When the president William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural address?
William Henry Harrison, the 9th US President, gave this long inaugural speech outdoors in the bitter cold on March 4, 1841. It was 8,445 words long. Then, one month later, he died of pneumonia, which was believed to have been brought on by his exposure to the severe cold. Wow! But if you look at the facts, it was more than three weeks after the inauguration before Harrison showed the first signs of ill health. And we all know now that exposure to bad weather doesn’t really cause a cold. He became the first president to die in office. Harrison’s took two hours to read! And it would have been even longer, but he had it edited by his friend, Daniel Webster. The address was basically a detailed statement of the Whig agenda, essentially a repudiation of the previous presidents’ policies. When he did, so did the Whig program, pretty much. You can read the address here: http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres26.html George Washingt
