Challenge - turn assassination of Andrew Jackson into a "curse" legend

I went searching for whether there had even been a thread on it before posting. I figured I'd go with Jackson, as it's hard to get Harrison into office in 1836. Or, at least, harder.

Your challenge - create a TL as close to ours as possible (though there will be historic divergences that change history of couse - could be a faster Civil Rights movement or whatever) in which the following happens:

1. Andrew jackson is killed in 1835, as per the assassination attempt.
2. To explain the killing by an insane man, a "curse" legend is created, wherein some Indians cursed the year Jackson was elected.
3. Have that legend come true, as every president elected in a year ending in "8" dies in office.
4. Have the curse end in 1968 or 1988.
5. Have OTL historical figures - I know some on here believe in massive butterlies wherein nobody born after the POD could be born; but if you do that, you lose 3,273,925 points. :D (Number chosen at random)

1. 200 Bonus points if you can get one (and only one) president dying in a year ending in an 8 that is not elected in a year ending in "8" (a la taylor in 1850.) Yes, it could be an election year, but note #6 below.)

2. 200 Bonus points for each president who died in OTL dying in TTL. (You get a freebie in Taylor, others will be a lot harder.)

3. 250 Bonus pionts if Reagan ends the jinx in 1968.

4. 250 bonus points if you have the same number of natural deaths as assassinations. (Not counting Taylor's, since it was not an election year.)

5. 300 Bonus Points if a Vice President who becomes President in TTL threough the death of a pPresident also became President that way in OTL; *or* if you have a President who was President in OTL become President through succession in TTL. (For this one, they can be Presidents who were elected in OTL, or who came to office in OTL.) (Note - this is *not* going to be as easy as it sounds at first. But, again, you get a freebie in Fillmore.)

6. 100 pionts for each President who was elected in a 0 year and died in OTL being elected and surviving in TTL. (Trhough of course, some will be almost impossible; FDR was really sick, for instance. Though you get the bonus if he just doesn't run in '44, but that in itself will be hard. And, who awould he support.)

Now, the most important rule...

7. Have fun! It's not like I'm giong to add all this, I'm not, but I did want to establish what I'm looking for. But, this could also be very interesting; like, if Levi Morton were to become a President. What would some of these guys be like?
 
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bard32

Banned
I went searching for whether there had even been a thread on it before posting. I figured I'd go with Jackson, as it's hard to get Harrison into office in 1836. Or, at least, harder.

Your challenge - create a TL as close to ours as possible (though there will be historic divergences that change history of couse - could be a faster Civil Rights movement or whatever) in which the following happens:

1. Andrew jackson is killed in 1835, as per the assassination attempt.
2. To explain the killing by an insane man, a "curse" legend is created, wherein some Indians cursed the year Jackson was elected.
3. Have that legend come true, as every president elected in a year ending in "8" dies in office.
4. Have the curse end in 1968 or 1988.
5. Have OTL historical figures - I know some on here believe in massive butterlies wherein nobody born after the POD could be born; but if you do that, you lose 3,273,925 points. :D (Number chosen at random)

1. 200 Bonus points if you can get one (and only one) president dying in a year ending in an 8 that is not elected in a year ending in "8" (a la taylor in 1850.) Yes, it could be an election year, but note #6 below.)

2. 200 Bonus points for each president who died in OTL dying in TTL. (You get a freebie in Taylor, others will be a lot harder.)

3. 250 Bonus pionts if Reagan ends the jinx in 1968.

4. 250 bonus points if you have the same number of natural deaths as assassinations. (Not counting Taylor's, since it was not an election year.)

5. 300 Bonus Points if a Vice President who becomes President in TTL threough the death of a pPresident also became President that way in OTL; *or* if you have a President who was President in OTL become President through succession in TTL. (For this one, they can be Presidents who were elected in OTL, or who came to office in OTL.) (Note - this is *not* going to be as easy as it sounds at first. But, again, you get a freebie in Fillmore.)

