William Henry Harrison Wears a Coat?

[CandyDragon]

IOTL, during his inauguration speech, William Henry Harrison refused to don a coat, largely due to his wishes to appear like the "hero of Tippecanoe," rather than the oldest president elected thus far (and until Ronald Reagan.)

What if he bows to practicality, and wears an overcoat, and instead of dying of pneumonia, lives out his presidential term? What might his policies be, and what might their effects be?

 

[Shogun]

In addition to this, what if he picked a vice-presidential candidate more in tune with the actual policies of the Whig Party -and not some ex-Democrat?

 

[Darth_Kiryan]

Whig Party candidates that could possibly be Vice-president include Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Willie P Magnum (i think there was a TL somewhere that had Magnum as Harrisons VP).

They are the more or less major players or the party, and could possibly unify the part cohesively, the only significant problem is that Clay was a control freak.

 

[CandyDragon]

In addition to this, what if he picked a vice-presidential candidate more in tune with the actual policies of the Whig Party -and not some ex-Democrat?

It would have been less of an issue if he hadn't been a ninny and gotten pneumonia.

 

[Swan Station]

IOTL, during his inauguration speech, William Henry Harrison refused to don a coat, largely due to his wishes to appear like the "hero of Tippecanoe," rather than the oldest president elected thus far (and until Ronald Reagan.)

What if he bows to practicality, and wears an overcoat, and instead of dying of pneumonia, lives out his presidential term? What might his policies be, and what might their effects be?

The WI should really be "William Henry Harrison Doesn't Die Of Pneumonia."

The lack of a coat on inauguration couldn't have had much to do with his getting sick three weeks later -- this isn't the way infections work. He more likely caught a cold or flu the same way most people catch upper respiratory diseases: shaking somebody's hands, getting coughed on, touching a contaminated doorknob, etc. These would all be fairly easy to change.

A little more difficult, would be to let him get some rest after he initially gets sick, so the cold or flu doesn't lead to pneumonia. Even harder, make it so he refused the leeches and snake oil treatments after he gets sick, and maybe he could survive -- you could possibly play this off as the same reason he didn't wear a coat (he prefers to tough it out rather than play around with medicines). I wonder if there were any doctors living at the time who knew what they were doing, and were near Washington.

 

[Cathcon1]

Whigs remain more unified and are stronger as a party, maybe enough to deliver Clay the win in 1844, and then we get to see the American System unfurled in its full form. From there, who knows?