Curse of American Presidents. Illustrated History The Curse of American Presidents

The US presidential election scheduled for November could give the world the name of the next victim of Tecumseh's curse.

There is nothing more interesting for Americans in the past few months than to wonder who will be the next president of the United States. Candidates compete intensely in campaign promises and lure potential voters with colorful pictures of a brighter future.

Gradually, the future is drawn more and more clearly. It is not yet clear what will happen to the country, but the circle of potential presidents has almost definitely been reduced to two people. One of these two people will become the President of the United States for the next four years, and in these same four years he will be forced to congratulate the 46th President of the United States on his election to such a responsible post. The same president who will once again experience the curse of Tecumseh. Moreover, it will be an anniversary - the tenth president of the United States, risking to experience the full power of ancient Indian magic.

The history of the United States is the history of the westward movement. While still British colonies, the very first states concluded an agreement with the Indians on the non-advancement of the colonies to the west and violated it without hesitation. This glorious tradition was continued more than once in later times, until the white man's foot set foot on the beach of the west coast of North America, and the Indians finally ended up on reservations.

But long before that, on October 5, 1813, a Shawnee chief named Tecumseh cursed the American state before his death, predicting that no US president elected in a year that is divisible by 20 would last until the end of his presidential term.

In principle, the whites did not even laugh much. In those days, everyone knew for sure that magic was available to the Indians, and Tecumseh was far from being an ordinary Indian. Either his knowledge of the dark arts was strong, or the collective belief in the power of the curse imprinted the information into the Earth's infosphere, but it worked.

The first victim was William Henry Harrison, who was elected president in 1840. Pneumonia. For the middle of the 19th century - an extremely serious disease ... This was the first US president who ended his life as head of state. Harrison still holds the record for the shortest presidency, he ruled the States for 30 days and a few hours.

Twenty years have passed. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected to the post of head of the United States, who became one of the most famous presidents of the United States. He happily sat in the presidential chair for the entire first term, breathed a sigh of relief and was re-elected for the second. On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated while watching a theater play.

The winner of the 1880 presidential race, James Garfield, served three times as long as Harrison. The Indian curse almost failed, the bullet of Charles Guiteau did not touch the vital organs. However, the American doctors got down to business and completed the work of the terrorist-muff.

William McKinley was re-elected in 1900, becoming the first American president of the 20th century and the fourth victim of Tecumseh's curse. Modern medicine would have saved him, but in 1901 doctors could not save the wounded McKinley from a wound infection.

A little more than a year did not last until the end of the presidential term Warren Harding. The President of the United States, elected in 1920, went on an unsuccessful trip to Alaska. Indigestion, pneumonia, heart problems. No crime, just failed health. The Indians fully agree with this version.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 32nd President of the United States. The man who pulled the United States out of the Great Depression by the ears and led the country during World War II. He was elected president in 1940, which gives grounds for including him among the victims of Tecumseh's curse, but Roosevelt simply burned out at work, giving his life for the good of the United States.

The seventh victim of the Indian curse was John F. Kennedy, who won the 1960 election. A trip around Dallas in an open car was not in vain for him. The official culprit of the tragedy was Lee Harvey Oswald. The Indians tacitly agreed with the results of the investigation.

150 years after Tecumseh's birth, Tecumseh's curse began to weaken. Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, survived the assassination attempt. A fortunate combination of circumstances and much stronger medicine than in the 19th century allowed Reagan to remain at the helm. Survived and elected in 2000, George W. Bush. The pretzel idea was good, but Bush failed.

There is no exact record of the curse, so there are several explanations for these misfires. It is believed that the curse is valid only up to the seventh generation. They say that the American presidents have already atoned for the treachery of their ancestors. But perhaps the curse has simply weakened, it has accumulated strength on Bush Jr., and the US president elected in 2020 will have to experience it for himself.

American presidents are often elected for a second term, perhaps in November we will find out who will become the next victim of Tecumseh's curse.

1. MASSACRE WITH THE LEADER

As you know, the birth of the United States was accompanied by a lot of bloodletting. With the naive leaders of the Indian tribes who believed this word, the pale-faced concluded treaties of peace and good neighborliness, and then grossly violated their promises. The invaders more than once deftly used intertribal contradictions, pitting the clans, and then destroying both of them. The colonialists did not disdain the dirtiest means. Sometimes colonialists deliberately caused smallpox epidemics among the local population in order to instill fear and horror in front of the conquerors.

A certain General Geoffrey Amherst frankly wrote to his friend: “It will be very good if you can infect all the Indians with smallpox. Any other method will also be good if it leads to the destruction of this disgusting race. I would be very glad if your project of equipment for hunting them with the participation of dogs has brought results."

