It was 4 April 1841 that America learned that the nation's ninth president, William Henry Harrison, had died of pneumonia and pleurisy. It would be difficult to say that a nation mourned – although it presumably mourned a little – since Harrison had been president for only 30 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes. He spent much of his presidency in bed with a cold.

At the time Harrison was said to have caught his cold from insisting on standing outside in freezing weather during his inauguration ceremony without wearing a coat, because he wanted to show how tough he was. He then gave a two-hour long inauguration address, the longest on record.

In other words, the only official duty he actually performed – being inaugurated – during his presidency he managed to cock up so badly that it probably contributed to his death. And people said George Bush was stupid.



Harrison's political popularity derived from his being a "war hero", which at that point in American history generally meant killing native Americans, a feat Harrison managed somehow at the battle of Moraviantown, during the War of 1812 – which itself was one of the stupidest wars fought by two nations.

As a result of Harrison's military campaign the US recaptured Detroit, for which America remains eternally grateful.

Harrison's untimely death imparted the nation's leadership to vice president, John Tyler. After managing to survive his own inauguration Tyler did little else that went right and was nicknamed "His Accidency". For more information see Tyler's Wikipedia entry, which contains such details as:

The last year of Tyler's presidency was marred by a freak accident that killed two of his Cabinet members.

Later, Tyler had the distinction of being the only former US president to side with the Confederacy during the Civil War. There was a man who could pick winners.

And all of this thanks to William Henry Harrison not wearing a coat, or moving the inauguration inside as Ronald Reagan did when it got too cold.