Presidents’ Day honors the 45 men who have served as the nation’s top leader. At least seven U.S. presidents have been diagnosed with cancer, and some experts think there may be more undiagnosed cases. To mark Presidents’ Day, let’s look at some of these stories.
The first President with a publicly disclosed cancer diagnosis was Ulysses S. Grant. About eight years after leaving office, Grant began experiencing a sore throat and difficulty eating. In 1884, he was diagnosed with carcinoma of the tonsillar pillar, a type of oropharyngeal cancer that develops in the tonsils. Doctors recommended that Grant cut back to three cigars a day, and treatment consisted of cocaine and a derivative of chloroform. Grant died from cancer on July 23, 1885, less than one year after diagnosis, and just thirteen and a half months after first experiencing symptoms.
President Grover Cleveland also had oral cancer, like Grant. In 1893, soon after starting his second term, he noticed a rough spot on the roof of his mouth. His White House doctor removed some tissue in June 1893 and sent it for testing without revealing who the patient was. When the results showed cancer, Cleveland worried that news of his illness might hurt the country’s economy. To keep it secret, he and his doctors arranged for six surgeons to remove the tumor on a yacht, while the public thought he was on a fishing trip. The operation was a success, and Cleveland lived for another 15 years, passing away in 1908 with no sign of cancer.
Four presidents have had skin cancer, with three cases being non-melanoma types. Lyndon B. Johnson was diagnosed during his first full term and kept his basal cell epithelioma diagnosis private. He had this cancer and some other harmless skin growths removed. The United States Navy performed the surgery in 1967 but did not reveal Johnson’s diagnosis until 1973, four years after he died. Ronald Reagan was treated for basal cell carcinoma while in office in 1985. The spot was removed in a simple surgery, and he needed no further treatment. President Joe Biden also had basal cell carcinoma removed surgically in 2025, soon after leaving office. He was later diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, which is being treated with hormone therapy and other methods.
Jimmy Carter shared his stage IV melanoma diagnosis thirty-five years after leaving office. The cancer had spread to his liver and brain. In 2015, he received radiation and immunotherapy, and was declared disease-free just four months later. Carter passed away at age 100 on December 29, 2024.
In addition to skin cancer, Reagan had colon cancer while in office. Besides skin cancer, Ronald Reagan also had colon cancer while he was president. The cancer was removed with surgery in 1985. President Herbert Hoover developed colon cancer nearly thirty years after leaving office and also had surgery to remove it.
The stigma associated with poor health may have led other Presidents to hide their disease from the public, like Presidents Cleveland and Johnson. Further, if modern advances in cancer diagnosis may have come along earlier in the nation’s history, it is likely that more Presidents may have had cancer diagnoses. For example, some evidence suggests that George Washington had undiagnosed skin cancer and Thomas Jefferson had undiagnosed prostate cancer.
Sources: Am J Surg, Smithsonian Magazine, J Oral Maxillofac Surg, NPR, New York Times, US World News, Washington Post, Onco Daily, Am Surgeon
