Evening star., 1945-04-13
Six Times Leaders
Have Died in Office
Some Most Popular P residents
Failed to Serve Full Terms
Bv James Waldo Fawcen

BY James Waldo Fawcen
On six previous occasions in the his
tory of the United States death sudde4i-
ly has claimed the chosen leaders of
the people. President Roosevelt is the
seventh Chief Executive to die in effice.
The first of his predecessors to fail to
| live out the term of four years stipulated
in the Constitution was General Will
liam Henry Harrison, hero of the Indian
wars of the West, chosen for the high
est honor within the gift OF his coun
trymen after the heated campaign of
184O, a struggle characterized by the
slogan: "Tippecanoe and Tyler too"
According to the Dictionary of Amer
lean Biography, "his Inauguration took
place amid tremendous enthusiasm :.
Scarcely week later he contracted a
chill that developed into pneumonia.
Worn out by the strain Of the election
and by the ceaseless opportunities Ct
Office seekers, he was unable to resist
the disease and died on April 4, 184l."
President Harrison's successor, John
Tyler, considered himself qualified to
perform the duties and exercise the
powers and Office of President - = with
out any other oath than that which he
has taken as Vice President, yet as
doubts may arise, and for greater cau-
tion took and subscribed another oath
before William Cranch, chief judge of
the Circuit Court of the District of Co
lumbia, two days after the date Of the
announcement reproduced above.
Mexican War Hero Departs.
Less than a decade later, the Nation
had occasion to mourn another famous
soldier president, General Zachary Tay-
lor, Virginia Whig who achieved the
loftiest heights of honorable ambition
by carrying exactly half of the States,
seven in the North and eight in the
South. But his popularity exceeded the
vote cast for him. He had spent 40 years
in military service and was an out
| standing hero of the war with Mexico.
| Politicians like Thurlow Weed and John
| j. Crittenden labored in his behalf, yet
| it was the veterans votes that gave
him the presidency. Inaugurated on
| March S, 1849, "he advocated efficient
national defense establishments" friend
| ly relations with foreign powers, capac-
| ity, fidelity and honesty as qualiflca-
tions for office holding" Perhaps those
| very specifications conduced to difficult
ties. In any event, President Taylor
soon had his hands full of troubles. On
July 4, 1850, he attended a ceremony
connected with the building of the
Washington Monument, felt the heat
drank much cold water, and afterWard
ate cherries and drank iced milk. That
night he was attacked by cholera NOR
bus and fever, from which he died
July 81
Next in the chronicle of Chief Ex-
ecutives who succumbed too soon was
Abraham Lincoln, the rail-splltter,
crossroads postmaster. country lawyer
who became President on March a.
1861, aged 50, and died from the ef-
| fects of an assassin's bullet fired into
his brain as he sat in box in Ford's
Theater, Tenth street, Friday evening
| April IA, 1865. The Star. issued early
| the next morning, carried upon its
| front page a full account of the
tragedy. Wilkes Booth it was reported
without equivocation, was "the one that
| shot the President"
Lincoln's Death Chronicled.
Something infinitely pathetic marked
| The Stars mirute-by minute account
| of Mr. Lincolns demise. At II o'clock,
| it explained, his pulse was Al. Five
| hours later, his respiration was 26. The
| end came at 1922 am. April IS. For
| many weeks the day-to-day annals of
| the entombment of the President, the
search for his killer. the trial and the
execution of the alleged conspirators
| filled the paper. No previous event in
| the experience of the American people
| had stirred so much attention, pro-
| voked so much reaction. Millions of
citizens, including multitude of
rebels felt that they had lost a
| personal friend. For that reason, If for
none other, Andrew johnson started
his administration under handicap.
After Is more or less tumultuous years
the tragedy was repeated-with inevi-
table variations. James Abram Gar
| field, indicted into Office on March 4,
1881, was fatally shot in the Baltimore
| and Potomac railroad station Saturday
| morning. July 2, at about $50 o'clock.
| His assailant was Charles Guiteau, al
| legedly an attorney at law with Offices
in Chicago.
Mr.. Garfield did not die immedi-
| ately. A bullet lodged between the hip
and kidney" eventually killed him, but
the end did not come until September
| 49, Hope literally ebbed and flowed
in the interim. One day the headlines
| read: Better: the next: Patient Not
So Well" When the Presidents fate
| finally was sealed, The Star reported:
| The tolling bells summoned the sleeper
| from his bed, and the mournful, musical,
solemn tones breaking the silence of
| midnight, penetrated to the cell of the
| assassin like summons to judgment. "
1t was recalled that when President
Lincoln was slain, Mr.. Garfield had
| issued a declaration reading: Fellow
citizens, God reigns and the Govern
ment at Washington still liveS!"
The same words were quoted when his
| tory was duplicated. President William
Mckinley, beloved by multitude of
his contemporaries, journeyed to Buff
| falo to take part in a ceremony con-
nected with a Pan-American Exposi-
| ton, September 6, 19O1-and ruthlessly