Almost Too Weird to Believe
The United States of America is still a young nation. Here’s proof:
John Tyler was born in 1790, and was elected to the United States Congress in 1814, serving his first term under the presidency of James Madison. Tyler himself served as the 10th president of the United States, one of four men to hold the position without ever being elected to it (William Henry Harrison died in office 32 days after taking the oath of office; bummer). Tyler served out Harrison’s term, declining to run for re-election in the election of 1844. Perhaps the most notable event of Tyler’s presidency was the annexation of Texas, in a bill he signed into law three days before James K. Polk began his term as the US’s 11th president. Tyler’s presidency ended in 1845, and Tyler died during the Civil War. Here’s what’s wild…
His grandson–not his great-great grandson, or even his great-grandson, but his grandson–is still alive. Read the story here.
Is that wild, or what?