The United States has had 46 presidents since 1789, including some of the shortest-serving U.S. Presidents in the White House. In addition, world history records several heads of government who took power for quite a short time. Mexican President Pedro Lascuráin held the highest office for less than an hour and was murdered a few days after a military coup in 1913.

What are the shortest-serving U.S. Presidents in history?

List of the shortest-serving U.S. Presidents

1. William Henry Harrison (32 days)

The 9th President – William Henry Harrison, is one of the shortest-serving U.S. Presidents in American history. He took his last breath on April 4, 1841, at age 68, meaning only 32 days after taking office. As such, he is not only the President with the longest inaugural address in history but also the President with the shortest term.

It is believed that Harrison suffered from acute pneumonia after his inaugural address for almost two hours in frosty weather without wearing a jacket, hat, or gloves.

However, in 2014, epidemiologists concluded that Harrison’s main symptoms, such as fatigue and severe abdominal pain caused by typhoid fever, spread through contaminated drinking water.

2. James A. Garfield (199 days)

On the morning of July 2, 1881, President Garfield was on his way to his class reunion at Williams College. President Garfield was accompanied by James G. Blaine, and Robert Todd Lincoln – Secretary of War (son of the late President Abraham Lincoln) and two of his sons.

At Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington at 9: 30 a.m. When President Garfield entered the station’s lounge, Charles J. Guiteau approached the President and fired two point-blank shots from behind.

One bullet grazed the President’s shoulder, and another slammed into his pancreas. Guiteau put the gun in his pocket and tried to escape in a taxi waiting outside the station, but was arrested by police. In particular, the President survived the assassination attempt. However, the doctor was incompetent in removing the bullet from his body, leading to serious infection and painful death. President Garfield died on September 19, 1881, after 200 days in office. He is one of the shortest-serving U.S. Presidents in the White House.

3. Zachary Taylor (1 year and 127 days)

The 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor, is a national hero in the United States Army. Moreover, he received three Congressional Gold medals for his victories in the Mexican-American War in 1812. President Taylor focused solely on his military career and was indifferent to politics. He never even thought of becoming President.

President Taylor took office in March 1849. On July 4, 1850, he attended the Independence Day celebrations on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

The next day, the President suffered from severe abdominal pain. Doctors tried to help him relieve the pain in many ways. However, he died on July 9, 1850, from a disease that doctors diagnosed as cholera, a bacterial infection of the small intestine. But there is an opinion that he was assassinated. Nearly 150 years after his death, autopsy experts confirmed the cause of his death was due to consuming contaminated water.

4. Warren G. Harding (2 years and 151 days)

On the evening of August 2, 1923, the 57-year-old President suddenly collapsed and died at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, after two years and 151 days in office. His death shocked the nation.

After a trip to Alaska in the summer of 1923, the President suffered from poor health and exhaustion for many years. A few weeks before his death, he suffered from food poisoning.

Harding’s sudden death shocked the country and his legacy was filled with tremendous scandals.

The President regularly invites his friends to the White House to drink and gamble despite violating bans at the time. Not only that, this President had an extramarital affair and illegitimate children. In addition, he was involved in the Teapot Dome scandal, bribery, and corruption.

5. Gerald Ford (2 years and 164 days)

On August 9, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation because of the Watergate scandal. Under the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Vice President Gerald Ford became the 38th president.

In addition, in 1973, Nixon appointed Ford, then a Republican Congressman, to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, who had resigned earlier. This made Ford both Vice President and President without election. However, in the 1976 presidential election, Ford lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter and officially left office after 895 days.

6. Millard Fillmore (2 years and 238 days)

Millard Fillmore was Vice President under President Zachary Taylor. After Zachary Taylor died at a time when the United States faced its greatest crisis of slavery. Vice President Fillmore became the 13th President of the United States.

After the end of the presidency, in the 1852 election, Fillmore failed to win the Whig nomination for the presidential candidate. Furthermore, Fillmore was the last Whig President and the last President not affiliated with the Democratic or Republican. He is also one of the shortest-serving U.S. Presidents in the White House.

7. John F. Kennedy (2 years and 306 days)

President John F. Kennedy is the youngest President in U.S. history. Moreover, he was a very popular President and consistently ranked in the Top five greatest Presidents in American history. He was often ranked No.1, higher than Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Washington.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, while he rode in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was quickly charged with killing the President. At the time of his death, John F. Kennedy was only 46 years old.

The 35th President of the United States is a visionary, with charismatic rhetoric, and language proficiency. Kennedy’s biggest achievement in his brief time at the White House was to settle the Cuban missile crisis in 1963 and prevent the worst possible outcome since the dark days of the nuclear era. Although Kennedy’s responsibility for the Bay of Pigs invasion was indisputable, the situation could have been even worse if Kennedy had not sat down and negotiated with the Soviets.

What makes him a good President is not his ability to inspire the public, but his prudence in the face of difficult times in diplomatic relations with countries.