THE CURSE OF THE PROPHET

Indian Lore:
     According to many American Indians the Shawnee shaman, or medicine man,
known as the Prophet placed a curse on William Henry Harrison and his
government after the Battle of the Thames, in which his brother, the
Shawnee chief Tecumseh, was killed.

History:
     In 1801 President John Adams appointed William Harrison Governor of
Indian Territory, publicly charged him with protecting the rights of the
Indians, but privately with taking their lands to expedite white
settlement. The Indians resisted and eventually joined forces with the
British. In the War of 1812, Harrison, promoted to Major General, recaptured
Detroit from the British, and in October 1813, defeated them and their
Indian allies, led by the Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, and his brother, the
Prophet, in the Battle of the Thames, in Canada.
     When William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840, he died
within a month after taking office. Since that time every U.S. President
elected in a year divisible by 20 has died in office.
     1840  William Henry Harrison
     1860  Abraham Lincoln
     1880  James Garfield
     1900  William McKinley
     1920  Warren Harding
     1940  Franklin D. Roosevelt
     1960  John F. Kennedy

     1980  Ronald Reagan ? ? ?

     Is it Ronald Reagan's destiny to fullfill the curse, sometimes known as
"The Indians' Revenge"? Will Reagan break the pattern of history?
     Consider the following:
1.  R. Reagan is the oldest President ever.
2.  Reagan has had small cancer growths removed.
3.  Reagan favors changing the law that restricts Presidents to 2 terms. Should
the Republicans gain control of Congress in the 1986 elections will
they change the law? Reagan says he does not want to run again in 1988, but
if the law is changed would he run?

     Is it curse or coincidence that every President, beginning with
Harrison elected in a year ending with a zero, has died in office?
     What do you predict for Ronald Reagan?

5-4-86/rle