Tecumseh

Two brothers from the Shawnee tribe - Tecumseh (Shooting Star) and Tenskwatawa (Open Door) - made a last attempt to unite the Indian tribes in the fight against the colonialists. Tecumseh was well aware of the desire of the whites to destroy the indigenous population of America. And he also understood that the fragmentation of the tribes gives white people a serious advantage. He was the first who seriously set out to rally the warring clans in the fight against the invaders. Tecumseh managed to unite people from thirty-two communities. It was thanks to his efforts that the Confederation of Tribes was born with a territory that was an order of magnitude larger than the then size of the United States. The US authorities did their best to prevent the creation of the Confederation. After all, its leaders refused to recognize the famous treaty of Fort Wayne, concluded with Indian leaders in 1809. The deal was treacherously "furnished" by General Henry Harrison, the Governor of Indiana, the future President of the United States. Indian leaders, before signing an agreement on the transfer of 3 million acres of their lands to the States, were drunk with "fire water". But the Indians kept their word, and as a result, many tribes had to leave the homeland of their ancestors forever.

General William Henry Harrison

Tecumseh tried to convince the US authorities to abandon the treaty concluded in such a dastardly way. The fateful meeting of American authorities and Indian leaders took place in August 1810. But Garrison refused to annul the treaty and even advised Tecumseh not to meddle in his own business, since the treaty did not affect the interests of the Shawnee people. The confederation, according to the governor, was not a community recognized by the United States, and therefore each tribe was asked to speak with the American authorities separately.

Tecumseh warned that if the treaty was not annulled, the Confederacy of Tribes would form an alliance with Great Britain. Harrison just grinned: whites and redskins under a single flag - this is unrealistic.

An accidental coincidence - the appearance in the sky of the Big Comet - was perceived by the tribes that did not join the alliance as a sign. It seemed that nature itself supports the initiatives of the leader. In December 1811, the New Madrid earthquake shook the south of North America. The Indian tribes heard the voice of the gods in him and rebelled.

General Brock, commander of the British troops in Canada, was a man of honor and immediately appreciated the military talents of the Indian leader. In one of his letters, Brock wrote: "The Shawnee chief Tecumseh made a deep impression on me. A more intelligent and far-sighted, more valiant warrior, in my opinion, cannot exist. He is admired by all who talked with him."

General Brock

Recognizing the fair arguments of the Redskins, Britain made an unprecedented act - it entered into a military alliance with the Indians and declared war on the United States. The united forces easily won one battle after another. It seemed that the last step remained before victory. Another decisive battle - and a new power will appear on the world map - an independent Indian state. But an accidental shot made its own adjustments to this story: in the next battle, Brock died.

The British troops were led by General Procter, whose military skills could not be compared with the talents of the deceased commander. No matter how Tecumseh insisted on more decisive action, no matter what detour maneuvers he took, everything was in vain. An overly cautious general began to retreat into the depths of Canada, giving the previously conquered lands to the Americans. When Detroit was left behind and there was nowhere to retreat, Tecumseh managed to insist on holding the last battle.

October 5, 1813 in Connecticut, on the River Thames, a decisive battle took place. In the midst of the battle, unexpectedly not only for the Indians, but also for the colonists, the cowardly General Procter suddenly withdrew his troops. The outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion: the Indians lost, and their leader, according to the official version of the American authorities, died in battle and was buried with full honors.

However, the testimony of Captain George Sanderson has survived, who claimed that the leader was brutally executed: "... It was precisely the body of Tecumseh, from which the skin was torn off - I have no doubt. I knew him ... He was a man of powerful physique, physically very strong He was about 6 feet 2 inches tall. I saw his body on the Thames battlefield before it got cold. I saw a Kentucky war party at the very moment they skinned the chief."

Sat-Ok, Tecumseh's great-great-grandson, many years later will write in his book: "The great uprising of the Algonquian tribes was defeated. Tecumseh went unarmed to the camp to negotiate the rescue of women, the elderly and children. The whites, although they solemnly guaranteed him personal immunity, betrayed him seized, killed, flayed his skin, and from it the American soldiers put on belts for straightening razors ... ".

Even William Harrison, who dealt so cynically with Tecumseh and his people, later wrote the following in his memoirs: “If it were not for proximity to the United States, he (Tecumseh) would very likely become the founder of an Empire that rivaled Mexico or Peru in glory. But difficulties Tecumseh was in constant motion for 4 years, today you see him in Wabah, in a short time you hear him on the shores of Lake Erie, or Michigan, or on the shores of the Mississippi, and wherever he appeared, he produced favorable impression in your favor ... ".

There are several versions of the Indian curse on American presidents. According to one of them, this curse belongs to Tecumseh himself. According to another, Tenskwatawa, the leader's brother, allegedly put a curse on Harrison and other American presidents, already living on the reservation. Tenskwatawa allegedly said these words: "Harrison will not win this year and will not become the Great Chief. He may win next time. If this happens, he will not finish his term. He will die in office. No president has yet died in office. But I tell you that Garrison will die. And then you will remember the death of my brother Tecumseh. You thought that I lost my power. I, who made the Sun darken and took away the fire water from the Red Men. But I tell you that Harrison will die. And after him, all the Great Leaders, elected every 20 years, will die. And when each subsequent one dies, let everyone remember the death of our people "...

Tenskwatawa

2. THE CURSE OF THE INDIANS WAS ACTIVE FOR 140 YEARS?!..

Surprisingly, the curse of the Indians began to operate in 1840. And every US president elected every 20 years has had tragic consequences in his life. And so it went on for 140 years, until 1980. From the first to the seventh generation...

