Presidential Suicide?

[Mike!]

I was reading this thread... http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239474 and while trying to think up a tasteful way to make a joke along the line of "too bad he went and shot himself..." That thought took off like a well propelled ping pong ball, bouncing around and about in my head, which led to the thought of Presidential Suicide. Not political suicide. No real, kill ones self suicide, and the repercussions of such an extrodinary and unexpected event. I mean, of course we've had Presidents die in office before. Both from illness and direct assassination, but how would a nation respond to the news that it's President had taken his own life? I've known and had friends that have taken that unfortunate course of action and I have yet to wrap my poor tiny mind around the idea at all. But that's not related to this thought, although a recent class reunion and that topic were one of the things the ball bounced off of...
What are your thoughts? How would the nation and the world react?

 

[Rolfe]

President of where?

Rolfe.

 

[ginjawarrior]

I was reading this thread... http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239474 and while trying to think up a tasteful way to make a joke along the line of "too bad he went and shot himself..." That thought took off like a well propelled ping pong ball, bouncing around and about in my head, which led to the thought of Presidential Suicide. Not political suicide. No real, kill ones self suicide, and the repercussions of such an extrodinary and unexpected event. I mean, of course we've had Presidents die in office before. Both from illness and direct assassination, but how would a nation respond to the news that it's President had taken his own life? I've known and had friends that have taken that unfortunate course of action and I have yet to wrap my poor tiny mind around the idea at all. But that's not related to this thought, although a recent class reunion and that topic were one of the things the ball bounced off of...
What are your thoughts? How would the nation and the world react?

Not sure apart from conspiracy theories and that You'd get an increase in suicide rates due to Werther effect.

 

[BStrong]

I was reading this thread... http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239474 and while trying to think up a tasteful way to make a joke along the line of "too bad he went and shot himself..." That thought took off like a well propelled ping pong ball, bouncing around and about in my head, which led to the thought of Presidential Suicide. Not political suicide. No real, kill ones self suicide, and the repercussions of such an extrodinary and unexpected event. I mean, of course we've had Presidents die in office before. Both from illness and direct assassination, but how would a nation respond to the news that it's President had taken his own life? I've known and had friends that have taken that unfortunate course of action and I have yet to wrap my poor tiny mind around the idea at all. But that's not related to this thought, although a recent class reunion and that topic were one of the things the ball bounced off of...
What are your thoughts? How would the nation and the world react?

If such an event occured in the U.S. I doubt that the facts would be released, unless the first family went public.

 

[Mike!]

President of where?

Rolfe.

Well, I guess it can go any way here. Of course, I'm in the U.S. and as such I'm an ego centric jerk who thinks there's only one president in the whole world at any given time. So my thought, while not stated at the time of writing the OP, was about the United States President, BUT, the idea applies across border lines in general too.
But, for simple clarity, let's say it's the U. S. President, just to keep things going.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

Even just the untimely death of a well loved public figure can have an effect on the suicide rate:

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/177/5/463.long




I love those rare occasions where I can pimp my own research.

 

[The Dark Lord]

I dunno. I think that anybody that becomes President loves himself far too much to kill himself.

 

[Vortigern99]

Suicide has indicators, such as depression, joblessness, a string of personal failures, isolation from friends and loved ones... none of which is shared by presidents of any nation.

So, no. It couldn't happen, or is extremely unlikely to happen to the point that discussion is, well, pointless.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

Suicide has indicators, such as depression, joblessness, a string of personal failures, isolation from friends and loved ones... none of which is shared by presidents of any nation.

So, no. It couldn't happen, or is extremely unlikely to happen to the point that discussion is, well, pointless.

Not necessarily true. Although all of those things increase the risk of suicide, none of them are prerequisites.

Although he didn't kill himself, Winston Churchill suffered from quite severe depressions and probably suffered from bipolar disorder. The suicide rate of people with bipolar disorder is about 20 times the rate in the general population.

This book might be of interest:

If you think about the challenges facing the men and women running for president, you might think about travel, long hours, endless public scrutiny and complete erosion of privacy. The reward that waits after victory is more pressure: a huge weight of responsibility. It's hard not to wonder who would actually want that job.

Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, who runs the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, has an answer. In his new book, A First Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness, Ghaemi lays out the argument that leaders with some mental illnesses, particularly mania or depression, are often better in times of crisis.

