The 9th POTUS William Henry Harrison was born on this day in 1773.

Ten Notes On William Henry Harrison

1. William Henry Harrison is known for being the POTUS who served the shortest time only 35 days. Harrison who was the oldest elected POTUS before Ronaldus Magnus came along was 68 when he was elected president. He gave a long inaugural speech and caught pneumonia and died on April 4, 1841. You can’t include Harrison in any rankings of the best to the worst presidents because he wasn’t there long enough. He was sick his whole month in office. He was the first POTUS to die in office. John Tyler his Vice President took over as POTUS and it brought on an interesting situation-Tyler was not elected POTUS. Would he be recognized as one? Tyler is a forgettable POTUS but how he handled this situation was critical. He asserted himself as POTUS. He was the POTUS elected to the office or not.

2. William Henry Harrison was 5’8″ tall, had gray eyes and brown hair. He was of English ancestry. He was born in Charles City County, Virginia. Harrison and his Vice President were both born in the same county. Harrison’s political party was the Whig Party.

3. William Henry Harrison is the only POTUS to have a grandson become POTUS. POTUS #23 Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Harrison. He was just as forgettable.

4. William Henry Harrison was the third son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

5. When Harrison ran for POTUS his campaign portrayed him as a frontiersman born in a log cabin. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. He came from an aristocratic and wealthy Virginia family. It was the “cool’ thing for a while to have been running for POTUS and having been born in a log cabin.

6. A story started with Harrison of a “Curse” put on POTUS by Tecumseh in revenge for his defeat at Tippecanoe or by Tecumseh’s half-brother Tenskwatawa in revenge for Tecumseh’s death. The curse was that every American POTUS elected in a year ending in zero would die in office. Harrison, Lincoln. Garfield, McKinley, Harding, FDR and Kennedy all did. Ronaldus Magnus broke the curse. He was elected in 1980, he survived an assassination attempt. GW Bush elected in 2000 survived his term also. Looks like smooth sailing for 2020’s winner.

7. Harrison gained his fame in the military. With 900 men he routed Tecumseh’s indians at Tippecanoe in 1811. He was a major-general in the War of 1812. He would be the first presidential candidate with a slogan. “Tippecanoe and Tyler too”

8. Harrison is the only POTUS who studied medicine. He studied at Hampden-Sydney College but left before graduating. He studied under one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence-Dr. Benjamin Rush.

9. Harrison had  48 grandchildren and 106 great-grandchildren the most of any POTUS in both categories.

10. Political offices Harrison held before being elected POTUS were Secretary of Northwest Territory 1798-99, US House of Representatives 1799-1800, 1816-1819, Territorial governor of Indiana 1801-1813, Member of Ohio Senate 1819-1821, Member of the United States Senate 1825-1828, and U.S. minister to Columbia 1828-1829.