Killer History

Most of the early American Presidents were wealthy men.  This is not to imply that personal wealth was a prerequisite for the Oval Office, however given the early challenges with the federal government it did not hurt if the office holder had a bankroll to hold them over.  The obligations of the presidency often kept one away from home and prevented the proper oversight of farms and businesses.  Early presidents, congressmen, and government appointees would need to hire an overseer to take care of their business obligations when they were away in Washington City taking care of the nation’s business. 

This financial sacrifice in some circumstances could be quite significant and create a hardship on the office holder.  In addition, the finances of the young nation were not always on firm footing either.  Sometimes the US Treasury had a hard time paying its bills and the paychecks to the President, Vice-President, as well as Congressmen were not always regular.  

Since most of these early leaders were wealthy men this irregular pay schedule was only an inconvenience.  The financial constraints of public office certainly limited who was able to lead the country.  Quite simply not everyone could take off work to run for office.  The financial hardships were just too great for most would-be-politicians. 

A major exception to this rule was Vice President John Tyler.  In 1841, Tyler became Vice President to John Henry Harrison.  Vice President Tyler was so strapped for cash that he could not afford to rent a room in Washington for any extended length of time.  He was so insolvent that he had only stayed in Washington after the Inauguration just long enough to open the Senate session in order to confirm Harrison’s nominees for Cabinet Posts.  He then hustled back to his home in Williamsburg, Virginia so he did not have to pay room and board in the capital.

Back in Virginia, he impatiently waited for the postal service to bring his paycheck.  At long last, the letter arrived; that he hoped would be his paycheck.

Instead of his vice presidential paycheck, he received word that he had gotten a promotion.  The missive informed Tyler that he needed to immediately report to Washington, D.C. as President John Henry Harrison had suddenly died.  The Harrison administration had only been in office for about a month.

So here is the rub, Tyler was so cash poor that he could not afford to travel from his home in Williamsburg, VA to Washington for his own presidential inauguration. 

After much hand wringing, Tyler’s friends loaned him the money and he and his family headed to the capital just in time for his inauguration.  I think we can agree that this was a safe loan since everyone knew Tyler now resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  He became the tenth president of the United States and the first ever to become president via succession.  In 1841, Tyler also became the youngest person to assume the presidency at 51 years of age.  Of course, eventually Theodore Roosevelt would surpass that feat becoming the youngest president at 41 and John Kennedy the youngest elected president at 42.

The Tyler administration was not very noteworthy, with the admittance of Texas to the Union being its biggest accomplishment.  He tended to struggle with Congress leading former president John Quincy Adams, and then a member of the House to initiate impeachment proceedings, which never cleared the House. 

Tyler was not re-elected and retired to his home in the Virginia low country where he lived outside of politics until 1861.  At the start of the Civil War, he voiced his support for state’s rights and southern secession.  Tyler became the only former president elected to office in the Confederacy, but died before formally taking office.

As a former president, Tyler’s death of should resulted in the standard state funeral and national mourning period that other presidents had received.  Since he had sided with the Confederacy, he was the only former president not to receive a state funeral.

Tyler also had the distinction as being the oldest former president to father a child at 70 years of age.