First tribe - William Henry Harrison, elected 1840, died a month after inauguration.

Second Tribe - Abraham Lincoln, elected 1860, re-elected 1864, assassinated 1865

Third Tribe - James Garfield, elected 1880, assassinated 1881

Fourth Tribe - William McKinley, re-elected 1900, assassinated 1901

Fifth tribe - Warren Harding, elected 1920, died 1923

Sixth tribe - Franklin Roosevelt, re-elected in 1940 and 1944, died in 1945.

Seventh tribe - John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, assassinated in 1963

After the end of hostilities, Harrison retired. Soon, the general, who had not previously thought of such a high position, entered the struggle for the presidency in 1836. But this time he failed. The first part of the prediction came true. But Harrison decided not to back down. In the election of 1840, the Whigs again put him forward as their candidate. This time Harrison won. However, now instead of joy, the general was seized with anxiety: the shaman's prophecy continued to come true. However, it was too late to retreat, and Harrison headed for Washington. Friends later recalled - during parting, the general suddenly turned gloomy and said: "Perhaps this is our last meeting." March 4, 1841 - the day of the inauguration of the new president - turned out to be extremely cold and windy. The 68-year-old general decided not to deviate from the plan and appeared before the public in a spectacular dress uniform, too light for inclement weather. Standing in the piercing wind, the new president read his inaugural address for almost two hours, which became the longest in US history. Toward the end of the ceremony, to top it all off, it began to rain heavily. Not surprisingly, Harrison came down with a high fever that same day. Doctors were powerless - exactly one month later the new president passed away. William Henry Harrison, who had so annoyed the Indians in his time, became the first victim of the curse of the Indians.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States. The assassination of A. Lincoln took place on April 14, 1865 - five days after the end of the American Civil War, on Good Friday. At the Ford Theatre, at the play "Our American Cousin", Southerner actor John Wilkes Booth entered the president's box and, during the comedy's funniest scene, shot the president with the expectation that the sound of the shot would be drowned out by an explosion of laughter. In the ensuing turmoil, Bout managed to escape. The next morning, without regaining consciousness, Abraham Lincoln died. After 12 days, on April 26, 1865, Booth was overtaken by the police in Virginia in a barn. The barn was set on fire, Booth stepped out and at that moment was mortally wounded in the neck by Boston Corbet. The last words that were spoken by John Booth: "Tell my mother that I died fighting for my country."

Abraham Lincoln

In the fall of 1880, James Gartfield became the 20th President of the United States. Six months later, on July 2, 1881, while the president was at a railroad station in Washington, he was shot in the back with a revolver. "Oh my God! What is this?" was all the President had time to exclaim before being put on a stretcher to be sent to the hospital. James Gartfield died September 19, 1881. Charles Guiteau, a mentally unstable man who unsuccessfully sought the post of ambassador to France, stated in court that he had attempted on the president, but did not kill him, and that poor treatment was the cause of Garfield's death. The court disagreed with Guiteau's arguments and he was hanged in 1882. However, modern doctors who have studied the history of Garfield's illness believe that there was a considerable amount of truth in Guiteau's words. Initially, the president's wound was not deep, and the bullet was stuck in a place not close to vital organs. Meanwhile, the doctors, poking their fingers into the wound without any gloves or disinfection, significantly deepened the wound (in the false wound channel that penetrated the liver, they continued to look for a bullet) and caused severe purulent inflammation, from which the heart could not stand it. The immediate cause of the president's death was a heart attack.

James Garfield

In November 1900, William McKinley became the next President of the United States. On the morning of September 6, 1901, the McKinleys visited Niagara Falls, and then went to the exhibition to participate in a public reception that was to be held in the afternoon in Buffalo, New York, where the Pan American Trade and Industrial Exhibition was held. George Cortelho, the president's secretary, tried to dissuade his boss from visiting, but he replied, "Why? No one wishes me harm." At three o'clock in the afternoon, McKinley, accompanied by the secretary and director of the exhibition, arrived at the Temple-of-Music pavilion, where a reception was to be held. That day, along with members of the Secret Service, Buffalo detectives and eleven soldiers were present at the reception. McKinley, flanked by Milburn and Cortelho, greeted the visitors who lined up in a long line. In this queue stood a certain Czolgosz - the future assassin of the president. Approximately ten minutes after the beginning of the greetings, being face to face with the president, Czolgosz managed to shoot him twice. The negro waiter standing behind Czolgosz punched the murderer with his fist. Then Secret Service officers George Foster and Albert Gallagher rushed to disarm Czolgosz. An ambulance soon arrived and took the president to a hospital on the exhibition grounds. One bullet missed and did not cause serious injury, but the other hit the stomach and passed through the internal organs, including the stomach, pancreas and kidney, before getting stuck in the muscles of the back. The doctors were unable to extract the second bullet. The President, unconscious from the ether used as an anesthetic, was transported to the home of Governor John Milburn. On Saturday, September 7, McKinley felt well, was calm and cheerful. The doctors allowed the wife to visit the patient. Later, from September 12, the president's condition began to deteriorate. He complained of nausea and headache, his pulse quickened and became weaker. The president was given adrenaline and oxygen to stabilize his pulse. McKinley suddenly said to the doctors: "It's useless, gentlemen, I think we should call the priest." On September 14, 1901, the president died in the presence of ministers and senators from gangrene of the internal organs at the site of the wound. His last words were the first lines of the hymn "Nearer, Lord, to Thee."

