Kyle Temple, age 14, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for his question:
WHICH PRESIDENT SERVED THE SHORTEST TIME?
William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was the chief executive who served the least amount of time in office. He caught a cold on the brisk, rainy day when he was inaugurated. The cold developed into pneumonia and Harrison died on April 4, 1841, 12 1/2 hours short of 31 full days in office.
Harrison had all of the qualifications that might have made him a fine President. His grandson, Benjamin Harrison, became the 23rd U.S. President.
William Harrison was the son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence who was also at one time governor of Virginia. At first Harrison studied medicine but later he decided he wanted a military career and he joined the Army.
Harrison headed a regiment in the Northwest Territory, which included land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. In 1799 he was elected the territory's first delegate to Congress.
From 1801 to 1812 he served as governor of the Indiana Territory, which included the present states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and past of Minnesota. He was an able governor.
The westward movement of settlers aroused the fears of the Indians. When the Indiana attacked Harrison's force near where the Tippecanoe Creek empties into the Wabash in 1911, Harrison defeated them. The battle gave Harrison the nickname of "Old Tippencanoe" and made him a frontier hero.
Later Harrison, a general by this time, defeated the British and Indiana in Canada in 1813, during the War of 1812.
Harrison returned to Ohio 1a 1814. He became a member of Congress in 1816, a state senator in 1819 and a United States Senator from Ohio in 1815.
In 1828 he was appointed the first U.S. minister to Colombia.
In 1836 Harrison was an unsuccessful candidate for President. When he ran again in 1840, he won the election by a landslide.
Martin Van Buren defeated Harrison in the election of 1836. A business depression hit and many people blamed Van Buren and the Democratic party for the nation's trouble.
At that time Henry Clay was the most powerful man in the Whig party. Clay seemed a natural choice as Whig candidate but had too many enemies. The Whigs selected Harrison because of his great national popularity and because he didn't have any political enemies.
The campaign of 1840 was like a circus. John Tyler of Virginia was nominated for vice president and the national slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." They did not bother to write a platform.
The result of the election was a landslide for the Whigs. Harrison and Tyler received 234 electoral votes to 60 for Van Buren.
Harrison selected an excellent Cabinet, headed by Daniel Webster as secretary of state.
After Harrison's one month in office, Tyler became the 10th President.