The Shortest Presidency. This man was President for 24 hours and you probably don't know it.
He would have been the 12th President, after Polk and before Tyler. Yet your history says differently, here is the story and my hypothesis as to why. Please enjoy.

When it comes to Presidents of the United States, we Americans can name quite a few. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan, Obama and yes of course the 45^th, Trump. This isn’t about any of them, as a matter of fact this blog is about a President that I would care to bet a very small fraction of Americans know who about at all.

Well folks I’m about to introduce you to the shortest termed and most unknown American President ever. His name was David Rice Atchinson, A Senator from Missouri who holds the distinction of being our shortest lived and most forgotten President.

 The information I will be sharing with you comes from the book: The Best, Worst, and Most Unusual. Noteworthy Achievements, Events, Feats & Blunders of Every Conceivable Kind.  Written or more appropriately compiled by, Bruce Felton & Mark Fowler. Galahad Books 1976, reprinted in 1994.

As I stated last week I was going to be using this book as reference for some material for my blog. Well I have found it. Lots of it. I cannot wait to share. Now back to our shortest tenured President. Mr. Atchison. Before I indulge what Wikipedia or other sources on the net say let me show you what was written in the book first. This next portion of the blog is word for word from the book.

MOST UNUSUAL PRESIDENT: (U.S.)  At noon on March 4, 1849, (note, I didn’t even notice the date until now! WoW!!!) Zachary Taylor was scheduled to succeed James Polk as president. But March 4 was a Sunday and Taylor was a very religious old general who refused to violate the Sabbath by taking the oath of office. Thus, under the Succession Act of 1792, Missouri Senator David Rice Atchinson, as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, automatically became president of the United States. Atchinson is said to have taken his high office very much in stride. Tongue in cheek, he appointed a number of his cronies to Cabinet positions, then he had a few drinks, and retired to bed to sleep out the remainder of his administration. On Monday at noon Taylor took over the reins of government, but Americans can look back on the Atchinson presidency as a peaceful one, untainted by even the hint of corruption.**

So after reading the book version I hop over to Wikipedia.

Here is an excerpt from their page:

 Inauguration Day fell on March 4—fell on a Sunday in 1849, and so President-elect Zachary Taylor did not take the presidential oath of office until the next day. Even so, the term of the outgoing president, James K. Polk, ended at noon on March 4. On March 2, outgoing vice president George M. Dallas relinquished his position as President of the Senate, at which time Atchison was elected President pro tempore. In 1849, according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the Senate president pro tempore immediately followed the vice president in presidential line of succession. As Dallas's term also ended at noon on the 4th, and as neither Taylor nor Vice President-elect Millard Fillmore had been sworn-in to office on that day, it was claimed by some of Atchison's friends and colleagues that on March 4–5, 1849, Atchison was Acting President of the United States.

Of course Wikipedia goes on to dismiss the whole claim citing various different rules, etc.Feel free to follow any of the links or search it yourself. also check out the Succession act, it has been mentioned a time or two recently.I think the real reason no one wants to claim his one day Presidency was because of Mr. Atchinson’s Biography: Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia about his past:

  David Rice Atchison (August 11, 1807 – January 26, 1886) was a mid-19th century Democratic^[1] United States Senator from Missouri.^[1] He served asPresident pro tempore of the United States Senate for six years.^[2] Atchison served as a major general in the Missouri State Militia in 1838 during Missouri's Mormon War and as a Confederate brigadier general during theAmerican Civil War under Major General Sterling Price in the Missouri Home Guard. He is best known for the claim that for 24 hours—Sunday, March 4, 1849 through noon on Monday—he may have been Acting President of the United States. This belief, however, is dismissed by nearly all historians, scholars, and biographers.

Atchison, owner of many slaves and a plantation, was a prominent pro-slavery activist and Border Ruffian leader, deeply involved with violence against abolitionists and other free-staters during the "Bleeding Kansas" events.*

Clearly, no one wants to admit that a prominent slave owner and anti-abolishment Confederate General was president, even for a day, but it’s true. This book came before Wikipedia and it wouldn’t have claimed the title unless it was true. This is just another case of history being erased, changed or completely ignored. I am not condoning slave ownership or Confederate Generals being president, I am pissed that the establishment or whomever is in charge of writing history is ignoring or re-writing the parts they don’t like. That is censorship, it is a breach of the 1^st amendment.

George Orwell wrote about the Ministry of Truth re-writing and changing history to support the State’s agenda. Don’t think they  don’t do it know. Wikipipedia is a State sponsored “information source”. It is constantly being updated and rewritten. Check any relevant person or event on wikipedia and you’ll see it has been edited, a lot. I have written blogs about it before.

The main point I am trying to make with today’s post is that this book from the 1970s declares this man president for a day, it went through fact checking editors to make the list. It was a fact up until someone decided that this very interesting fact about the US presidents was too sensitive for some people.  I don’t know to me that seems like censorship.

Anyhow, this book is full of great knowledge like this. The next one is about the real FIRST WOMAN to run for president. (Hint it happened over 100 years before that other lady who lost twice).

So stay tuned, read, share, comment, critique, love it, hate it, whatever. Thank you so much for reading…..PEACE!!!!!!!

*Wikipedia: David Rice Atchinson

** The Best, Worst, and Most Unusual. Noteworthy Achievements, Events, Feats & Blunders of Every Conceivable Kind.  Written or more appropriately compiled by, Bruce Felton & Mark Fowler. Galahad Books 1976, reprinted in 1994.