6. 100 pionts for each President who was elected in a 0 year and died in OTL being elected and surviving in TTL. (Trhough of course, some will be almost impossible; FDR was really sick, for instance. Though you get the bonus if he just doesn't run in '44, but that in itself will be hard. And, who awould he support.)

Now, the most important rule...

7. Have fun! It's not like I'm giong to add all this, I'm not, but I did want to establish what I'm looking for. But, this could also be very interesting; like, if Levi Morton were to become a President. What would some of these guys be like?

Hard to say because we already have the Zero Year Curse. You know the one: Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy was elected in 1960... I can't think of anything like that.
 
Hard to say because we already have the Zero Year Curse. You know the one: Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy was elected in 1960... I can't think of anything like that.

It might be fun to contest the 2060 POTUS elections with a running mate named Johnson...
 
Hard to say because we already have the Zero Year Curse. You know the one: Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy was elected in 1960... I can't think of anything like that.

Its' tricky, I'll admit; one of those coincidences that seems rather implausible from OTL. (maybe not ASB, but "stretching it," so to speak.) One reason I said what I did regarding keeping the others alive in a scenario where all the ones elected in a year ending in 8 die, because a government with that many dying leaders would be in seirous trouble.

I might try it if there are no takers, but it'll be prety simple. Just an outline of years, basically.

I did a story with it in the year 6 maybe 15 years ago, in college. That was actually fairly easy in some parts of history, a few were already there (McKinley, FDR) and Eisenhower could have a heart attack in '57, plus Wikson's stroke, but Fremont and even Harrison in 1836 were very implausible.

A year 8 one would be very hard, though.
 
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The were several bizarre theories put forward in the late 1830's in regard to the assassination of President Andrew Jackson by Richard Lawrence. Some claimed he was paid by British Lord who lost a son in the Battle of New Orleans, others blamed members of the 2nd National Bank but strangest was that he had been cursed by the a Cherokee Shaman. Lawrence never got the chance to explain why he killed Jackson as he was shot dead by defenders of the President. Legend has it the was Davey Crocket fired the fatal shot but contemperary accounts say it was the owner of the near by saloon John Redding.

The story of the Cherokee Curse was recycled with the death of President Zachary Taylor and later Ulysses S Grant. While Grant died after leaving office he had been struggling with throat cancer in the last few months of his 2nd term.

With the tragic electricution of Benjamin Harrison after the having electric lights installed in the Whitehouse the tabloids papers had a field day. They link the fact that they had all been Generals, been elected in years ending in eight and invented a Cherokee delegate called Grey Owl. A Shaman/Chief who came to Washington to plead for his people only to turned away from seeing the President. So many letters were sent to newspapers across the country from people claiming to have witnessed the cursing or to know someone who had that Mark Twain quipped it must have been very crowd in the Mall that night.

When William Taft died in his sleep in the lead up to the 1913 election the story was given new strength. His death was consided mysterious at the time however moderm medical opinion has it that Taft who had put weight during his term office and often appeared tired, died of Sleep Apnea.
 
Good one - although I think I may have made it too tough. So, while they should be OTL historical figures, they don't have to be the same presidents who were elected in our year 8s. Although, the Benjamin Harrison one was great; I recall that he was afraid to touch the lights for fear of being eleectrocuted. (Much like some of the older generation being afraid they'll break a computer nowadays if they touch it.)

I wonder how Booth killing Grant in '69 instead of Lincoln in '65 would affect things. Presuming LIncoln serves 2 terms and things are a bit mroe moderate toward the South. IIRC, Schuyler Colfax was somewhat corrupt.

Or, have Grant die in the ACW, maybe have it end a bit early, and get Joshua Chamberlain in there; maybe pushing Civil Rights and then being shot in 1873 for his support of it. (With...who as VP? Hmmm...Hayes? Sounds logical, anyway.)
 
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