Since the first president of the United States, Washington, set the precedent of holding inauguration ceremonies outdoors, holding inauguration ceremonies outdoors has become a tradition for all new presidents.
Although holding a ceremony outdoors can create an image of being close to the people, tolerant and open, in cold weather, for those who wear thin clothes, it is simply "bitterly cold, and it is necessary to take one's life".
1841 On March 4th, Washington, USA was hit by a cold snap, cold winds, and the temperature plummeted. A 68-year-old man who was giving his presidential inauguration speech refused to put on a coat and a hat in order to show the American nation his tough-guy image, and he stood firm for more than two hours in the frigid wind.
After the inauguration, the old man contracted acute pneumonia and died 31 days later, becoming the first American president to die while in office. This man was William Henry Harrison.
In 1773, William Henry Harrison was born into an aristocratic family, his father was a farmer, in our words, a "landlord's house", but William Henry Harrison's family was not simple the "landlord".
His father was not only a representative of the first Continental Congress, but also one of the signatories of the United States' Declaration of Independence, and he was also regarded as the founding hero of the United States. So William Henry Harrison's starting point is high.
(1) Wise as a child
William Henry Harrison was a clean and well-behaved child. Generally, a well-behaved child would be bullied by a strong child.
In particular, William Henry Harrison was born in a "famous family", and the children who played with him must also be descendants of "lords and generals", so bullying is inevitable.
The people in the town where Harrison lived at that time thought Harrison was weak and often fooled him. They often threw the five-cent and one-cent coins on the ground and let Harrison pick them up, but only allowed him to pick up the coins. one.
And Harrison only picks up this one for five cents each time. Turn a deaf ear to a dime. People in the town thought this kid was really a "stupid kid", so they often tossed coins and played with him for their own amusement.
Once, an old woman couldn't stand it anymore, so she kindly reminded Harrison: "Why don't you pick up a dime? Don't you know that a dime is more than five cents?".
Harrison's answer surprised the old woman, he smiled and replied: "Of course I know, but if I pick up the dime, are they still interested in throwing money at me? ?".
When the old woman heard this, felt that this child was really wise and foolish.
(2) Abandoning medicine to join the army
Because of the superiority of Harrison's family and his relationship with his father, he devoted himself to one of the founding heroes of the United States and a famous medical expert Dr. Benjamin Rush to study medicine in his early years, but later he felt that studying medicine Difficult to stretch their full of blood and ambition. So he quit medicine and joined the army.
Harrison enlisted in the military at the age of 18. However, he also took shortcuts, after all, he had a relationship with his father. Directly under the command of the famous General Anthony Wayne.
Anthony Wayne, nicknamed "Crazy Anthony", was a brave and adept soldier, was an outstanding general in the American Revolutionary War, and later served as the commander-in-chief of the United States Army. Harrison became Anthony's adjutant not long after he played in the army. Since then, his military career has progressed all the way. He has worked in the army for more than 20 years and has made countless military contributions.
This is a bit like Lu Xun . Lu Xun, who studied medicine in his early years, simply wanted to make China stronger and get rid of the fate of being enslaved by improving the physical fitness of the people.
Later, Mr. Lu Xun discovered that if a country wants to become strong, it must have a certain ideological awareness. Otherwise, no matter how strong the torso is, it will only end up in the tragic fate of being enslaved like a cow. Therefore, Mr. Lu Xun gave up medicine and started writing.
Harrison is quite different. After all, the United States at that time was expanding its territory and needed a lot of military talents. Harrison's entry into the army, also directly led to the emergence of " indian curse" . In 1775, under the leadership of George Washington, 13 North American states began to seek independence from British rule.
1776 On July 4, the establishment of the United States of America was announced. At this time, the newly established United States had a land area of only more than 800,000 square kilometers.
But in 1783, the British surrendered, recognized the independence of the United States, and signed the "United States-British Treaty of Versailles" in the United States, and the United States obtained a large area east of the Mississippi River.
This large territory became the Western Territory of the United States, including the present state of Indiana in the United States. The area of the U.S. territory has jumped from 800,000 square kilometers to 2.3 million square kilometers.
1794 Indian tribes were forced to move westward from the fertile eastern land where they had lived for generations.
As America continues to expand, Harrison is also growing. In 1798, at the age of 25, Harrison was promoted for military service and became a minister of the Western Territory of the United States.
