A closer look
President William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address in American history in 1841, rambling for over two hours in freezing rain without wearing a coat or a hat just to prove he was a tough military hero. Almost immediately after this spectacular display of arrogant, geriatric machismo, the sixty-eight-year-old president caught a severe cold that rapidly developed into a fatal case of pneumonia. Despite the frantic efforts of nineteenth-century doctors who tried to cure him by applying heated suction cups and feeding him live snakes, Harrison died exactly thirty-two days into his term, serving the shortest presidency on record. His legacy is essentially a massive cautionary tale about the dangers of toxic masculinity, reminding us that refusing to wear proper winter outerwear can literally cost you control of the entire executive branch of the federal government
