The perhaps suicidal Inaugural Address

At age 68, President William Henry Harrison was at the time the oldest man ever elected President. He was among the last hope of the now defunct Whig Party. Harrison was a former Governor and a war hero who won election in the middle of a great economic crisis.

Historians and medical experts are divided as to whether it was the cause of his death, but William Henry Harrison stood outside, without an overcoat, in a cold pouring rain on March 4th, 1841 to deliver the longest Inaugural Address in history. Harrison's remarks, even after being edited by his friend Henry Clay, were two hours long.

Not long after the Inauguration Day marathon, President William Henry Harrison would become ill with a cold, and then pneumonia. Harrison succumbed to his illness on April 4th, 1841. As such the President who gave the longest Inaugural Address in history had the shortest Presidential tenure in history.

William Henry Harrison was also the first President of the United States to die in office. His Vice-President, John Tyler, set the precedent of a Vice-President actually becoming President upon the death of a President. The constitution now spells that out, but at the time, Tyler's precedent was groundbreaking to some and irritating to others. Tyler would pay a steep political price for his stand that he was in fact the President. However, his precedent became accepted upon the deaths of other Presidents until the constitution directly stated the issue.

Though William Henry Harrison led a remarkable life, it was perhaps his death that was his greatest contribution to American political life. His death set into motion the mechanics of a Vice-President actually becoming President upon the death or removal of a President that we now all accept as normal.

Just thought you might enjoy that little tidbit of Inaugural history.