William McKinley

The 29th President of the United States, Warren Harding, was elected on his birthday, November 2, 1920. In 1923 he made a tour of the country. After returning from Alaska, President Harding complained of stomach cramps and indigestion. On the advice of doctors, he interrupted his tour of the country and stopped in San Francisco to improve his health. There, in an apartment on the eighth floor of the Palis Hotel, he got worse. On July 30, his temperature rose to 39°C and right-sided pneumonia was discovered. On the evening of August 2, 1923, Florence read to her husband an article about him published in the Evening Post entitled "The Serious Opinion of a Serious Man." Suddenly, at half past seven, the president began to have convulsions. Doctors soon showed up, but it was too late. The President is dead. He was 57 years old. The cause of death was believed to be a heart attack or cerebral hemorrhage. After the wife forbade the autopsy and did not even allow her husband's death mask to be removed, rumors spread throughout the country about the involvement of the first lady in the death of her husband. In 1930, one Gaston B. Means even published a sensational book called The Amazing Death of President Harding. In it, he suggested that Harding was poisoned by his wife after learning about his love affairs. There were other speculations as well. For example, that the president committed suicide because he found out that a scandal was brewing in which he was involved. A friend of the president, Attorney General Harry Doferty, was also blamed for allegedly killing Harding.

Warren Harding

Franklin Roosevelt is the 32nd President of the United States. He was first elected in November 1932. Then he was re-elected for three more terms - in November 1936, in November 1940 and in November 1944: He died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage on 04/12/1945 in his residence "Teplye Klyuchi". President F.D. Roosevelt died quite unexpectedly. Here is how the American media wrote about his death:

“The mail on April 12 was late. FDR (abbreviated as Franklin Delano Roosevelt) chatted serenely with Lucy Mercer. B. Hassett asked the president whether he would sign the papers in the morning or postpone it for the afternoon.

No, give them here, Bill ... - Roosevelt put a sweeping signature - Well, here is a typical State Department document. Nothing!..

At about one in the afternoon, B. Hasset left, leaving several documents that Roosevelt wanted to read. Roosevelt took up stamps. He examined the Japanese stamps issued for the occupied Philippines and sorted them out. Phoned Washington, reminding Postmaster F. Walker of his promise to send samples of the new issue of US stamps in connection with the San Francisco conference. The President was in a great mood. Elizaveta Shumatova came in to continue work on the portrait. Shumatova set up an easel. The soft rays of the locally early summer sun illuminated the room, the glare from the glass-panelled panels casting a bizarre light. Roosevelt plunged into reading, the artist worked quietly. By the window sat Lucy on the couch opposite, Roosevelt's niece Suckley. Another niece - Delano, softly stepping, filled the vases with flowers. They brought in a table for lunch. Roosevelt, without looking up from the papers, said to Shumatova:

We have fifteen minutes left

She nodded and continued to write. A professional artist later claimed that Roosevelt looked amazingly good. He smoked and took a drag. Suddenly he rubbed his forehead, then his neck. The head bowed. Roosevelt turned pale and said:

I have a terrible headache...

Those were his last words. He lost consciousness and died two hours later..."

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

November 22, 1963, Friday, in Dallas (Texas), the presidential motorcade drove into the Dallas area called Dealey Plaza, then turned onto Houston Street. At this point, the governor's wife, Nellie Connally, turned to John F. Kennedy and said, "Mr. President, you must admit that Dallas loves you," to which Kennedy replied, "Of course." After the limousine drove past the school book depository, shots rang out at exactly 12:30. Most witnesses claim to have heard three shots, although some witnesses spoke of five or six shots. The first bullet, according to the official version, hit John F. Kennedy in the back, went through and out through the neck, also wounding Governor John Connally, who was sitting in front of him, in the back and wrist. At the same time, giving evidence to the Warren Commission, Connally said that he was sure that he was hit by a second shot, which he did not hear. Five seconds later, a second shot was fired. The bullet hit Kennedy in the head, making a fist-sized exit hole in the right side of his head, so that part of the cabin was spattered with brain fragments. Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Hospital, where he died at 13:00.

Recently, in the United States, at the age of 90, the last "keeper" of the secrets of D. Kennedy's death, a certain Nicholas Katzenbach, a well-known political figure who worked as an adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, recently died. According to the American media, N. Katzenbach played a mysterious role in the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Just three days after the death of the head of state, anticipating the official investigation, N. Katzenbach, then acting US Attorney General, sent a note to Presidential Aide Bill Moyers at the White House.

