Health and Medical History of President
William Harrison
President #9: 1841-1841
Lived 1773-1841
Lived 1773-1841
Health and Medical History of President
William Harrison
President #9: 1841-1841
Lived 1773-1841
Lived 1773-1841
↓
Lived 1773-1841
2023
1776
Revolutionary War1776-1783
War of 18121812-1815
Mexican-American War1846-1848
Civil War1861-1865
Spanish-American War1898-1899
World War 11917-1918
World War 21941-1945
Korean War1950-1953
Viet Nam War1964-1975
Desert Storm1990-1991
Bush's Wars2001-2021
Lived 1773-1841
2023
1776
Revolutionary War1776-1783War of 18121812-1815Mexican-American War1846-1848Civil War1861-1865Spanish-American War1898-1899World War 11917-1918World War 21941-1945Korean War1950-1953Viet Nam War1964-1975Desert Storm1990-1991Bush's Wars2001-2021
 |
UNDER CONSTRUCTION |
Maladies & Conditions
· teetotaler · ulcer? · stress? · pneumonia
Odds & Ends ·
Doctors ·
Resources ·
Cited Sources
Maladies and Conditions
Harrison was a teetotaler in an era when alcoholism was rife. (Of course, alcoholism is still
rife today.)
1a
Harrison was stern, tall, and austere. He could eat only certain foods, such as cheese and
milk products. At least one commentator thinks this combination of gaunt appearance and ascetic
behavior could be resulted from ulcer disease.
1a
[Unclear whether the description of Harrison's gnawing pain, relieved by milk products, is
a
deduction or fact. Same concern for the description of Harrison as having "ulcer facies."]
1b
To say that Harrison was mobbed by office seekers after his inauguration is an understatement:
General Harrison was ... smothered by the most shameless swarm of fortune hunters the capital had seen since the coming of another Hero twelve years before [Jackson, 1829].... They filled every room [of the lower level of the White House] and defied eviction. The President opened a door, expecting to meet his Cabinet. The spoilsmen crushed about him. Soon the Executive's pockets were filled with their petitions, then his hat, then his arms; and thus he staggered upstairs to revive himself with "stimulants." 2a
Harrison gave a two hour inaugural speech on a cold, wet, and blustery March 4. He caught a
cold,
which is not surprising given the President's thin, malnourished state. The White House was
poorly
heated at that time, and by March 27 he was very sick with right lower lobe pneumonia and
"congestion of the liver."
1c
MORE
Odds and Ends
- Harrison almost became a physician. As a young man he enrolled for the two 16-week courses at the University of Pennsylvania that would have led to an M.D. degree. He did not complete them, however. 1d Another source (? White House web page) says the courses were in Richmond.)
- Harrison's grandson was President Benjamin Harrison 3a.
Doctors
Resources
Cited Sources
- MacMahon, Edward B. and Curry, Leonard. Medical Cover-Ups in the White House. Washington, DC: Farragut, 1987.
a p.17 b p.15 c p.18 d pp.17-18
- James, Marquis. Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, unknown year (originally published in 1937 by Bobbs-Merrill).
a p.456
- Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed). Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of America. 2nd ed. London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 1981.
a p.196Comment: Maps -- in great detail -- the ancestors and descendants of American presidents through Ronald Reagan. They would have had an exhausting time with President Obama's family tree! MORE
Other Sources
George Washington · John Adams · Thomas Jefferson · James Madison · James Monroe · John Q. Adams · Andrew Jackson · Martin van Buren · William Harrison · John Tyler · James Polk · Zachary Taylor · Millard Fillmore · Franklin Pierce · James Buchanan · Abraham Lincoln · Andrew Johnson · Ulysses Grant · Rutherford Hayes · James Garfield · Chester Arthur · Grover Cleveland · Benjamin Harrison · Grover Cleveland · William McKinley · Theodore Roosevelt · William Taft · Woodrow Wilson · Warren Harding · Calvin Coolidge · Herbert Hoover · Franklin Roosevelt · Harry Truman · Dwight Eisenhower · John Kennedy · Lyndon Johnson · Richard Nixon · Gerald Ford · James Carter · Ronald Reagan · George Bush · William Clinton · George W. Bush · Barack Obama · Donald Trump · Joseph Biden