William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the 9th president of the United States. His nickname was "Old Tippecanoe," and he was a well-respected war veteran. Harrison served the shortest term of any president, exactly one month.William Henry Harrison  at White House.gov

He was elected president in 1840 and took the oath of office on March 4, 1841. His inauguration speech lasted an hour and forty minutes. He caught a serious case of pneumonia and on April 4, he died. He was the first president to die in office.

Harrison was the oldest president to take office, at 68 years and 23 days, until the record was broken in 1981 by Ronald Reagan, who became president at the age of 69. He was the last president to be born before the Declaration of Independence.

His grandson was the 23rd president, Benjamin Harrison.

Early life
Harrison was born on February 9, 1773 and is the youngest of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Bassett's seven children. They lived in Berkeley Plantation, in Charles City County, Virginia.

His father was a planter and a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1777),  signed the Declaration of Independence, and was the governor of Virginia between 1781 and 1784.

William's older brother Carter Bassett Harrison would be elected a representative of Virginia in the US House of Representatives.

In 1787, William attended the Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College from 1787 to 1790. He was fluent in Latin and French.

Marriage and family
Harrison married Anna Symmes in 1795.They had ten children.

Presidency
He was elected as president in 1840, the last one to be born as a British subject or before the Declaration of Independence.

He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841. His inaugural address was the longest in American history, at 8,460 words and lasting almost two hours.

Harrison's inaugural address was a detailed statement of the Whig Party's agenda, mainly opposition to the policies of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.

Harrison promised to re-establish the Bank of the United States and to extend its maximum amount for credit by issuing paper currency, as Henry Clay supported .

Harrison was the president with the shortest term in office by serving only 30 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes.

Illness and death
On March 26, 1841, Harrison became ill with a cold. His illness was believed to have been caused by the bad weather at the inauguration, which was on a cold and wet day.

The cold worsened and quickly turned to pneumonia and pleurisy. He tried to rest in the White House but could not find a quiet room because of the crowd of office-seekers. His very busy social schedule made it harder for him to have time to rest.

His doctors tried cures of applying opium, castor oil, leeches, and Virginia snakeweed, but the treatments only made him worse, and he became restless.

Harrison died on his 32nd day as president, on April 4, 1841, at 12:30 a.m. of pneumonia, jaundice, and septicima. He was 68 years old and the first president to die in office.

Harrison's funeral took place in Wesley Chapel in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 7, 1841, three days after his death. His original interment was in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He was later buried in North Bend, Ohio.

References

 Other websites 
 William Henry Harrison's White House biography 

Category:1773 births
Category:1841 deaths
Category:Deaths from pneumonia
Category:Deaths from jaundice
Category:United States senators from Ohio
Category:United States representatives from Ohio
Category:Politicians from Virginia

Category:Benjamin Harrison
Category:Whig Party (United States) politicians
Category:19th-century American politicians
Category:18th-century American politicians
Category:19th-century presidents of the United States