Do You Remember U.S. President David Atchison?
For much of U.S. history, until the presidential transition of 1933, presidential inaugurations occurred on March 4. After that disastrous transitional which saw the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations simply ignoring each other during an economic meltdown that only got worse, the date was moved up to the Jan. 20 we have today.
Enter one of presidential histories’ more unusual figures: David Rice Atchison, president for a day.
The problem started on March 4, 1849, which was a Sunday. President-Elect Taylor, refused to take the oath of office on the Sabbath. Outgoing President Polk was already on a boat sailing back to Nashville, Tenn. Polk’s Vice President, George Dallas also left town. So who was President on the fourth?
No, it was not Alexander “I am in Charge Here” Haig.
At the time, before we had the thorough presidential succession plan of the 25th Amendment, we had the Presidential Succession Act of 1792. Here power went from the president, vice president then senate pro tempore. This was loosely followed because sometimes, presidents like Tyler, Fillmore and Pierce went long periods without a VP. Van Buren ran for a second term without a VP candidate.
David Atchison, President for a Day.
For those wondering, according to some, he spent the day in bed sleeping off the previous day’s party. The day went off without anything eventful.
A few years ago, my wife and I toured west Missouri / East Kansas. We found ourselves in a country cemetery about an hour north of Kansas City in Plattsburg, Mo.
A visitor will enter the town cemetery on the gravel road, and there are signs pointing to Atchison’s grave. However, with pretension, his family marker stands high above the others. Here, among the members of the family is a curious plaque at the foot of one marker: President of the United States for One Day. Sunday, March 4, 1849.
We took photos, laughed and drove off. Our visit could be judged almost as brief as his term in office.
Presidential nerds like me, dismiss the claim on the simple grounds that while President Polk’s term ended, so did David Atchison’s due to his term ending the same day.
There exist two alternative narratives for counterfactual debate. One, that the powers fell on the president-elect regardless of oath. Two, that we didn’t have a president for a day.
I’m more inclined to pick option one. Today, per the 20th Amendment, the power falls on the president elect at noon on Jan. 20 . In fact, in 1841, John Tyler didn’t feel he had to take an oath of presidency when he succeeded after Harrison’s death. For Tyler, power automatically transfers, and the VP Oath counts. It’s part of the Tyler-Principal which he’s known for. While President Tyler set the precedence eight years earlier. The 20th and 25th Amendments appear to affirm Tyler’s decision a century later.
Regarding Sunday, since that time a work-around was created: as recently as 2013, President Obama was administered the oath privately on Sunday, then there was an inauguration ceremony the next day.
A closing thought is that while we take the increase importance of today’s presidency for granted, in the 1849 we likely went a day without an acting president, and nothing happened.