"The people must be satisfied that the killer is Oswald, that he has no accomplices who remain at large, and that there is enough evidence that he will be convicted. Speculation around the motives of Oswald's act must be stopped. Unfortunately, the facts about Oswald are too obvious (a Marxist, Cuba, a Russian wife, etc.). We need something that would prevent public speculation or "wrong" hearings in Congress, "N. Katzenbach noted in a note. FBI Director John Edgar Hoover fully supported the opinion of the US Attorney General. According to him, he and N. Katzenbach needed something that could convince the Americans that it was Lee Harvey Oswald who killed President John F. Kennedy.

John Kennedy

In 1980, no one doubted that the new president would not live to see the end of his term. Moreover, Ronald Reagan was no longer young, and his state of health left much to be desired. It was rumored that the superstitious wife of the future president, Nancy Reagan, after learning that her husband plans to run in the next election, dissuaded him for several months. And realizing that all the prayers are useless, I decided to try to negotiate with the Indian shamans. Nancy, allegedly, secretly traveled to the Indian reservation several times and talked with one of the wise old men there. What exactly was discussed, no one knows. But in the end, the shaman promised to help the future president and gave his wife a magical amulet. All eight years of his reign, Ronald did not part with this talisman. However, in 1981, there was an assassination attempt on Reagan and he miraculously survived.

On Monday, March 30, 1981, President Reagan, two months after taking office, spoke to union federation delegates at the Hilton Hotel. When leaving the hotel, the president and three of his companions were wounded by bullets from a revolver. Within three seconds, a certain Hinckley fired six expansive 5.6 mm bullets from a Rohm RG-14 revolver. The first bullet hit White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head. The second - in the back of the policeman of the District of Columbia, Thomas Delahunty. The third flew past the president and hit the window of the house opposite. The fourth bullet hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the chest. The fifth hit the bulletproof glass of the open door of the presidential limousine. The last bullet ricocheted off the body of the limousine, entered Reagan's chest, caught a rib, and lodged in his lung. The President was immediately taken to the George Washington University Hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital, Reagan wiped the blood from his face, got out of the limousine and, without assistance, made it to the emergency room, where he complained of difficulty breathing. And fell, losing consciousness. The operation to extract the bullet was carried out immediately and successfully. Already after the operation, the doctors claimed that the president was very lucky - if he had been brought to the hospital ten minutes later, he would have died from an internal hemorrhage. The assassin, a certain Hinckley, was arrested at the scene of the crime. During the investigation, the motives for his assassination attempt on the president were revealed. Hinckley was sure that by killing the president, he would become famous throughout the country and thereby attract the attention of the incomparable actress Jodie Foster, with whom he was in love! ..

17. LlNCOLN and KENNEDY - 7 letters each.

18. ANDREW JOHNSON and LYNDON JOHNSON - 13 letters each.

19. JOHN WlLKES BOOTH and LEE HARVEY OSWALD - 15 letters each.

20. Lincoln's colleague Miss Kennedy told him not to go to the theatre. Kennedy's colleague Miss Lincoln told him not to go to Dallas.

The memory of Tecumseh is honored not only by his descendants from the Shawnee tribe. He is a national hero of Canada, several cities in different states are named after him. More than once, the descendants of the colonialists apologized to the Indian tribes ...

The President of the United States of America, whoever holds this position, has long been one of the most powerful people in the world. But leading a superpower is not only difficult, but also dangerous. Who would have thought that the main threat to US presidents comes not from a terrorist, but from an old Indian shaman?

Chieftain's Curse

Having hardly got rid of the dominion of the British Empire, the young American power with tripled energy began to deprive other peoples of land, freedom and independence. No one held back the onslaught on Indian territories, and a real genocide began.

But in 1795, the Americans managed to sign the Greenville Treaty with a number of tribes, according to which the territory of modern Ohio and Indiana retreated to the whites. Not all Indians agreed with him, and after 10 years one of the leaders of the Shawnee - Tecumseh - created a confederation of tribes.

He was the son of a chief. His father and two older brothers died during the Indian wars with the French. Another brother Tecumseh Tenskwatawa eventually became a respected shaman. He actively preached a new cult among the Indians, calling for the abandonment of alcohol, things and rituals of a white man and not to recognize contracts for the sale of land.

Tecumseh and his brother founded a new settlement on the Tippecane River - Prophetstown, or the City of the Prophet, which became the center of the Indian confederation. When Tenskwatawa predicted a solar eclipse in 1806, Tecumseh's supporters multiplied. Now the Americans had to reckon with him.

In 1810, William Harrison, a general and politician, received an order from the President to expel all Indians from Indiana Territory. Many tribes agreed to the conclusion of land use agreements, but Tecumseh did not recognize these documents. He met Harrison twice, openly threatened the Americans with war and warned that he would turn to Britain for help so that she could regain her lost colonies.

In the autumn of 1811, Tecumseh went to persuade the large southern tribes (Seminole, Cherokee, and others) to enter into an alliance, while Harrison moved to Prophetstown with a detachment of a thousand. Leaving the camp, Tecumseh ordered his brother not to fight with anyone, but he, seeing the approaching soldiers, joined the battle. However, having learned that Tecumseh was not in the camp, Harrison would not have started any negotiations with the Indians.

