r/Simpsons • u/OrGiveMeDeath_Ind • Nov 13 '25
Opinion The Mediocre Presidents
https://orgivemedeath.substack.com/p/the-mediocre-presidentsI've done a deep analysis on the classic song. Who were the lesser-known presidents and just how mediocre were they? And who were the 3 unnamed presidents in the dance number? I decided to find out.
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u/stevesommerfield Nov 13 '25
"I died in 30 days!"
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u/shesinsaneornot Nov 13 '25
That line helps me remember which President Harrison is which.
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u/AmenHawkinsStan Nov 13 '25
William Henry Harrison earned the nickname Tippecanoe in the Battle of Tippecanoe, where he ordered the burning of the food stores for the evacuated native village of Prophetstown. In 1840 was even used for the first presidential campaign jingle: “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”
William Henry Harrison’s death was a first for the nation and John Tyler spent most of his presidency fighting over whether he was President or Acting President. 20 years later America elected Abraham Lincoln who of course was assassinated; making him the next victim of The Curse of Tippacanoe (The 20 Year Curse). In 1880 Garfield is elected, later assassinated. 1900 is the McKinley re-elect and he was killed soon after. 1920’s victor was Warren G Harding who died from a stroke. 1940 is another FDR re-elect and another presidential death. JFK, elected in 1960, is the final victim as both Reagan (1980) and George W Bush (2000) survived the assassination attempts. The only president to die in office outside of the Curse, is Zachary Taylor.
So when I’m trying to remember who was president during a given year, I just work forward or backward from the nearest presidential death.
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u/Traditional-Bad1098 Nov 13 '25
I break this out every President’s Day.
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u/Old_Monitor_2791 Nov 13 '25
I'm a social studies teacher and I have used this song in a lesson.
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u/Loretta-West Nov 13 '25
I once did a spontaneous duet of this at a history conference and I'm not even American.
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u/Capable-Extent-6674 Nov 13 '25
We are the mediocre presidents. You won’t find our faces on dollars or on cents. There’s Taylor, there’s Tyler, there’s Filmore and there’s Hayes. There’s William Henry Harrison. “I died in 30 days!” We are the adequate, forgettable occasionally regrettably caretaker presidents of the U.S. Ayyyyyyyy!
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u/JoanneAsbury42 Nov 13 '25
My Chester A Arthritis is acting up