Top 20 Unhealthiest Presidents Ever

This son of the second American president, John Adams followed in his father’s footsteps, rising to the political position as the nation’s sixth commander-in-chief. There seemed to be another, less glamorous side of the Adams family, however, namely a history of essential tremor. John Quincy Adams inherited this neurological condition from his father, and his cousin Samuel Adams also had it. This didn’t stop John Quincy from serving his country, though, including a notable run as Secretary of State under President James Monroe. That said, John Quincy Adams had to suffer through other medical issues, as well, including depression and strokes, with one of these cerebral hemorrhages actually taking place on the floor of the House of Representatives and leading ultimately to his death.

The family of former U.S. president Benjamin Harrison retained a long history of being politically active. This legacy of activism and hard work eventually took its toll upon Harrison, with his crowded schedule and lack of sleep leading to some serious physical and mental repercussions even before he became head of state. As the country’s 23rd president, Harrison remained very much hands-on despite his previous near breakdowns, traveling in his bid efforts for foreign policy. President Harrison was sixty-seven when he passed away in his home, after a brief battle with pneumonia that was mistakenly believed to be the flu.

The presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson was notable for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the establishment of both Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. These government programs helped with offering medical care to those of advanced age and with fixed, limited incomes. Johnson himself also dealt with various ailments over the years, including issues that affected his kidneys, heart and gallbladder. Johnson suffered a massive heart attack in 1955, one that saw the future 36th President of the United States abandon his three-pack-a-day smoking habit. This commander-in-chief was also a workaholic, sleeping very little during a presidency that was thrust upon him after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

This man of few words, nicknamed “Silent Cal,” was another U.S. leader who rose to the highest office after the death of a sitting president. Calvin Coolidge took office as the 30th President of the United States after Warren G. Harding’s sudden heart attack. Coolidge, in the meantime, himself succumbed to coronary thrombosis on January 5th, 1933 at only sixty years of age. This former president didn’t exactly have the healthiest of lifestyles, particularly when it came to his palate. Calvin Coolidge was reportedly just as choosy with what he ate as he was his words, since the president largely subsisted himself upon unhealthy foods. Meanwhile, the death of his teenaged son caused Coolidge much grief and mental distress, likely causing him to suffer from depression.

The roots of Herbert Hoover’s medical history date back to his youth. This was where a future president would have to duke it out with bouts with both measles and the mumps as well as earaches, among other conditions. Things didn’t get too much easier for this 31st President of the United States once he took office, either, since Hoover faced issues such as gastrointestinal bleeding and even cirrhosis. The legacy of his presidency didn’t begin to get reappraised until the 1970s, when Hoover’s humanitarian work began to outshine the infamy of The Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover did wind up reaching ninety in his lifetime, but his struggles with internal bleeding never really went away, and he died from a hemorrhage in 1964.

There seems to be something of a trend here with regards to accidental U.S. presidents and recurring health issues. Chester A. Arthur was the Vice-President to James A. Garfield, before the latter was assassinated mere months into his first term. The new 21st President of the United States was likely already suffering from Bright’s disease when he ascended to this position, having been diagnosed very soon after. Arthur largely kept this diagnosis from the public, though there were physical signs of ill health. Today, someone like Chester A. Arthur could’ve sought medical attention for this form of kidney disease now known as Nephritis, but Bright’s was considered untreatable at the time, and Arthur only served one term from 1881 to 1885 before his death from a hemorrhagic stroke in 1886.

This fifth President of the United States was the last founding father to become head of state and one that suffered through a lot of ailments during his time in office. Much of James Monroe’s health problems probably stemmed from a visit to the Mississippi River in 1785. The president contracted malaria during this trip, an infection that Monroe struggled to shake, as it caused him multiple bouts of fever throughout his life. The president also suffered a seizure in 1825, and developed severe tuberculosis about five years later. He would die only a year later, on July 4th, 1831 from the disease and heart failure.

President James Madison was another founding father that found it difficult to stay healthy while drafting important U.S. documents like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. This reputation stemmed from his childhood, where Madison suffered bouts of depression, while living in constant fear of contagious disease. This resulted in a frail and fragile upbringing, one that stayed with Madison into adulthood. This fourth U.S. president was denied combat during the American Revolution from England, while his time in office was fraught with seizures and the continued spectres of depression from Madison’s youth.

The presidency of Bill Clinton wasn’t the first to be parodied or satirized, but it’s arguably one that saw some of the most insistent ribbing of the modern day. This stems largely from comedy programs such as “Saturday Night Live,” which delighted in referencing Clinton’s renowned penchant for fast food. There was no laughing, however, when it came to 2004 and the former president’s quadruple bypass surgery for clogged arteries. President Clinton’s heart related issues may have run hand-in-hand with his gastric appetites, but thankfully this former commander-in-chief made it out of the operating theater intact.

This next entry serves as another example of a U.S. president that possessed a noted hankering for fast food. President Donald Trump’s diet of fast food and diet soda resulted in elevated blood pressure and cholesterol levels. This forty-fifth President of the United States is also one of few to have been labeled by some as “borderline obese,” which, combined with his advanced age, places Trump in danger of heart disease. This is despite assertions from the former president’s doctor, in the wake of Trump’s 2020 fitness test, “there were no findings of significance or changes to report.”

When Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President, he was 69 years old, which at the time made him the oldest elected president in US history. As such, Reagan brought with him a host of physical maladies. For starters, he was nearsighted, a fact that kept him on the sidelines during WWII. He also had poor hearing, something that would lead to him wearing hearing aids in both of his ears for much of his time in office. In 1985, he went under the knife to remove cancer from his colon. Tack on a deteriorating memory later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s, and you have one unhealthy president.

Woodrow Wilson was America’s 28th President. He served two terms from 1913 to 1921, but before, during and after that time, battled through various health-related issues. He suffered what was to be the first of many strokes in 1896, and it hindered his ability to write for an entire year. In 1906, another stroke left him unable to see out of his left eye, and in 1919, he suffered what was to be the worst stroke to date. It paralyzed his entire left side and forced him for a time into a wheelchair. He died in 1924 after suffering, you guessed it, another stroke.

To say that William Henry Harrison was sickly upon entering office would be a gross understatement. The man would only serve as President for 31 days, dying of pneumonia on April 4th, 1841 at the age of 68. This made him the first US President to die in office and gives him the dubious distinction of having served the shortest term in US Presidential history. While there are others Presidents that suffered from different physical and mental issues that didn’t make our list, we think the fact that Harrison lasted only about a month gives him a slight edge in the unhealthiest Presidents department.

November 22, 1963 will forever live in infamy as the day America lost one of its most beloved Presidents. However, prior to that day, John F. Kennedy was far from healthy. His younger years were peppered with a plethora of physical ailments, from scarlet fever and whooping cough to pneumonia and appendicitis. Things only got worse the older Kennedy became. He was diagnosed with Addison’s disease in 1947 – a disorder whose symptoms includes chronic muscle weakness and nausea – and despite continuous treatment was unable to rid himself of the issue. Add high cholesterol, stomach and colon issues, and a penchant for Cuban cigars and you have one sick President.

America’s 34th President was also one of its unhealthiest. Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered multiple heart attacks during his time in office, which lasted from 1953 to 1961. They may have been a result of his smoking habit; and when we say habit we mean he smoked like a chimney on a cold winter’s evening. Eisenhower managed to kick the addiction, but not before being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1956. This would cause him to experience a slew of digestive issues that were only corrected after he underwent surgery later that year. Between 1955 and the year of his death, Eisenhower would endure seven heart attacks and see his gallbladder removed. So basically: not healthy.

He may be on Mount Rushmore, but certainly not for his health! As a child, Roosevelt suffered from crippling asthma attacks, of which there was no cure. He was quite nearsighted and eventually lost much of his vision. In 1912, he was on the wrong end of an assassin’s bullet and it remained lodged in his chest for the rest of his life. Then in 1913, while on a trip in South America, Roosevelt got malaria. Coupled with a host of other physical ailments he received on the same trip, Roosevelt barely made it home in one piece. He died a few years later at the age of 60.

America’s seventh President, Andrew Jackson served from 1829 until 1837. During the American Revolution, a teen-aged Jackson was stricken with smallpox after being caught by the British and thrown in prison. Later in life, the infamously duel-crazy Jackson was shot multiple times by opponents - including one bullet to the chest that stayed lodged there till the day he died. As might be expected, he was in constant pain for the rest of his life. Jackson also suffered from both dysentery and malaria, and was addicted to alcohol and tobacco. It also has been suggested that he suffered from lead and mercury poisoning. So yeah…not exactly healthy by modern standards.

Yet another President who died while still in office, Warren G. Harding passed away on August 2nd, 1923, just two years into his term. He’d long suffered from various health issues such as high blood pressure, and was known to regularly indulge in cigars, alcohol, and chewing tobacco. This caused him to develop a number of heart-related problems, which ultimately led to his fatal 1923 heart attack. Harding had also contracted influenza some months before his death, and it is said that he never truly recovered from it.

William Howard Taft is the fattest President to have ever occupied the oval office, weighing in at over 330 pounds. His obesity caused him to suffer from sleep apnea, which led to him dozing off in meetings, conversations, and occasionally, while eating. He’d later be hit with gout in both of his feet, which causes the feet to swell and become stiff. Despite attempts to reduce his weight, Taft was never able to truly shed the pounds, and at the time of his death he still weighed a considerable 280.

Much like our previous entry, Grover Cleveland struggled with weight problems for much of his life, and was stricken by gout. Much of this was due to his love of food, alcohol, and cigars, the latter of which would cause him to develop carcinoma on the roof of his mouth and which would later require surgery to remove. Cleveland, who served as both the 22nd and 24th President, openly despised exercise and once said, “Bodily movement alone . . . is among the dreary and unsatisfying things of life." Suffice it to say, Cleveland was far from a picture of health.

Are you passionate about obscure presidential trivia? Feel like defending the legacies of any maligned commanders-in-chief? Please do so (politely!) in the comments below!