The Bizarre Reason This Man Became President Of The USA For Just One Day

It all began back in March 1849 – a time when the United States was just a decade away from civil war. But before the conflict that would come to define America, another far less famous incident occurred. In Washington, D.C., a bizarre series of events unfolded, leaving one individual with a very unusual claim to fame.

Yep, according to some historians, this man was president of the United States for a solitary day. But how did such an unusual tenure come about? And what acts did this all-too-brief leader manage to squeeze into such a short term? He’s unlikely to have effected any lasting policy change, after all, so what does America have to remember him by?

Well, most folks don’t actually remember this guy – or have even learned about him in the first place. Years ago, though, his presidency was a hotly debated topic. And while his name may be unfamiliar today, the man at the heart of this strange story still occupies a unique place in the history of the United States. That means you should know about him.

Of course, there have been other U.S. presidents in office for surprisingly brief periods. Take William Henry Harrison, for example. He was the ninth man to run the country and was 67 years old when he stood against Democrat Martin Van Buren in the election of 1840.

Naturally, Harrison beat out Van Buren, making him both the oldest person and the earliest member of the Whig Party to have been named president at the time. And after his inauguration on March 4, 1841, he relocated to Washington and settled into White House life. But, unfortunately, Harrison’s time in power was to prove short-lived.

Just three weeks on from his inauguration, Harrison contracted pneumonia. And even though doctors tried to save him, he ultimately passed away in the first week of April – meaning, all in all, he was president for just 31 days. Historians have therefore recorded his time in the office as the briefest on record. But as we’ll see, there’s a challenger to this claim.

Or what about James A. Garfield, who was elected president exactly 40 years after Harrison? The 20th man to take on the role, he’d been in office for just a few months when he was shot in the back and arm by the troubled lawyer Charles J. Guiteau. Though Garfield survived the attack, he eventually succumbed to the sepsis that resulted from the lacerations he’d suffered.

Yes, just a couple of months after the shooting, Garfield passed away, having spent only half a year as president of the United States. But what of the man who was in office for a mere fraction of this time? Was he too the victim of a nefarious plot? Or did some other grim fate befall him before he could serve a full term?

That was certainly the case with Zachary Taylor, the 12th U.S. president. Inaugurated in March 1849, he spent just 16 months in office before passing away following an unspecified stomach condition. And even though his tenure was longer than those of Harrison and Garfield, Taylor is said to have achieved little of note.

So far, then, we’ve seen that both illness and assassination have played a role in cutting presidential terms short. But what happened in 1849 when the so-called one-day president momentarily came to power? His name was David Rice Atchison – and his story is a pretty remarkable one.

Atchison was born in August 1807 in what’s known today as Lexington, Kentucky, and he studied law in his home state before relocating to Missouri. After he opened his own firm, though, he carved out his place in history by working for Joseph Smith. Smith, in case you didn’t know, was the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – otherwise known as the Mormon Church.

In 1833 there was a movement to expel Smith’s followers, popularly referred to as Mormons, from Jackson County, MI. But Atchison stepped forward to defend them, winning himself a whole heap of fans in the process. And after being backed by these supporters, he was able to secure a seat in the state’s House of Representatives in 1834.

Still, the Mormons’ troubles weren’t over, and in 1838 the persecution escalated into all-out war. That year, Atchison joined the state militia, serving as a senior officer and helping to control the fighting that was erupting across the state. Then, after peace of a sort was reached, he went on to take a post as a judge in the state court.

Ultimately, though, Atchison was destined for bigger and better things. But how did this promising career culminate in the shortest presidential term in recorded history? Well, the Kentucky native’s ascent to power began in 1843, when he was called upon to step into an empty U.S. Senate seat.

Atchison, being just 36 years old, was far younger than many of the men he served alongside. But that didn’t stop him from becoming well-liked among other Democrats. In fact, in 1845 he was appointed to a significant role within the Senate. This was a key development in the bizarre saga that was to come.

However, while Atchison’s support for the beleaguered Mormons may make him seem like a hero, he was actually nothing of the sort. While in the Senate, he spoke in support of slavery on numerous occasions. He also helped to bring in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Thanks to this legislation, the practice of slavery spread to other states – causing further friction in antebellum America.

In fact, according to the U.S. Senate’s own website, Atchison once went so far as to threaten violence against members of the Abolitionist movement. And while this attitude earned Atchison the dubious distinction of having a town named after him in Kansas, it also contributed to the bloodshed that consumed the state. Ultimately, then, he may have helped to fan the flames of the Civil War.

So, how did a vehemently pro-slavery senator wind up as president when many were skirting around abolition? And did this issue have anything to do with the laughable length of his term? Certainly, slavery was a topic that would make or break a number of political careers over the years.

In reality, though, what happened in 1849 was something altogether more bizarre. You see, during the early days of Atchinson’s stint in the Senate, the White House was occupied by President James K. Polk. However, before his election in 1844, Polk had promised to limit his tenure to just a single term.

Keeping his word, Polk left office at precisely midday on March 4, 1849. According to tradition, that was when the next president, the aforementioned Zachary Taylor, should’ve been sworn in. That year, though, Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday – a day that strict Christians tend to reserve for rest.

