The Really: John McCain would be the oldest President in history should he be elected. Even older than Ronald Reagan.
But John McCain is not the only cranky old man to want to be president and 68-year-old William Henry Harrison is a ghostly object lesson for us all. The punchline however is not Tyler: it's Palin.
On March 26, Harrison became ill with a
cold. The presumptive story, which has become common knowledge despite its falsity, is that the inauguration day exposure was the cause of his illness. In fact, it was more than three weeks after the inauguration before Harrison showed the first signs of ill health. The cold worsened, rapidly turning to
pneumonia and
pleurisy. According to the prevailing medical misconception of that time, microorganisms being then unknown, it was believed that his illness was directly caused by the bad weather, when, in fact, he was likely a victim of the
common cold virus, exacerbated by the drastic pressures of his changed circumstances. He sought to rest in the White House, but could not find a quiet room because of the steady crowd of office seekers; in addition, his extremely busy social schedule made any rest time scarce.
Harrison's doctors tried cures, applying
opium,
castor oil,
Virginia snakeweed, and even actual
snakes. But the treatments only made Harrison worse, and he became delirious. He died nine days after becoming ill, at 12:30 a.m., on April 4, 1841, of right lower lobe
pneumonia,
jaundice, and overwhelming
septicemia, becoming the first American president to die in office. His last words were to his doctor, but assumed to be to John Tyler, "Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." Harrison served the shortest term of any American president: only 30 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes
