Some records you'd rather not hold. William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, owns two of the most famous in presidential history. He gave the longest inaugural address ever, and he served the shortest term of any president.
Here's the short answer. On March 4, 1841, Harrison delivered an 8,445-word inaugural address that took nearly two hours to read, on a cold, wet day, without a hat or overcoat. He fell ill a few weeks later and died on April 4, just 31 days into his presidency. People long blamed the inauguration weather, but a modern analysis points to a different likely cause.
The Marathon Speech
Harrison was a famous military hero, nicknamed Old Tippecanoe after an 1811 battle. His campaign slogan, Tippecanoe and Tyler Too, is still remembered today. At his inauguration, he wanted to show he was still a tough war hero, and also a more educated and thoughtful man than his opponents had portrayed.
So he braved the chilly weather, skipped the coat and hat, and rode to the ceremony on horseback. His speech ran 8,445 words, and that was after his friend Daniel Webster had edited it for length. Then he rode in the inaugural parade, stood in a three-hour receiving line at the White House, and attended three inaugural balls that evening.
A Month in Office
The weeks that followed were exhausting. A constant stream of people seeking government jobs wore him down, and he kept a busy social schedule. He also often went out in the cold without proper clothing.
On March 24, he took his usual morning walk to local markets, again without a coat or hat, and got caught in a rainstorm. A couple of days later he developed cold-like symptoms. His doctor tried the treatments of the day, including bloodletting, and diagnosed pneumonia. Harrison died on April 4, 1841, the first president to die in office.
Was the Speech Really to Blame?
For many years, the popular story was that his long speech in the cold rain gave him the illness that killed him. That was the main theory at the time too.
But in 2014, researchers Jane McHugh and Philip Mackowiak took a fresh look at the doctor's notes. They also noted that the White House water supply at the time was downstream of public sewage. Their conclusion was that Harrison likely died of septic shock from enteric fever, meaning typhoid or a similar illness. If they're right, the speech may have been tiring, but it probably wasn't the culprit.
A Constitutional Puzzle
Harrison's death created a problem nobody had faced before. The Constitution was unclear about whether a vice president fully became president or merely acted as one. After a brief succession crisis, Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency, setting an important precedent.
Harrison has other claims to fame, too. He was the last president born before the Declaration of Independence, making him a British subject at birth. And his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, became the 23rd president.
So the next time someone tells you a speech ran long, you can smile and mention William Henry Harrison. His record for the longest inaugural address still stands, nearly two centuries later. And so does the legend about the cold, even if science now suggests the water was the bigger danger.
