Wounded

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

This is a summary of my research into "U.S. presidents' injuries and wounds." This includes adulthood injuries before, during, and after the time in office.

• Thomas Jefferson – Dislocated his wrist when he jumped over a fence; it wasn’t set correctly and caused pain the rest of his life.
• James Monroe – Suffered a life-threatening wound in battle during the Revolution; the bullet was never removed. In later life, he injured his wrist falling from a horse.
• Andrew Jackson – Before becoming president, survived bullet wounds when dueling or brawling, experienced lifelong pain.
• Franklin Pierce – During his military service, was injured in battle when his horse tripped and fell on him.
• Abraham Lincoln – Assassinated, shot in the head.
• Rutherford B. Hayes – Shot in the arm during a Civil War battle. Later injured when thrown from a horse.
• James Garfield – Assassinated, shot in the arm and side.
• Grover Cleveland – After a secret operation to remove an oral tumor, he suffered depression and apparent poor health the rest of his life.
• William McKinley - Assassinated, shot in the chest and stomach.
• William Howard Taft – Experienced relatively minor injuries due to several random accidents.
• Theodore Roosevelt – Survived assassination attempt, shot in chest. Seriously injured in a traffic accident that killed his bodyguard.
• Herbert Hoover – Suffer fractured vertebrae in a bathtub accident
• Franklin Roosevelt - was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down after diagnosis of polio.
• Dwight Eisenhower – Suffered a serious knee injury and infection while playing football. Re-injured the knee several times playing various sports.
• John F. Kennedy – Assassinated, shot in the head and neck. Also: Had been wounded while serving in WWII, received Purple Heart.
• Richard Nixon – While campaigning (1960), his knee was slammed by a car door, causing serious injury and infection, leading to chronic deep vein thromboses.
• Gerald Ford – Injured when an elevator door malfunctioned. Tripped and fell several times, extent of injuries (possible bruises or scrapes) unknown.
• Jimmy Carter – In his 90s, needed a hip replacement after a fall, then suffered a cut and black eye from a second fall, and a pelvic fracture from a third fall.
• Ronald Reagan – Survived assassination attempt, shot in the chest.
• George H.W. Bush – Prior to becoming president, was injured in WWII when he had to parachute out of his airplane.
• Bill Clinton – Serious knee injury from a fall.
• George W. Bush – After leaving office, suffered a facial cut and bruise when he fell after choking on food.
• Joe Biden – Had a sprained ankle and later a foot fracture, both incurred while playing with his dog. Experienced a couple of minor falls that did not cause injuries.
• donald trump – while campaigning, survived an apparent assassination attempt, claimed to have an injured ear.