Who was the first U.S. president to die in office?

William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the US, died at the age of 68 of complications from pneumonia, which made his term in office the shortest among all the other US presidents on history. Harrison also became the first one to die in presidential office. His tenure lasted 31 days and was followed by a serious constitutional crisis, which, anyway, didn't last for a long time.

Here is the information about the other presidents in the list:

Chester A. Arthur only served about 6 months before dying in office.

Zachary Taylor served 15 months.

Warren G. Harding served 2 years and 4 months.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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19 Comments

Howard Groopman

Harrison's death may have been caused by the extremely long inauguration speech he made in frigid DC weather. I knew the answer here wasn't McKinley or Lincoln, and chose Harrison. His grandson Benjamin later became president.

Peter Rich

Chester Arthur did not die in office but came to office after the assassination of James Garfield. Garfield served about 6 months before being assassinated.

Michael Doherty

Arthur and Harding aren’t even on the list!

silrem

Several other presidents died in office by assassination.

Naomi Berry-Vitti

All around badly phrased question

John W Shreve

Arthur did not die in office. As vice president, he assumed office when Benjamin Harrison was assassinated.

Johnny Rock

And John Tyler the first vice president to become US president by virtue of Harrison's dying in office.

scottlarock

I am reading a book about the Presidents...easy reader...maybe 20 pages on each one...my daughter got it for me for Christmas...anyway...the next president I read about is William Henry Harrison...

Jenna Whittenburg

Not bad wording, saying he died in office jsut means he died while he was the President.

Jenna Whittenburg

It is not a "wrongly framed answer". He did not die sitting in his office so putting that would just be flat out wrong. They worded it correctly by saying "in office" because he died while he was President.