1800 Indiana is separated from the Northwest Territory and becomes the Indiana Territory.
Harrison led another 30 million acres of land from the Indians and went to Indiana Territory.
The Tecoma of the Indian tribe resented the brutality of the colonists and their plunder of Indian lands. In desperation, the Tekomo united several Indian tribes. Decided to start fighting back against the colonists.
In 1811, a coalition of Indians led by the Tekomas fought against a white army led by William Henry Harrison in what became known as the Battle of Tippicano.
In this war, the white army led by Harrison defeated the coalition of Indians and brutally massacred the Indians. Angry Tekomas cast a spell on Americans:
Harrison will have a great victory the following year as chief...but he will die in his term...capable of making the sun dark, The wine has gone flat and I tell you, Harrison is going to die in office. Since him, every twenty years, an American president will die during his term. The death of every president will be remembered for the sacrifice of my people.
(4) Abandoning the army to join politics
htmlFrom 0 to 1812, the United States had been founded for more than 30 years. At this time, the United States was not what it used to be. Not only did it already own almost all of the territory east of the Mississippi River, but in 1803, it was purchased from Napoleon of France at a low price. purchased 2.144 million square kilometers of Louisiana area.The entire central part of the North American continent is basically owned by the United States. Territory nearly doubled. With the rapid increase of territory, the United States' desire for territorial expansion has also grown stronger and stronger. It targeted the vast area of northern Canada. Of course, Canada was still a British colony at this time.
This made Britain feel a crisis at the time. After all, Britain was still fighting with Napoleon in France at that time. It is estimated that the United States also saw this idea when Britain was busy with domestic wars and had no time for North American colonies.
So the UK, under the oppression of the crisis, decided to strike first. United Kingdom united Indian tribes. Attack Indiana.
Harrison served as the commander of the United States Northwest Regional Unity Army at this time. He led the American army to defeat the British and Indian coalition forces in the Battle of the Thames, which brought him enough political capital.
Having political capital, Harrison decided to squeeze into politics.
1813, Harrison quit the military and entered the political arena on the grounds of a conflict with Secretary of the Army Armstrong . Joined the Whig Party (predecessor of the Republican Party). Harrison has since served as a senator from Ohio, a member of both houses of the U.S. Congress, and as a minister to Columbia.
But this is not the end of Harrison's political career, his goal is the President of the United States.
(5) Elected president, died in January
After Harrison entered the political arena, his journey was smooth, so he began to attack the highest authority in the United States. In 1836, Harrison participated in the US presidential election, but lost to Martin Van Buren .
In this election, Harrison was seen as a kind-hearted and refined man. He is of medium build and very weak. There doesn't seem to be a "tough guy" image. In the United States, which advocated "force" at the time, "tough guys" were more popular.
After the experience of the general manager, Harrison decided that in the 1840 presidential election four years later, he must fully display his "tough guy" image. He hyped and preached how heroic he was in the fight against the Indians, how of bravery.
Americans really "eat hard but not soft" . After a fierce competition, Harrison finally won the 1840 presidential election and was elected as the ninth president of the United States. At this time he was 68 years old.
On March 4, 1841, in the bitter cold wind, Harrison spent an hour and a half reading his carefully prepared inaugural speech, He rejected the trench coat and hat handed to him by his entourage, as a way to consecrate himself. The "tough guy" image is declared to the end.
Harrison had been out in the cold for more than two hours after the other officials had spoken. On that day, all the people present were shivering with cold, but they also saw the "tough guy" President Harrison, who was not afraid of the cold.
However, such an image did not last long. A few days later, Harrison developed acute pneumonia, and 31 days later, he left the world in a hurry. All that is left for the Americans is endless sighs.
In "The Stupid History of Mankind" by American Bob Finster, William Harrison has the privilege of appearing in the chapter "Idiot Politics". Bob writes:
William Henry Harrison, President-elect in 1840, was no fool for refusing to wear a hat or a coat to an outdoor inauguration in a storm in Washington in March. He was stupid because he was so obsessed with his own voice that he gave speeches for over an hour while everyone was freezing, including himself. Harrison suffered a severe head cold and fatal pneumonia, and was only a month on the job. Harrison became the first president to die as a result of a speech. "In the eyes of a considerable number of Americans, William Harrison died of the "Tecoma curse" and was the first American president to die from this curse.
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