The president is dead! : the extraordinary stories of the presidential deaths, final days, burials, and beyond

A fun, anecdote-filled, encyclopedic look at the circumstances surrounding the deaths of every president and a few "almost presidents," such as Jefferson Davis. Packed with captivating stories and presidential trivia, The President Is Dead! tells you everything you could possibly want to know about how our presidents, from George Washington to Gerald Ford (who was the most recent president to die), met their ends, the circumstances of their deaths, the pomp of their funerals, and their public afterlives, including stories of attempted grave robbings, reinterments, vandalism, conspiracy theories surrounding their deaths, and much more. The President Is Dead! is filled with never-before-told stories, including a suggestion by one prominent physician to resurrect George Washington from death by transfusing his body with lamb's blood. You may have heard of a plot to rob Abraham Lincoln's body from its grave site, but did you know that there was also attempts to steal Benjamin Harrison's and Andrew Jackson's remains? The book also includes "Critical Death Information," which prefaces each chapter, and a complete visitor's guide to each grave site and death-related historical landmark. An "Almost Presidents" section includes chapters on John Hanson (first president under the Articles of Confederation), Sam Houston (former president of the Republic of Texas), David Rice Atchison (president for a day), and Jefferson Davis. Exhaustively researched, The President Is Dead! is richly layered with colorful facts and entertaining stories about how the presidents have passed. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. •Updated Edition• A fun, anecdote-filled, encyclopedic look at the circumstances surrounding the deaths of every president and a few “almost presidents,” such as Jefferson Davis. Packed with fun facts and presidential trivia, The President Is Dead! tells you everything you could possibly want to know about how our presidents, from George Washington to George H. W. Bush (who was the most recent president to die), met their ends, the circumstances of their deaths, the pomp of their funerals, and their public afterlives, including stories of attempted grave robbings, reinterments, vandalism, conspiracy theories surrounding their deaths, and much more.The President Is Dead! is filled with never-before-told stories, including a suggestion by one prominent physician to resurrect George Washington from death by transfusing his body with lamb's blood. You may have heard of a plot to rob Abraham Lincoln's body from its grave site, but did you know that there was also attempts to steal Benjamin Harrison's and Andrew Jackson's remains? The book also includes “Critical Death Information,” which prefaces each chapter, and a complete visitor's guide to each grave site and death-related historical landmark. An “Almost Presidents” section includes chapters on John Hanson (first president under the Articles of Confederation), Sam Houston (former president of the Republic of Texas), David Rice Atchison (president for a day), and Jefferson Davis. Exhaustively researched, The President Is Dead! is richly layered with colorful facts and entertaining stories about how the presidents have passed. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. Part I. Bloodletting and blistering George Washington: December 14, 1799 Thomas Jefferson: July 4, 1826 John Adams: July 4, 1826 James Monroe: July 4, 1831 James Madison: June 28, 1836 William Henry Harrison: April 4, 1841 Andrew Jackson: June 8, 1845 John Quincy Adams: February 23, 1848 James Knox Polk: June 15, 1849 Zachary Taylor: July 9, 1850 Part II. The deadliest decade John Tyler: January 18, 1862 Martin Van Buren: July 24, 1862 Abraham Lincoln: April 15, 1865 James Buchanan: June 1, 1868 Franklin Pierce: October 8, 1869 Part III. Through the end of the Victorian Era Millard Fillmore: March 8, 1874 Andrew Johnson: July 31, 1875 James Abram Garfield: September 19, 1881 Ulysses Simpson Grant: July 23, 1885 Chester Alan Arthur: November 18, 1886 Rutherford Birchard Hayes: January 17, 1893 Benjamin Harrison: March 13, 1901 Part IV. Evolution of the mega funeral William McKinley: September 14, 1901 Grover Cleveland: June 24, 1908 Theodore Roosevelt: January 6, 1919 Warren Gamaliel Harding: August 2, 1923 Woodrow Wilson: February 3, 1924 William Howard Taft: March 8, 1930 Calvin Coolidge: January 5, 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt: April 12, 1945 John Fitzgerald Kennedy: November 22, 1963 Part V. Pomp, circumstance, and predictability Herbert Clark Hoover: October 20, 1964 Dwight David Eisenhower: March 28, 1969 Harry S Truman: December 26, 1972 Lyndon Baines Johnson: January 22, 1973 Richard Milhous Nixon: April 22, 1994 Ronald Wilson Reagan: June 5, 2004 Gerald Rudolph Ford: December 26, 2006 Presidents still with us Part VI. Almost presidents John Hanson, first president under the Articles of Confederation: November 22, 1783 Sam Houston, twice president of the Republic of Texas: July 26, 1863 David Rice Atchison, president for a day: January 26, 1886 Jefferson Finis Davis, only president of the Confederate States of America: December 6, 1889.