College of Political Knowledge

Subject”  American History

Let us step into IST’s version of the “way Back” machine…….if you remember your American history from your school days…..you will recall that our 9th president William Henry Harrison…..he is most noted for the president that spent the least amount of time as president……he took office in March of 1841 and died in April 1841….he was president of the United States for one month.

The story goes that he gave a very long speech in very cold weather and was not dressed warmly….he caught pneumonia and died a month later……does that ring a bell?

There has been a new revelation on the cause of death for our 9th president……

The history books tell us that William Henry Harrison died just a month after taking office in 1841 because he caught pneumonia while delivering a too-long inaugural address in lousy weather. Now, modern epidemiology is revising the diagnosis. In the New York Times, Jane McHugh and Philip Mackowiak write that Harrison’s real killer seems to be a gastrointestinal illness called enteric fever. And instead of blaming the inauguration ceremony, we can instead blame a marshy area of raw sewage near the White House.

In the days before DC had a sewer system, sewage stagnated near the White House, just blocks from its water supply. Harrison likely picked up an infection, which was worsened by the standard treatments of the day, they explain. While Harrison’s doctor didn’t bleed the president, he did administer opium, which would have made it difficult for Harrison’s intestine to rid itself of pathogens. Harrison probably got an enema, too, which could have helped the bacteria spread to the bloodstream. “As he lay dying, Harrison had a sinking pulse and cold, blue extremities, two classic manifestations of septic shock,” write McHugh and Mackowiak in diagnosing enteric fever. The pneumonia played a secondary role. Click for their full post.

See there is always another side to the story…..now that makes me wonder about John Wilkes Booth……there is a conspiracy that he did not die in that barn at the hands of the Union army……but that is for another day…

Class dismissed……read chapters 12 through 15 for next session…..