William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was the ninth president of the United States. He was a Whig from Ohio — born in Virginia, but he made his political home in Ohio. People called him Old Tippecanoe after his 1811 victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe, when he was governor of the Indiana Territory. He first became famous as an Indian Wars general. His vice president was John Tyler. His grandson Benjamin Harrison later became the 23rd president — the only grandfather-grandson pair in the presidency.

The Whigs ran him in 1840 and won with a catchy campaign slogan: “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” The campaign painted him as a man of a log cabin and hard cider, a simple Western man. In real life he came from a well-off Virginia family. The log-cabin campaign is a good example of a catchy story used to win an election. Campaigns sell a picture of the candidate, and the cabin image worked.

He was inaugurated in March 1841 and died in April 1841. He was president for 31 days — just over a month — the shortest presidency in American history. He was the first president to die in office. That forced the country to decide what a vice president should do next. His inaugural speech still holds a record: it is the longest ever, more than 8,000 words. He spoke for nearly two hours outdoors in cold, wet weather without a coat. He later fell ill and died.