Welcome to Blogging the Presidents: A Voting While Intoxicated™ Almost Original Series. We will be taking a serious look at the 42 men who have led our country and hopefully finding a few laughable details.
PART IX
Contrary to popular belief, Harrison did not die as a result of his two hour inaugural address delivered in bad weather without a coat. Rather he became sick multiple weeks later and may well have died because of the treatment of his illness more than the illness itself (a common cold with certain complications). Ultimately, he was the first President to die in office, and at one month, served for the shortest time. One has to show up to play the game so I think it is safe to call him the worst President, after all anyone who has ever played professional sports is a better pro than everyone who hasn’t, no matter how bad they are.
This did give us an opportunity to sort out the process for replacing the President. At the time it was not so obvious that the Vice President would take over, which, considering it is often thought that one of the few roles of the Vice President is to inquire about the health of the President, means that the Vice Presidency would be even more worthless then. Granted, Thomas Jefferson spent his entire Vice Presidency at home and didn’t even attempt to do anything resembling governance while in the position. Perhaps more reason to do as Matthew Yglesias recommends and eliminate the office of the Vice president.
