Abraham Lincoln, then a first-term congressman, assisted in the funeral arrangements. 
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  (#6) John Quincy Adams

  • Dec. at 81 (1767-1848)

  John Quincy Adams died at age 80 on February 23, 1848, of a stroke in Washington, D.C. After his defeat in the 1828 presidential election, Adams served in the US House of Representatives. He suffered a stroke in the Capitol Building immediately after casting a vote against honoring US soldiers who served in the Mexican-American War.  
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  (#7) Andrew Jackson

  • Dec. at 78 (1767-1845)

  Andrew Jackson died at the age of 78 on June 8, 1845, of tuberculosis in Nashville, TN. He was never the picture of good health; a musket ball that was never removed from his lung wreaked havoc on his body, causing a near-constant and severe cough, debilitating headaches, and abdominal pains. It's a wonder he even made it to 78.
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  (#8) Martin Van Buren

  • Dec. at 80 (1782-1862)

  Martin Van Buren died at the age of 79 on July 24, 1862, of heart failure in Kinderhook, NY. His health had been declining for a year. Shortly before his death, he discussed a plan for all the then-living ex-presidents to negotiate a solution that would prevent the Civil War, but the committee was never formed. 
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  (#9) William Henry Harrison

  • Dec. at 68 (1773-1841)

  William Henry Harrison died at the age of 68 on April 4, 1841, from a fever in Washington, D.C., after serving as president for just one month. It was long believed that he died of pneumonia, but an analysis in 2014 suggested he actually died of typhoid fever. Harrison was the first president to die in office, and his passing raised many questions about succession. Harrison's cabinet didn't want John Tyler, Harrison's VP, to be sworn in as president. Instead, they wanted to consider him the "acting president" until a new person could be elected. Congress put the kibosh on that, though, and made Tyler the tenth President of the United States.
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  (#10) John Tyler

  • Dec. at 72 (1790-1862)

  John Tyler died of a stroke in Richmond, VA, at age 71 on January 18, 1862. After finishing out William Henry Harrison's presidential term, Tyler tried to secure the Democratic nomination for president in 1844, but the party chose James K. Polk instead. At the time of his death, he opposed efforts to outlaw slavery and became the only president to have a Confederate flag draped on his coffin. Because of his allegiance to the Confederacy, he remains the only former president whose death was not recognized by Washington. To this day, the most memorable thing about him is the nickname he earned after assuming the presidency in the wake of Harrison's death: "His Accidency."
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  (#11) James K. Polk

  • Dec. at 54 (1795-1849)

  James K. Polk died of cholera in Nashville, TN, on June 15, 1849. Polk had the shortest presidential retirement, dying just 103 days after leaving office. He was 53 years old.
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  (#12) Zachary Taylor

  • Dec. at 66 (1784-1850)

  Zachary Taylor was president for barely more than a year when he died of gastroenteritis at the age of 65 in Washington, D.C. After attending July 4 ceremonies, he drank copious amounts of iced water and consumed large quantities of cherries and other fruits. Taylor suffered severe stomach pains for the next five days and died on July 9, 1850, leaving Millard Fillmore to serve out the rest of his term.
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  (#13) Millard Fillmore

  • Dec. at 74 (1800-1874)

   Millard Fillmore died from a stroke on March 8, 1874, in Buffalo, NY, at age 74. After finishing Zachary Taylor's term, he sought the Whig party's nomination in the 1852 presidential election, but they chose Winfield Scott instead. To add insult to injury, Scott didn't even win the election; he lost to Franklin Pierce. At least when the Democrats told John Tyler to f*ck off, the person they picked to lead their ticket actually won. Fillmore, somehow, didn't take this as a sign that, hey, maybe people didn't like him so much, and instead ran as a third-party candidate in the 1856 presidential election. Unsurprisingly, he didn't win then, either. He turned to academia and founded the University of Buffalo, where he spent the last few years of his life.
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  (#14) Franklin Pierce

  • Dec. at 65 (1804-1869)

  Franklin Pierce died from cirrhosis of the liver on October 8, 1869, in Concord, NH, at age 64. He had always been a heavy drinker and tried to curtail the habit later in life, but as his health declined, he started imbibing again, which only made things worse.
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  (#15) James Buchanan

