America: Swearing-in in bad weather, a 2-hour long speech, caught a cold and President Harrison died in just 31 days

America is ready to welcome its new President. Donald Trump is taking oath as President for the second time today. Unlike last time, this time he will not take oath in an open place, but it will be organized in a closed place. After 40 years, the venue of the swearing-in ceremony has been changed in America. The reason is the bad weather here. Due to snowstorms and severe cold, the oath will be administered in a closed place. This same snowstorm took the life of an American President, and he died just 31 days after taking oath.
The weather in the capital Washington DC is very bad. The temperature there is constantly falling. At present, the temperature is 2 degrees Celsius. There is a constant threat of snowstorms and heavy snowfall. In such a situation, the swearing-in ceremony is not being organized in the open.
Change of venue after 40 years
This will be the first time since 1985 that the swearing-in ceremony will be held in a closed room in the US. This ceremony will be held inside the US Capitol. Many eminent personalities from around the world are attending the ceremony. Donald Trump had already said that the swearing-in ceremony would not be held in the open due to bad weather. Earlier, Ronald Reagan had changed the venue of the swearing-in ceremony due to bad weather.
Bad weather and the icy winds and rain blowing in Washington took the life of a President. He died about a month after taking the oath of office. Then the swearing-in ceremony of the President used to take place on 4 March instead of 20 January.
First president to arrive in Washington by train
It was March 4, 1841. It was Thursday. William Henry Harrison, who was elected the ninth President of America, had to take the oath of office. This swearing-in ceremony took place at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in the capital Washington, DC. Harrison reached Washington by train from Ohio to take the oath. He was the first elected President of the country to come by train to take the oath.
The day Harrison was to be sworn in as president at the age of 68 years and 23 days, the weather in the capital was extremely bad. There were icy winds blowing and the afternoon temperature was around 9 degrees Celsius or 48 °F, but the president-elect did not wear an overcoat, hat or gloves to attend the swearing-in ceremony. His wife was ill and could not attend the ceremony.
He reached the Capitol on a white horse
According to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, most presidents at the time rode in a carriage to their inauguration ceremony, while Harrison traveled from the White House to the Capitol on a white horse accompanied by his closest political associates.
However, Harrison had a lot of experience living in this weather. He was used to living in even worse weather as a soldier and a farmer. Therefore, he did not make any formal preparations for the oath taking ceremony in the open space and took the oath of office as President without wearing warm clothes, coat or hat. But when he was taking the oath, he was not young and his age was close to 70.
The longest speech in history
After the swearing-in, Harrison gave a long speech of about 2 hours in the cold weather. This speech of Harrison became the longest speech after swearing-in in American history. He gave a speech of 8,445 words in his first address as President. He had written this speech himself, which was corrected by future Foreign Minister Daniel Webster. The big thing was that outgoing President Martin Van Buren did not attend Harrison's swearing-in ceremony. He became the third President of America to do so (John Adams and John Quincy Adams were the other two Presidents).
After his long speech, President Harrison started attending the reception organized there. It is said that during this time his clothes got wet and due to this he caught cold. Then in a few days the cold turned into a cold. After this he got pneumonia.
Live snakes are also used
After the President's health deteriorated, doctors began treating him. But at that time medical facilities were not up to the mark. According to millercenter.org, to cure his illness, heat was applied through hot suction cups, and blood was drained from his body, due to which Harrison became even weaker.
Seeing his deteriorating condition, doctors used live snakes as a last resort, but it did not prove to be effective. However, this method was then considered one of the popular methods in America.
What does the new research claim?
President Harrison's official cause of death was given as pneumonia by his doctors, but the October 2014 issue of the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases published by Oxford Academic claims that President Harrison died of enteric fever due to poor sanitation in Washington, DC at the time.
The Journal also claims, after reviewing documents, that Harrison had a cold on March 26 and that he contacted doctors about his fever about three weeks after he was sworn in.
Changes in oath taking dates too
At present, despite continuous treatment by doctors, Harrison could not be saved. He died on 4 April due to pneumonia, which was caused by cold. In this way, Harrison became the first President of America to die while in office. Also, his name still holds the record for the shortest tenure as President.
In America, earlier the President was sworn in on March 4, but later after the approval of the 22nd Amendment in 1933, the date of the President's swearing-in was changed from March 4 to January 20, reducing the long period between the date of election and the swearing-in.