As a result, the staunchly religious Taylor pushed his inauguration ceremony back to March 5. But with Polk leaving office a day earlier, there was an undeniable gap. Does this mean someone else had been president between one man standing down and the next taking office? According to some historians, it did, and the man who filled the role was Atchison.

This isn’t as far-fetched a prospect as you may think. Back in 1845, Atchison had been appointed president pro tempore of the Senate. Essentially, this meant it was his job to watch over proceedings when the vice president, who was usually in charge at the Senate, was otherwise engaged.

But there was another element to Atchison’s title, and it’s this that inspired one of antebellum America’s strangest political stories. According to the laws of the time, the president pro tempore was also second in line to the presidency. So, technically, if anything had happened to both Polk and his vice president, then Atchison would have been in charge.

Of course, nothing untoward happened to Polk. But he did leave a vacuum of power behind when he stepped down – one that would not be filled for 24 hours. And given that the vice president’s term would also have ended at the same juncture, that may have left Atchison as de facto leader of the country.

Just seven days after Taylor’s eventual inauguration, the Virginia newspaper the Alexandria Gazette published an article seemingly confirming the bizarre theory. It read, “[Atchison] was on Sunday, by virtue of his office, president of the United States – for one day!”

And in 1907 the Philadelphia Press claimed that Atchison had embraced his temporary role with gusto. The newspaper revealed, “That Senator Atchison considered himself president there was no doubt. For on Monday morning, when the Senate reassembled, he sent to the White House for the seal of the great office and signed one or two official papers as president.”

That wasn’t all. According to the Senate’s official website, the article went on to claim that Atchison’s fellow Democrats had jokingly proposed he stage a coup to stop Taylor from taking power. By this point, the story of the shortest presidency ever had spread far and wide, even appearing in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

But as is often the case, the truth isn’t quite so clear-cut. Strangely, as the Senate’s website points out, the story about Atchison’s temporary presidency didn’t feature in either the Senate Journal or the Congressional Globe at the time. Surely, one imagines, such a peculiar tale would’ve warranted extensive coverage by the press?

Political historian and author George Haynes also shared his thoughts about Atchison being a forgotten president of the United States. And according to Haynes, the theory doesn’t hold weight. In reality, he claimed, the senator wasn’t even in office when the alleged scenario took place.

This rebuttal seems to hinge around the idea that along with Polk’s presidency, Atchison’s senatorial position actually came to an end on March 4. And even though Atchison was reappointed to the role of president pro tempore the following day, the post was in fact unfilled during the period in question.

But if neither Polk nor Atchison were president during these confusing 24 hours, then who was? Well, intriguingly, you could claim that Atchison really did fill the position – but only for a few minutes. On March 5, you see, the senator was technically reappointed to his pro tempore role immediately before Taylor was sworn in.

Yet this viewpoint, while creative, is flawed. After all, the vice president is always sworn into office before the president makes his own pledge. Therefore, by extension, every second-in-command has technically been the leader of the free world – if just for a matter of minutes.

But what did Atchison himself make of all the fuss? Did he really believe that he’d been president of the United States for one day? Or did he dismiss such ideas as fantasy and folly? Well, according to the Senate’s website, the man at the center of the claims was actually quick to dismiss them.

In the early 1880s, Atchison is reported to have written, “I never for a moment acted as president of the U.S.” That’s a pretty clear denial. Even so, it appears that Atchison wasn’t above making light of the situation. Supposedly, he once quipped that he could’ve easily have slept through his whole “presidency” had it not been for his pals, who had begun harassing him for favors.

“I recollect that Senator Mangum of North Carolina suggested that I make him Secretary of State,” Atchison reportedly said in 1889 – although likely as a joke. On another occasion, he’s thought to have referred to his hypothetical term as “the honestest administration this country ever had.” In reality, though, Atchison felt that the position had remained unoccupied between Polk and Taylor’s respective tenures.

And it wouldn’t have been the first time, either. Almost 30 years earlier, Inauguration Day had also fallen on a Sunday. That had caused President James Monroe to delay the proceedings for some 24 hours. So had his actions, like Polk’s, created an unexpected vacuum in the line of succession?

According to the Senate’s website, Monroe’s successor, John Quincy Adams, believed that it had. He wrote, “[The delay created] a sort of interregnum during which there was no qualified person to act as president.” Some Constitutional experts have stood against this point of view, however.

As several historians have pointed out, the president isn’t legally obliged to swear their oath prior to beginning their duties. With that in mind, both Monroe and Taylor would technically have assumed the role the moment that their predecessor stepped down – regardless of the date of their inauguration.

But while Atchison may not have been the temporary leader of the U.S., that hasn’t stopped the tale from becoming the stuff of legend. In the Missouri town where Atchison was buried, for example, two memorials repeat the claim that he was “President of the United States for One Day.” There’s even an Atchison Presidential Library in Kansas. And although private ceremonies are now held to bypass any arguments surrounding Sunday inaugurations, the debate surrounding this disputed piece of history rages on.