Surprising Details About US Presidents And Their Superstitions

Red carnations were President William McKinley's favorite flower, and he wore one on the lapel of his suit regularly. McKinley believed red carnations brought him luck, a notion linked to his victory in a bid for the US Congress in 1876. The red carnations were provided by Dr. Levi Lamborn, who also believed they gave McKinley an advantage when speaking in front of a crowd. McKinley kept on wearing red carnations through his rise to the presidency. On the day he was shot in September 1901, McKinley was also wearing a red carnation, but took it out of his lapel and gave it to a young girl in the audience. Moments later, Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley and, eight days later on September 14, the President of the United States died of his wounds. Lamborn was instrumental in the effort for McKinley's home state of Ohio adopt red carnations as the state flower in 1904.

When Harry S. Truman was born in 1884 in Lamar, MO, his father, John, nailed a horseshoe over the front door of their home as a way of marking the occasion. This could have influenced Truman's decision that a horseshoe be placed over the door to his office of the White House. Horseshoes were believed to bring lucky and, when hung over a doorway, keep evil spirits from crossing the threshold. Truman had a pretty big affinity for horseshoes as a game, it seems. He installed a horseshoe pitch on the grounds of the White House and could be seen using it often. He also received letters inviting him to throw horseshoes at various horseshoe clubs around the country.

Fear of the number 13, called triskaidekaphobia, was something with which President Franklin D. Roosevelt grappled. He actively avoided traveling on any Friday - whether it was the 13th or not - and refused to have 13 lunch or dinner guests. Long becoming president, Roosevelt believed in lucky objects, specifically hats. After Roosevelt avoided a head injury thanks to his brown felt hat in 1910, he kept wearing it no matter how tattered it looked. When a reporter asked him about the hat, Roosevelt said, Don't you make fun of this old hate of mine. I have a peculiar superstition about hats. Observers have noted that Roosevelt apparently evaded 13 even in death. He died on April 12, 1945 - a Thursday.

The number 13 has negative associations for a lot of people but, for President Woodrow Wilson, it was the luckiest number of all. He said at one point, “Thirteen is my lucky number... It is curious how the figure 13 has followed me through life, and it has never brought bad fortune." Wilson reportedly stopped using his given name, Thomas, so his full name would be 13 letters. Even the media noticed his name after Wilson won the presidency and took office in 1913. More connections Wilson to the number 13, per the Times Herald in January 1913, included: • Years at Princeton when chosen president of University • President of Princeton University • Is the total of the numerals 1 9 1 2, the year of his nomination. • January is the date for the meeting of the Electoral College. • Letters in the name of Mrs. Wilson - Eleanor Wilson. • Letters in the name of his daughter, Jessie W. Wilson. • Letters in the name of his daughter - Eleanor Wilson. • Children born on election day named for him.

After Senator Barack Obama ran for the presidency in 2008, he noticed a trend. While out on the campaign trail, he realized that playing basketball seemed to coincide with election-day victories. According to NBC Chicago, Obama didn't play basketball on the day of the New Hampshire primary, which he lost, an omission he didn't make again. Obama kept playing basketball on election days, notably hitting the court with former Chicago Bull Scottie Pippen on November 6, 2012. At the time, The Chicago Tribune reported: At around 1 p.m., Obama's motorcade arrived at the Hope Athletic Center on Chicago's West Side, where the president played basketball with staff and friends. Former Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias tweeted that he was playing on a team with Obama and former Bulls Pippen and Randy Brown. A White House spokeswoman confirmed that Obama also played with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Reggie Love, Mike Ramos and Marty Nesbitt. In 2008, Obama played basketball with aides before winning the kickoff Iowa caucuses. The president and his aides decided to make the games an Election Day tradition after they lost the next contest - the New Hampshire primary - on a day when they didn't hit the court.

President Ronald Reagan's superstitions have been conflated with the attention his wife, Nancy, paid to astrologer Joan Quigley during his presidency. Reagan was no stranger to superstitions and may have dabbled in astrology, too. He said in May 1988, I've not tied my life by it, but I won't answer the question the other way because I don't know enough about it to say, is there something to it or not. Reagan also admitted that he and his wife turned “to what [astrologer Carrol Righter] had to say” in her syndicated column each day when he was governor of California. That said, his administration denied that the Reagans let astrology influence any decision they made during Ronald's presidency, after former staffers claimed it did. Reagan carried a lucky coin and gold charm with him in his pocket each day. Former Chief of Staff Donald Regan also said Reagan threw salt over his left shoulder before meals - and not just when it had been spilled.

Numerous sources claim President Donald Trump's rituals, behaviors, and decisions have been informed by superstitions. In 2025, for example, Trump announced “Liberation Day” on April 2nd - intentionally delaying so it didn't coincide with April Fools Day on the first. He admitted as much when he said: I have to tell you that, you know, on April 2, I was going to do it on April 1… But I'm a little bit superstitious, I made it April 2, the tariffs go on. Not all of them but a lot of them. In Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency, authors Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie (both former campaign staffers) wrote: You might not know it from looking at him, but Donald Trump is one of the most superstitious men that most people have ever met. Sometimes, he'll throw salt over his shoulder before he eats… he believes that some people, usually ones with low energy, carry bad luck and need to be avoided at all costs. Not willing to tempt bad luck, Trump avoided “bad juju” and regularly said, "‘Don’t jinx me.'"