#9: Harrison, William Henry

William Henry Harrison
February 9, 1773 - April 4, 1841

At 68, William Henry Harrison was the oldest man to become president and the first to die in office. He was a Virginian, but perhaps better known as a leader in the new Northwest Territory, where he pushed to have a bill passed dividing western lands into tracts small enough for even a poor person to buy. He later was named governor of the Indiana Territory, where he set up a seat in Vincennes (I've driven by Vincennes!!). On the one hand, Harrison sought to "protect" the Indians' welfare, in a paternalistic way (e.g. banning sale of liquor to Indians, forced smallpox innoculations). But on the other hand, he later set out to drive Indians from treaty lands, shattering Indian forces in the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811. After serving as brigadier general, major general, U.S. Representative, and Senator, Harrison was named the first U.S. Minister to Columbia in 1828. His blunt-spoken ways were a hindrance: he told Simon Bolivar not to become a dictator, and Bolivar took offense.

I've composed this lame little limerick about Harrison's short-lived presidency, 1841-1841:

Good Willy H., “Old Tippecanoe,”
Spent too long outside and caught the flu.
He worked thirty days,
Temperature ablaze,
Then gently died, without much ado.*

*Actually, there was some ado: Congress had to sort out an order of succession.