The Indians were defeated, Prophetstown burned, and the confederacy lost many supporters. Tecumseh, having learned about the defeat, sent several prisoners to Harrison's camp, ordering him to convey in words an intricate curse. According to legend, it said that Harrison, who was already aiming for the presidency at that time, would not be elected the first time, and when he took the highest post, he would immediately die. And every U.S. president elected in a year divisible by twenty will die before the end of his term.

In 1812, the Anglo-American War began, and Tecumseh sided with the British. He was awarded the rank of brigadier general and participated in several major battles, from which the British emerged victorious. But in the fall of 1813 he fell in battle on a small river Thames, betrayed by the British.

How the reward found the hero

Harrison after the victory at Tippecane became very popular in America, repeatedly served as governor, congressman and senator. But he rose to presidential candidates only in 1836. However, then he lost the elections, but four years later he won.

On March 4, 1841, Garrison was to deliver the inaugural address in honor of taking office. The weather was cold and windy, but Harrison, who was 68 years old, decided to show that he was now as unbending as at Tippecane. He went out onto the balcony without a coat or hat, and his speech was the longest in history.

Two days later, the president came down with a severe cold, which turned into pneumonia and pleurisy, then the picture was aggravated by blood poisoning. On April 4, Harrison died. I don’t know if he remembered Tecumseh, but the story of the curse didn’t get wide publicity then.

Abraham Lincoln triumphantly won the election 20 years later. There were attempts on him back in February 1861 - a month before taking office, but this was a special case: the country was divided into North and South, any methods were used, and soon the Civil War began. So there was no talk about some Indian leader.

Moreover, Lincoln was able to be re-elected to the presidency in April 1864, albeit with great difficulty. He managed to take office for the second time and victoriously end the Civil War. But on April 14, 1865, actor John Booth - a supporter of the southerners - shot Lincoln in the head in the theater during a performance. The president died the next day.

In 1880, James Garfield became the 20th President of the United States. This time, shocks were not to be expected, but on July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot in the back at the Washington railroad station. Why Charles Guita fired a revolver at the president, no one could understand - there were rumors that this dropout sought the post of ambassador in Paris.

The wound at first seemed not serious, but Garfield suffered from unskilled treatment. Firstly, the doctors were unable to extract the bullet, which, at autopsy, turned out to be quite shallow and far from the vital organs.

Secondly, the American Aesculapius climbed into the wound with their fingers and instruments without any disinfection whatsoever (all this was established by doctors twenty years later in the history of the disease). As a result, Garfield developed sepsis and gangrene, and his heart gave out. On September 19, he died of a heart attack, although he was already hopeless. Here the yellow press first remembered Tecumseh's curse, but then there was no sensation.

20th century

William McKinley was re-elected in 1900. He enjoyed great prestige and real popular love. But on September 6, 1901, during the Pan-American Exhibition, he was shot dead by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz. A second before the shot, McKinley was about to shake hands with his killer. The first bullet ricocheted off the button and did no harm, while the second hit him in the stomach.

McKinley was sent to the hospital, but the bullet could not be removed. However, the president has been on the mend. If the doctors used an X-ray machine, presented, by the way, at that very exhibition, they would see that inflammation begins around the unextracted bullet. On September 14, McKinley died of gangrene of the internal organs.

Warren Harding won the election in 1920. His reign was marked by scandals - both family and related to bribes and abuses of the administration. In 1923, Harding made a national tour. In San Francisco, he felt unwell, and the doctors suggested that he rest. A couple of days later, the president died right in his room, according to the official version, from a heart attack. However, his wife forbade an autopsy and ordered the body to be embalmed right at the hotel, which gave rise to a wave of rumors about poisoning.

The next two US presidents to die in office are Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. The first died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945, barely entering the fourth term (he was elected to the third in 1940). The second was shot on November 22, 1963 in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald (Kennedy won the election in 1960). .Kennedy's death is a big mystery, but that's another story.

Game over?

Thus, seven US presidents, corresponding to the parameters once set by Tecumseh, died in office - some at the hands of assassins, and some due to natural causes or coincidence. It should be noted that according to the conditions set by the leader, it does not matter at all whether a person was re-elected for a new term or took office for the first time - those who won the elections “every twentieth year” suffered.

Tecumseh's curse was well known to the secret services and, probably, to the presidents themselves. But nevertheless, it worked properly, like a clock.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley fired six bullets at Ronald Reagan, who had been elected president the year before, while leaving the Hilton Hotel. He wounded three escorts and hit the main victim in the chest. Reagan was immediately taken to the hospital and operated on. And this time, Tecumseh's curse failed: despite the shot in the lung, the president quickly recovered. As you know, Reagan died of Alzheimer's disease, but this happened much later than the presidency - in 2004.

Escaped the fate of predecessors and George W. Bush. He won the elections in 2000, and a year later he could become a victim of terrorists. But the fourth plane of the Islamists, designed to attack the White House on September 11, 2001, did not reach the goal. And on May 10, 2005, a grenade thrown by Vladimir Harutyunyan at the podium, on which the presidents of the United States and Georgia were standing, did not explode.

