Friday, October 17, 2008

POTUS 10 and 11: Presidents John Tyler "His Accidency" and James Polk, The man with a mullet



John Tyler's detractors called him "His Accidency" because he was the first President to take office due to the death of his predecessor. When President Wm. Henry Harrison konked out, after one month in office, Tyler was sworn in. He finished the nearly four year term and did not run for re-election.

"Tyler Too" had troubles with the Whig party. When Tyler vetoed a banking bill, the Whigs retaliated by kicking him out of the party. All the Cabinet resigned except for Secretary of State Webster. A year later when Tyler vetoed a tariff bill, the first impeachment resolution against a President was introduced in the House of Representatives.

Years after leaving office, Tyler led a compromise movement when the first southern states seceded from The Union in 1861. The compromise failed. Former President Tyler then worked to create the Southern Confederacy. He died in 1862, a member of the Confederate House of Representatives.



President Polk was possibly the first and last President to sport a mullet. He was the first "Dark Horse" candidate to become President. Nominated as an alternative candidate on the eighth ballot, he got the nod on the ninth.

There was no dancing, singing, or alcohol in the Polk White House. He had no children. Polk's wife Sarah sat in on cabinet meetings and was extremely influential in her husband's decisions. President Polk was another one-term President, which was probably just as well, since he died a few months after his term ended.
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