wayweird

 Today marks the birthday of the undisputed record holder for the shortest U.S. Presidential term ever served. In 1773 William Henry Harrison was born. On March 4, 1841 Harrison was inaugurated. Within days he caught a cold, and exactly one month later, President Harrison was dead.

On top of setting the record for the shortest time in office, Harrison’s death set up a few other firsts in American history.  He was the first president to die in office and his death caused three presidents to serve in a single calendar year (Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler), a situation which has occurred only twice. The second time was in 1881, when Rutherford B. Hayes was succeeded by James A. Garfield, who was assassinated later in that year. With the death of Garfield, Chester A. Arthur became President.

Harrison’s death exposed some shortcomings in the constitution’s clauses on presidential succession. Although the constitution said the vice president would take charge after the death of the president, it did not stipulate whether the vice president would become president, or merely acting president. Another hitch was that the constitution was not clear on whether the vice president could serve the remainder of the president’s term, until the next election, or if emergency elections should be held.

Harrison’s cabinet maintained that John Tyler was “vice president acting as president”. Only after consulting with the Chief Justice Roger Taney did they decide that if Tyler took the presidential Oath of Office he could become president in fact. Tyler obliged and was sworn in on the sixth of April.

 In May, Congress convened, and after some debate in both houses a resolution was passed that confirmed Tyler in the Presidency for the remainder of Harrison’s term. Once established, this precedent of presidential succession remained in effect until the twenty-fifth amendment was ratified in 1967.

The twenty-fifth amendment dealt with the finer points of succession by clearly defining in what situations the vice president was acting president and in what situation they could become president.

Because of his very short term President Harrison also holds the record as the only President not to appoint a single federal judge, at any level.

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