William Henry Harrison
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| “ | There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power. | „ |
| ~ William Henry Harrison |
William Henry Harrison (February 9th, 1773 – April 4th, 1841) was the 9th president of the United States. He was mostly known for being the shortest lasting president, with only 31 days in office until his death on April 4, 1841. He was also a general and fought in many wars. One of the wars he was in was the War of 1812. Another war he would fight in was the Northwest Indian War which was a war between the United States and a group of natives Americans for control over the Northwest territory.
His political career started when he became the Secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1798. Two years later, in 1800, he was appointed by President John Adams to be the governor of the Indiana Territory and negotiated peace treaties with the Natives. After being Ohio’s 1st district in the House of Representatives in 1816, he was elected to the US Senate, but his Senate term ended when he was appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia in 1828.
He was nominated to the Whig Party in the 1836 election, but lost his election bid to Martin Van Buren. Four years later, in 1840, the party nominated him again with John Tyler as his running mate, under the campaign slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”. Harrison defeated Van Buren in the 1840 election, becoming the first Whig president. On March 4, 1841, he was sworn in as the ninth president and gave out a two-hour inaugural speech without wearing a raincoat and hat. Just three weeks later, on March 26, he developed a cold that turn into a typhoid fever or pneumonia. His doctors tried everything to make him recover, but none of these treatments worked. One week after becoming sick, Harrison died on April 4, 1841. As he infamously became the first president to die in office, it sparked a brief constitutional crisis. However, it was quickly resolved when his Vice President and successor John Tyler became the tenth president, but would fail to compromise with Harrison’s cabinet, the Whigs, and Congress that left him estranged from both major parties for obstructing many of Harrison’s proposals and becoming the first president to face an unsuccessful impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives.
Trivia: edit
- He served the shortest tenure as president with only 31 days in office and died one month after becoming president.
- He was the oldest president until Ronald Reagan, who was inaugurated at the age of 69 in 1981.
- However, Donald Trump took office at the age of 70 in 2017 and later Joe Biden at the age of 78 in 2021.
- He was the grandfather of future president, Benjamin Harrison.
- He was the first of only four Whig presidents, the others being John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore.
- He was the first of eight presidents to die in office, the others being Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, Warren G Harding, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.
- He was also the first of four presidents to die of natural causes in office. The others being Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Roosevelt.