President William Henry Harrison Died Shortly After Giving Inauguration Speech

Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump announced that his inauguration speech would be held indoors due to the frigid temperatures that have descended upon Washington, DC.

This will be the first time since the 1980s when the inauguration address will be delivered indoors.

The fact is that there is good reason why the inauguration address is moved indoors when there is severely cold temperatures - a US President likely died from delivering an inauguration address in the freezing cold.

President William Henry Harrison won the 1840 US Presidential election and gave his inauguration address on March 4th, 1841.

The weather that day was cold and wet - temperatures were in the mid 30s for much of the day and a steady rain was falling on Washington, DC.

President Harrison rode to the inauguration address on a horse, exposing himself to the inclement weather early on in the day.

Harrison, for a reason only known to him, wasn't wearing a coat, a hat or gloves.

President Harrison stood in the cold rain and delivered the longest inauguration address in the history of the nation - a 8,445 word behemoth of a speech that lasted just under two hours.

As the crowd fidgeted, a coatless, hatless and gloveless President Harrison delivered his speech.

Mercifully, the speech would eventually end. Harrison took something extra home with him to the White House - a cold, which he surely picked up after being exposed to the elements all day.

President Harrison's cold soon turned into pneumonia, and on April 4th, 1981, the newly elected President passed away.

It could have been a coincidence but most people assume that President Harrison's long exposure to the terrible weather on Inauguration Day ended up costing him his life.

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This is why President Trump and President Reagan didn't hesitate to move their inauguration addresses indoors - having hundreds of thousands of people standing outside in terrible cold for hours and hours not only puts them at risk, but also the Presidents themselves.

Filed under: General Knowledge