How many US presidents have died in office? Full list, causes of death and dates
Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States. Out of these 46 leaders, several have been unable to see their term through to the end.
There have been 46 presidents in the history of the United States, including the incumbent, Joe Biden.
Several of these leaders did not live to see the end of their term, either because they perished from natural causes, or were killed by an assassin’s hand.
How many US presidents have died in office? Full list, causes of death and dates
Out of all those who have served as president of the United States, eight have died while in office, four of them by assassination. In each of these cases where a president died, the vice-president took over the country’s leadership.
READ ALSO: All the presidents’ codenames
Death by assassination
The most publicized death of an incumbent United States president is also the most recent. Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed John F. Kennedy during a presidential motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963.
READ ALSO: Jury in Trump’s NY hush money trial to begin deliberations
Perhaps the second-most famous death of a serving president was that of Abraham Lincoln, whose manner of dying has certain parallelisms with that of Kennedy. John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865, and the president died the next day. It was the first instance of a president getting assassinated while in office.
On July 2, 1881, James Garfield was shot in Washington D.C. by Charles Guiteau, who was hanged for his crime. Garfield survived the assassination attempt but died from his wounds two months later.
The other president who was killed was William McKinley. Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot him in Buffalo, New York, and McKinley died from his wounds eight days later.
READ ALSO: Preparations for possible Trump guilty verdict in NY
Death by natural causes
Two presidents actually died in the White House. William Henry Harrison died at the presidential residence on April 4, 1841, only a month after he was inaugurated. He was initially believed to have died from pneumonia, but more recent research suggests he was killed by typhoid or enteric fever.
Zachary Taylor was the other president who also died in the White House. He passed away on July 9, 1850 after suffering from a stomach ailment that was probably cholera or another gastrointestinal illness.
Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack on August 2, 1923, while Franklin Delano Roosevelt succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945.
| NAME | CAUSE OF DEATH | DATE | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Henry Harrison | Complications from pneumonia or typhoid fever | April 4, 1841 | 68 |
| Zachary Taylor | Stomach illness | July 9, 1850 | 65 |
| Abraham Lincoln | Shot by John Wilkes Booth | April 15, 1865 | 56 |
| James A. Garfield | Shot by Charles J. Guiteau | September 19, 1881 | 49 |
| William McKinley | Shot by Leon Czolgosz | September 14, 1901 | 58 |
| Warren G. Harding | Heart attack | August 2, 1923 | 57 |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | Cerebral hemorrhage | April 12, 1945 | 63 |
| John F. Kennedy | Shot by Lee Harvey Oswald | November 22, 1963 | 46 |