Thus, the troubles of the leaders of the United States still lay in wait, but it did not come to their death. Although, in fairness, let's say that in the 19th century, Reagan's injury would have been fatal. Nevertheless, it turns out that over the elapsed time the curse has either weakened, and it lacks “lethal power”, or has completely ceased to act.

The second option would be quite real if it were about the Christian tradition. Here, as a rule, sins are paid for and curses are valid until the seventh generation. And, as we calculated, it was seven US presidents who died ahead of schedule.

But Tecumseh did not know about the Christian tradition and did not say anything about the seventh tribe. So here, rather, it is a matter of time and the increased professionalism of the presidential guard. That's just the Indian curse can be much more insidious than it seems now.

Mark ALTSHULER

3. AMAZING COINCIDENCES

1. MASSACRE WITH THE LEADER

2. THE CURSE OF THE INDIANS WORKED FOR 140 YEARS?!

First tribe - William Henry Harrison, elected 1840, died a month after inauguration.

Second Tribe - Abraham Lincoln, elected 1860, re-elected 1864, assassinated 1865

Third Tribe - James Garfield, elected 1880, assassinated 1881

Fourth Tribe - William McKinley, re-elected 1900, assassinated 1901

Fifth tribe - Warren Harding, elected 1920, died 1923

Sixth tribe - Franklin Roosevelt, re-elected in 1940 and 1944, died in 1945.

Seventh tribe - John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, assassinated in 1963

No, give them here, Bill ... - Roosevelt put a sweeping signature - Well, here is a typical State Department document. Nothing!..

We have fifteen minutes left

I have a terrible headache...

Those were his last words. He lost consciousness and died two hours later..."

On November 8, 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected the 35th President of the United States.
November 22, 1963, Friday, in Dallas (Texas), the presidential motorcade drove into the Dallas area called Dealey Plaza, then turned onto Houston Street. At this point, the governor's wife, Nellie Connally, turned to John F. Kennedy and said, "Mr. President, you must admit that Dallas loves you," to which Kennedy replied, "Of course." After the limousine drove past the school book depository, shots rang out at exactly 12:30. Most witnesses claim to have heard three shots, although some witnesses spoke of five or six shots. The first bullet, according to the official version, hit John F. Kennedy in the back, went through and out through the neck, also wounding Governor John Connally, who was sitting in front of him, in the back and wrist. At the same time, giving evidence to the Warren Commission, Connally said that he was sure that he was hit by a second shot, which he did not hear. Five seconds later, a second shot was fired. The bullet hit Kennedy in the head, making a fist-sized exit hole in the right side of his head, so that part of the cabin was spattered with brain fragments. Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Hospital, where he died at 13:00.

According to http://www.tert.am/ru/news/2012/05/10/kennedy/ in the United States, at the age of 90, the last "keeper" of the secrets of D. Kennedy's death, a certain Nicholas Katzenbach, a well-known political figure who worked Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. According to the American media, N. Katzenbach played a mysterious role in the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Just three days after the death of the head of state, anticipating the official investigation, N. Katzenbach, then acting US Attorney General, sent a note to Presidential Aide Bill Moyers at the White House.

Incredibly, some researchers of the life and work of D. Kennedy believe that the assassination of Kennedy turned out to be a boon for the United States! .. Because by 1963 he was a complete drug addict! However, you can find out about this by watching the film "Wrong Politicians: Kennedy" at the link: http://rutube.ru/tracks/472623.html

After a short period of rehabilitation, Reagan returned to governing the country. One way or another, for the first time in a century and a half, a president elected at the turn of the decade survived the end of his term. But in 1985 and 1987 he underwent the most difficult operations. In the last years of his life, he almost completely lost his memory ...

3. AMAZING COINCIDENCES

Researchers of the life and work of D. Kennedy and A. Lincoln found such striking coincidences:

1. Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy in 1960. 100 years later.
2. Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846, Kennedy in 1946, 100 years later.
3. They were both deeply concerned about the rights of African Americans.
4. They were both killed on Friday, in the presence of their wives.
5. Each of the wives lost a child while living in the White House. (Out of four children of Lincoln, only one survived to adulthood, while Kennedy and three children, today, only one is alive - daughter Carolyn).
6. Both were killed by a bullet hitting the head from behind.
7. Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre. Kennedy was killed in a Lincoln, a Ford car.
8. They both had senators named Johnson, who were Democrats from the south.
9. Andrew Johnson was born in 1808. Linden Johnson was born in 1908, exactly 100 years later.
10. Andrew Johnson became the next president after Lincoln's assassination. Linden Johnson became the next president after Kennedy's assassination.
11. The name of Lincoln's private secretary was John, the surname of Kennedy's private secretary was Lincoln.
12. In a letter published in the Cincinnati Gazette on November 8, 1858, Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the Secretary of the Navy, whose name was John Kennedy.
13. Wuth was born in 1839. Oswald was born in 1939, one hundred years later.
14. Both killers were from the south, they both had extremist views.
15. Both murderers were killed before they were tried.
16. Booth shot at Lincoln in the theater and hid in a warehouse. Oswald shot at Kennedy from a warehouse and hid in a theater.
17. LlNCOLN and KENNEDY - 7 letters each.
18. ANDREW JOHNSON and LYNDON JOHNSON - 13 letters each.
19. JOHN WlLKES BOOTH and LEE HARVEY OSWALD - 15 letters each.
20. Lincoln's colleague Miss Kennedy told him not to go to the theatre. Kennedy's colleague Miss Lincoln told him not to go to Dallas.