  • Dec. at 77 (1791-1868)

  James Buchanan died of respiratory failure and gout on June 1, 1868, in Lancaster, PA at age 77. He caught a cold in May of that year, from which he did not recover.
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  (#16) Abraham Lincoln

  • Dec. at 56 (1809-1865)

  Abraham Lincoln died at age 56 from a gunshot fired by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, on April 15, 1865, in Washington, D.C. He was the first president to be assassinated. Lincoln was one month into his second term and the Civil War was winding down. Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, was displeased with the war’s outcome.
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  (#17) Andrew Johnson

  • Dec. at 67 (1808-1875)

  Andrew Johnson died after a stroke on July 31, 1875, in Carter's Station, TN at age 66. After several comeback attempts, he was elected to the US Senate in 1875, but served just four months before his fatal stroke. 
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  (#18) Ulysses S. Grant

  • Dec. at 63 (1822-1885)

  Ulysses S. Grant died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885, in Wilton, NY, at age 63. He had become a freelance writer, penning accounts of his Civil War adventures. These chapters later provided the basis for a bestselling book, Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which he completed just days before his death. 
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  (#19) Rutherford B. Hayes

  • Dec. at 71 (1822-1893)

  Rutherford B. Hayes died of heart disease on January 17, 1893, in Fremont, OH, at age 70. After his  death, his son Webb Hayes established a presidential library, setting the precedent for the construction and dedication of post-term presidential libraries.
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  (#20) James A. Garfield

  • Dec. at 50 (1831-1881)

  James A. Garfield died from septic shock resulting from a gunshot wound on September 19, 1881, in Elberon, NJ, at age 49. The shot was fired two months earlier by Charles J. Guiteau, who was angry that Garfield ignored his job applications. Garfield’s death was partially attributable to doctors who treated the wound with unsterilized fingers.  
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  (#21) Chester A. Arthur

  • Dec. at 57 (1829-1886)

   Chester A. Arthur died at age 57 after a stroke on November 18, 1886, in New York City. He survived only about a year and a half after finishing out the presidency in 1885. Two days prior to his death, Arthur ordered that all of his personal and official papers be burned. 
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  (#22) Grover Cleveland

  • Dec. at 71 (1837-1908)

  Grover Cleveland died at age 71 of coronary sclerosis on June 24, 1908, in Princeton, NJ. Cleveland, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, said on his deathbed, “I have tried so hard to do right.”
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  (#23) Benjamin Harrison

  • Dec. at 68 (1833-1901)

  Benjamin Harrison died of pneumonia on March 13, 1901, in Indianapolis, IN, at age 67. A few years before that, though, he married a 37-year-old woman (his dead wife's niece, to be exact) at age 62. His two children, aged 41 and 38, did not approve of the marriage.
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  (#24) William McKinley

  • Dec. at 58 (1843-1901)

  William McKinley died at age 58 from gangrene resulting from a gunshot wound on September 14, 1901, in Buffalo, NY. Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, fired the shot eight days earlier. After being shot, McKinley requested that those around him “go easy” on Czolgosz. It was a classy and dignified move for man literally bleeding out on the ground, one indicative of the reasons why he was so well-liked during his presidency. It's too bad, then, that his legacy is often overshadowed by his successor, Teddy Roosevelt.
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  (#25) Theodore Roosevelt

  • Dec. at 61 (1858-1919)

  Theodore Roosevelt died from a coronary embolism and rheumatism on January 6, 1919, in Oyster Bay, NY, at age 60. Thomas R. Marshall, then the vice president, summed up Roosevelt's legacy in a most befitting way: “Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."
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  (#26) William Howard Taft

  • Dec. at 73 (1857-1930)

  William Howard Taft died of heart disease on March 8, 1930, in Washington, D.C., at age 72. After his 1912 election defeat, Taft was appointed as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1921, a position he held until his death. While he was slowly losing his faculties during the last years of his life, he extracted a promise from President Herbert Hoover to nominate Charles Evans Hughes, then a judge on the Court of International Justice, as his successor.  
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  (#27) Woodrow Wilson