Ghaemi came to that conclusion after studying the lives and medical records of many great leaders, and found that quite a few — from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King Jr. — had some form of mental illness.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/20/139681339/madness-and-leadership-hand-in-hand

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/15...17145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=1594202958

 

[ddt]

Well, I guess it can go any way here. Of course, I'm in the U.S. and as such I'm an ego centric jerk who thinks there's only one president in the whole world at any given time. So my thought, while not stated at the time of writing the OP, was about the United States President, BUT, the idea applies across border lines in general too.
But, for simple clarity, let's say it's the U. S. President, just to keep things going.

Wouldn't that depend strongly on the circumstances? I'd guess that a good deal of the nation would had thought "good riddance" if Nixon had done so after Watergate had been exposed. If, OTOH, a well-beloved and respected president would do so it would be an entirely different matter.

 

[ddt]

Suicide has indicators, such as depression, joblessness, a string of personal failures, isolation from friends and loved ones... none of which is shared by presidents of any nation.

So, no. It couldn't happen, or is extremely unlikely to happen to the point that discussion is, well, pointless.

You forgot suicide for reason of disgrace.

 

[angrysoba]

Suicide has indicators, such as depression, joblessness, a string of personal failures, isolation from friends and loved ones... none of which is shared by presidents of any nation.

So, no. It couldn't happen, or is extremely unlikely to happen to the point that discussion is, well, pointless.

You forgot suicide for reason of disgrace.

Or a president may commit suicide rather than face the aftermath of a coup.

Salvador Allende committed suicide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Allende#Death

I'm sure there are also several other incidents of heads of state or presidents doing away with themselves.

 

[ddt]

Or a president may commit suicide rather than face the aftermath of a coup.

Salvador Allende committed suicide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Allende#Death

I'm sure there are also several other incidents of heads of state or presidents doing away with themselves.

Good one. Of course, I grew up with the version he was assassinated.

Antonio Guzmán Fernández of the Dominican Republic is another one. There's a whole wiki category of politicians who committed suicide.

 

[angrysoba]

Roh Myun Hoo committed suicide not long after leaving office.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roh_Moo-hyun

I don't know why it would be inconceivable that someone could commit suicide while in office?

 

[angrysoba]

Good one. Of course, I grew up with the version he was assassinated.

Antonio Guzmán Fernández of the Dominican Republic is another one. There's a whole wiki category of politicians who committed suicide.

Some good examples. As for Allende, whether he killed himself or not may have been academic if he was going to be assassinated anyway. I suppose we can never know the answer to that.

 

[shemp]

Did John F. Kennedy Commit Suicide?

 

[ddt]

Some good examples. As for Allende, whether he killed himself or not may have been academic if he was going to be assassinated anyway. I suppose we can never know the answer to that.

I have not a shimmer of doubt that if he had not committed suicide, the Pinochet regime would have killed Allende, probably after some extensive and excruciating torture. They killed thousands and thousands of political opponents, would they really have left the main one alive?

 

[Manopolus]

Suicide has indicators, such as depression, joblessness, a string of personal failures, isolation from friends and loved ones... none of which is shared by presidents of any nation.

So, no. It couldn't happen, or is extremely unlikely to happen to the point that discussion is, well, pointless.

Actually, Abe Lincoln was chronically depressed, by all accounts...

 

[Mike!]

Actually, Abe Lincoln was chronically depressed, by all accounts...

It was the vampires.

On my topic, thanks for all the information PY. I didn't know anything about the suicides after Diana was killed. Interesting. Pimp away!

Wouldn't that depend strongly on the circumstances? I'd guess that a good deal of the nation would had thought "good riddance" if Nixon had done so after Watergate had been exposed. If, OTOH, a well-beloved and respected president would do so it would be an entirely different matter.

You forgot suicide for reason of disgrace.

Nixon was a president I had in mind as I thought about this. Couldn't you just see him on TV one last time, "Take a good look America. You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more!" BLAM. In some alternate reality, that happened. I'm sure of it.

 

[crimresearch]

Suicide has indicators, such as depression, joblessness, a string of personal failures, isolation from friends and loved ones... none of which is shared by presidents of any nation.

So, no. It couldn't happen, or is extremely unlikely to happen to the point that discussion is, well, pointless.

Was Mike Boorda jobless after a string of failures? Did Churchill commit suicide?

Suicides have a matrix of indicators in hindsight, they have little predictive value against the epidemic.

On the OP, it is somewhat of an anomaly that a US President hasn't fallen into that subset of the population.