***
The memory of Tecumseh is honored not only by his descendants from the Shawnee tribe. He is a national hero of Canada, several cities in different states are named after him. More than once, the descendants of the colonialists apologized to the Indian tribes ...

Gabaraeva E.

There are such frightening patterns in history that, willy-nilly, you begin to believe in the supernatural. In the history of the United States, such a phenomenon was the curse of Tecumseh, which for a long time invariably came true. According to legend, the curse was imposed by the leader of the Shawnee Indian tribe Tecumseh (Flying Arrow).

The curse takes us back to 1811, when there was a conflict between Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison and an Indian tribe over land. The authorities offered a ransom to the Shawnee, but the tribe did not agree and this escalated into a conflict known as the Tecumseh War. Chief Tecumseh and his younger brother Tenskwatawa organized a group of resistance to the expansion of the whites to the west, the so-called confederation of Indians. In 1811, Harrison's detachment advanced to the Tippecane River, where the warriors of several Indian tribes had already been assembled. This battle was the culmination of Tecumseh's war, the end of which split the Indian confederation. After the defeat, the confederation was no longer able to restore its former power and unity. After the defeat, Tecumseh tried to play on the contradictions between the Americans and the British and entered into an alliance with the British in the Anglo-American war. In one of the battles of this war, the Indian leader died. It happened on October 5, 1813 at the Battle of the River Thames.

According to legend, dying, the great Tecumseh uttered a curse that every president elected in a year ending in the number "0" and divisible by 20 will die before the completion of his presidential powers.

The first victim of the curse was none other than William Henry Harrison , who at one time "annoyed" the leader in the role of the governor of Indiana. Having become president in 1840, delivering the inaugural speech on March 4, 1841, the newly minted head of the United States caught a cold and exactly one month later, on April 4, 1841, he died. Thus began a mysterious chain of unexplained deaths, which began to be attributed to the ancient Indian curse of Tecumseh.

According to legend, the next victim was to be Abraham Lincoln , elected in 1860. And so it happened: the President was shot dead in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre.

In 1880 he was elected James Garfield. He was also not destined to live to see the end of his presidential term. Garfield's presidency lasted six months and ended with his tragic death. On July 20, 1881, he was seriously wounded by Charles Guiteau at the Washington railroad station and died on September 19, 1881, according to one version due to poor treatment.

At the end of 1896 he was elected president, and in 1900 he was re-elected. William McKinley . On September 5, 1901, the spirit of the curse reached this head of state. McKinley was wounded by American anarchist Leon Frank Czolgosz. Two shots were fired: the first bullet bounced off the button of the president's tuxedo and did not harm him, but the second one hit the stomach, damaged the internal organs and muscles of the back. The president was not destined to survive: an infection got into the wound. Despite timely medical treatment and initial improvement, the 25th President of the United States died on September 14, 1901.

Warren Harding in 1920 became the 29th president. His presidency was accompanied by many scandals. The cause of this president's death has never been determined. On August 2, 1923, he was found dead in a San Francisco hotel where he was staying with his wife to recuperate. Initially, the cause of death was given as a stroke, but the fact that the president's wife forbade an autopsy, and the president's embalming was carried out right in the hotel, gave rise to many rumors. New data has now emerged. According to Harding's personal physician, the president was suffering from a kidney disease, and death could have occurred from a drug overdose.

The sixth "victim of the curse" was Franklin Roosevelt , elected in 1932 and re-elected in 1940 and 1944. He died in 1945 from a cerebral hemorrhage, but despite the long-term illness of the president, his death also came as a surprise to the public. Until now, it is shrouded in legends and rumors.

The assassination of a young president John Kennedy , chosen in 1960, became another link in the legend of Tecumseh's curse. November 22, 1963 in Dallas (Texas) he was shot dead. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested on suspicion of murder. This murder is perhaps the most mysterious in the history of America.

There is a theory of the "seventh tribe", the essence of which is that the curse weakens after the death of the seventh victim. The eighth victim of Tecumseh's curse was Ronald Reagan, who won the 1980 elections and survived the assassination attempt in 1981, and the wound he received (a lung was hit) was considered fatal at that time.

George W. Bush, elected in 2000, became the next president to break the pattern. In 2005, an attempt was made on the president, but it was not successful. Supporters of the idea of the "seventh tribe" said that the curse has weakened or even lost its power.

Of course, in our world, where you can find a practical and scientific explanation for everything, many can say that no curse of Tecumseh existed and all this is just an ominous coincidence. But aren't there too many coincidences?