Well that was quick...

William Henry Harrison died on April 4, 1841, some 169 years ago today, (it seems like only yesterday), ending the briefest presidency ever (so far). He died early on the 32nd day of his presidency, at the age of 68, of all things, from a cold that he picked up on March 26. The cold worsened, rapidly turning to pneumonia. Harrison tried to rest in the White House, but he could not find a quiet room because of the parade of office seekers and because of an extremely busy social schedule. His doctors tried different cures, including opium, castor oil, and Virginia snakeweed, but the treatments only seemed to make Harrison worse. He became delirious and passed away at 12:30 a.m. on April 4, 1841, just 31 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes after taking the oath of office.



Harrison was the first American president to die in office. He never appointed a judge, saw no state added to the union on his watch, and his only significant decision was to call a special session of congress to deal with a federal treasury that was in rough shape. Harrison’s own finances were in no better shape. He died penniless and out of sympathy congress voted to give his wife a widow’s pension of $25,000, (equivalent to about a half million dollars today.) He was the first president to have his photograph taken, and he did do one other thing that no other president has done so far, and that is to have a grandchild elected to the office of the presidency. In 1888 his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, was elected as the 23rd President.
Harrison is buried in North Bend, Ohio, in William Henry Harrison Tomb State Memorial. His President’s One Dollar Coin was issued in 2009.