Every world leader given a pair of pandas in the 1970s fell from power.

It's one of the strangest coincidences we've seen, but in the 1970's, numerous world leaders fell from power shortly after receiving a pair of pandas. It wasn't a conspiracy plot either; the pandas were not given by any one person. It was simply a very strange repeated occurrence. 

Richard Nixon, who resigned following the Watergate scandal of 1972, had previously been given a pair of pandas named Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing. Next was Edward Heath, the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1970-1974. Though not as scandalous as Nixon's downfall, the gift of pandas Chia Chia and Ching Ching preceded Heath's failure in his reelection campaign, as well as his removal from his position as Leader of the Conservative Party in 1975. 

Kakuei Tanaka, Japan's Prime Minister, was gifted with the pandas Lan Lan and Kang Kang, and soon after it was revealed that he had accepted $1.8 million in bribes from the US Lockheed Corporation while Prime Minister, which ultimately led to his fall from power also. 

The last one, which was the real kicker, was Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. Bernhard had been one of the co-founders of the World Wildlife fund in 1961, and had produced the 1976 film “Very Important Pandas,” which had covered the above phenomenon. That same year, Bernhard was found guilty of accepting bribes from the US Lockheed Corporation like Tanaka, and as a result was stripped of his title as prince, his uniform, and was forced to resign. 

(Source)