The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 was not followed by his death in office , despite being seriously wounded in an assassination attempt within months of his 1981 inauguration . Days after Reagan survived the shooting , columnist Jack Anderson wrote " Reagan and the Eerie Zero Factor " and noted that the 40th president had either disproved the superstition , or had nine lives . Reagan , the oldest man to be elected President at that time , also survived treatment for colon cancer while in office . First Lady Nancy Reagan was reported to have hired psychics and astrologers to try to protect her husband from the effects of the curse . However , the Reagans ' son , Ron Reagan , revealed in his memoir that that Pres. Reagan began showing symptoms of Alzheimer ’s as early as three years into his first term as president . '' My Father at 100 : A Memoir '' ( Penguin ) Reagan left office on January 20 , 1989 , and ultimately died of pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer 's disease on June 5 , 2004 , at the age of 93
assassination attempt
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan
Curse of Tippecanoe