  • Dec. at 68 (1856-1924)

  Woodrow Wilson died of a stroke on February 3, 1924, in Washington, D.C. at age 67. He was buried at the Washington National Cathedral and is the only president to be interred within the Washington, D.C. city limits. 
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  (#28) Warren G. Harding

  • Dec. at 58 (1865-1923)

  Warren G. Harding died from a cerebral hemorrhage on August 2, 1923, in San Francisco, CA, at age 57. He was aware he had a heart condition for a few months before his death, though he hid it from the public. Harding was on a train tour of the West Coast, travelling from city to city and giving speeches when he became seriously ill.
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  (#29) Calvin Coolidge

  • Dec. at 61 (1872-1933)

  Calvin Coolidge died of a heart attack on January 5, 1933, in Northampton, MA at age 60. Coolidge, who resisted an effort to draft him as a presidential candidate in 1932, died believing that he did not fit in with the times. 
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  (#30) Herbert Hoover

  • Dec. at 90 (1874-1964)

  Herbert Hoover died from massive internal bleeding on October 20, 1964, in New York City at age 90. Soundly defeated in the 1932 election, he spent the following years rehabilitating his image and evolved into a respected senior statesman when he died. 
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  (#31) Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Dec. at 63 (1882-1945)

  Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945 ,in Warm Springs, GA at age 63. Roosevelt, the longest-serving president, was a few months into his fourth elected term when the stroke occurred during a portrait sitting in front of artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff. That painting was never finished, although Shoumatoff painted a second portrait from memory.  
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  (#32) Harry S. Truman

  • Dec. at 88 (1884-1972)

  Harry S. Truman died at age 88 of organ failure on December 26, 1972, in Kansas City, MO. He was extremely unpopular when he left office in 1953 but some of his policies were later vindicated. 
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  (#33) Dwight D. Eisenhower

  • Dec. at 79 (1890-1969)

  Dwight D. Eisenhower died of heart failure on March 28, 1969, in Washington, D.C., at age 78. After his death, his remains were taken to his hometown of Abilene, KS, by train. Eisenhower lived to see the election of his vice president, Richard Nixon, to the nation’s highest office. 
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  (#34) John F. Kennedy

  • Dec. at 46 (1917-1963)

   John F. Kennedy died at age 46 from a gunshot fired by communist sympathizer Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, TX. To this day, there is disagreement as to whether Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy, with a substantial portion of the public still believing that Oswald did not act alone. 
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  (#35) Lyndon B. Johnson

  • Dec. at 65 (1908-1973)

  Lyndon B. Johnson died at age 64 after a heart attack on January 22, 1973, in Johnson City, TX. Johnson died one month after Harry Truman, leaving the nation with no living ex-presidents until Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation. 
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  (#36) Richard Nixon

  • Dec. at 81 (1913-1994)

  Richard Nixon died at age 81 after a stroke on April 22, 1994, in New York City. The stroke was caused by a blood clot that broke off from his heart and traveled to his brain. Nixon, who had rehabilitated his reputation after his resignation in disgrace, was eulogized at his funeral by then-president Bill Clinton. Former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush also attended the service. 
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  (#37) Gerald Ford

  • Dec. at 93 (1913-2006)

  Gerald Ford died at age 93 from arteriosclerosis on December 26, 2006, the 34th anniversary of Harry Truman’s death, in Rancho Mirage, CA. 
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  (#38) Ronald Reagan

  • Dec. at 93 (1911-2004)

  Ronald Reagan died at age 93 from Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia on June 5, 2004, in Los Angeles, CA. Reagan had suffered from the disease for ten years, during which time he made infrequent public appearances. After his death, services were held in four locations, with his remains transported to and from Washington, D.C. before they were interred on June 12 at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA. 
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  (#39) George H. W. Bush

  • 95

  George H.W. Bush passed away on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94—just eight months after his wife, Barbara Bush, passed. The former president suffered from vascular parkinsonism, which kept him in a wheelchair the last few years of his life and ultimately led to his passing. Moreover, he had been admitted to the hospital just a day after his wife's passing for an infection that had spread to his blood.

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