Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. After his second term in office, in President
Speaker 1: George Washington refused to run for a third term. He
Speaker 1: believed two terms were enough for any president. Every person
Speaker 1: who took office after him adhered to what was then
Speaker 1: an unwritten rule about the position until Franklin Roosevelt in
Speaker 1: three each president only served at most two terms before
Speaker 1: vacating the office. Roosevelt famously won four elections, serving longer
Speaker 1: than any president before or since. Sadly, he passed away
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty five. Not long after his fourth term began.
Speaker 1: In nineteen forty seven, the twenty second Amendment was ratified,
Speaker 1: stating a president could not be elected to office more
Speaker 1: than twice. Not every president made it to the end
Speaker 1: of their second term, though Abraham Lincoln, for example, was
Speaker 1: the first president to be assassinated while in office, and
Speaker 1: some didn't even reach the end of their first term.
Speaker 1: William Henry Harrison lasted only a month into his presidency
Speaker 1: before dying of typhoid pneumonia in April of eighteen forty one.
Speaker 1: History books claim his was the shortest term on record,
Speaker 1: but was it David Rice Atchison might have disagreed. Atchison
Speaker 1: was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in eighteen oh seven. He
Speaker 1: grew up a staunch supporter of slavery and eventually the
Speaker 1: Confederacy during the American Civil War. He wasn't always a
Speaker 1: political animal, though. Atchison got his start as a lawyer
Speaker 1: in Missouri. He ran his own practice and gained fame
Speaker 1: for representing Mormon founder Joseph Smith in a number of
Speaker 1: land dispute cases. Atjison, though had grander plans for himself.
Speaker 1: He rose through the political ranks, first in the Missouri
Speaker 1: House of Representatives, then as a circuit court judge. In
Speaker 1: eighteen forty three, he became the youngest U S Senator
Speaker 1: to ever hail from the state of Missouri. Atchison was
Speaker 1: so well liked by his party that they elected him
Speaker 1: in eighteen forty five as President pro temporary. It meant
Speaker 1: that in the event, the elected president and vice president
Speaker 1: could no longer serve the duties of their office. He
Speaker 1: would have been the third in line to assume the role.
Speaker 1: He was thirty eight at the time. For the next
Speaker 1: several years, he served as President pro temporary without incidents,
Speaker 1: from John Taylor to James K. Polk. The former lawyer
Speaker 1: from Missouri, carried out his job in the Senate, never
Speaker 1: believing that he would ever ascend the highest office in
Speaker 1: the country until something strange happened in eighteen forty nine.
Speaker 1: You see, before the twentieth Amendment of the Constitution was
Speaker 1: ratified in the nineteen thirties, presidential terms began at noon
Speaker 1: sharp on March fourth, rather than on January as they
Speaker 1: are today. On that day, at that time, the previous
Speaker 1: administration was automatically stripped of all its power, and the
Speaker 1: new administration assumed those responsibilities. In eighteen forty nine, though
Speaker 1: inauguration day happened to fall on a Sunday, Zachary Taylor
Speaker 1: had just been elected as the twelfth President of the
Speaker 1: United States, but refused to be sworn into office on
Speaker 1: the Sabbath. Instead, he waited until the following day, March five,
Speaker 1: which meant that the position of President of the United
Speaker 1: States would be vacant for twenty four hours, not if
Speaker 1: you were David Rice Atchison, though with the presidency and
Speaker 1: vice presidency both empty, that left Atchison as next in
Speaker 1: line to assume the title. He was President pro temporary
Speaker 1: after all. Historians today claimed that there was no way
Speaker 1: Atchison could have been considered presidents. He was never sworn in,
Speaker 1: and his position as President pro temporary ended the same
Speaker 1: day as Polk's administration, even though he was re elected
Speaker 1: to the same role once Taylor took office. Anyway, Atchison
Speaker 1: didn't sign any executive orders or influence any foreign policy.
Speaker 1: Any decisions he might have made would have been challenged
Speaker 1: and likely undone by other governing bodies. Anyway, the way
Speaker 1: experts see it, Taylor was president even before he was
Speaker 1: sworn in. At worst, the country lacked a sitting president
Speaker 1: for twenty four hours. Still, it doesn't really matter what
Speaker 1: historians have to say about the matter. Atchison got the
Speaker 1: last word. It says so right on his grave marker
Speaker 1: in Plattsburg, Missouri. David Rice Atchison President of the United
Speaker 1: States for one day. When the people are dissatisfied with
Speaker 1: their elected officials, they have one of two options. They
Speaker 1: can either vote them out or revolt, but a group
Speaker 1: of seventeenth century Dutch citizens managed to come up with
Speaker 1: a creative third option. The Dutch Republic during this time
Speaker 1: was an educational and artistic utopia. It also had an
Speaker 1: army more skilled and powerful than almost any other in Europe.
Speaker 1: The republic was presided over by two government divisions, the
Speaker 1: first of which was the House of Orange, led by
Speaker 1: William the second. The other was the Office of the
Speaker 1: Grand Pensionary, headed by Johan DeWitt. Johan and his brother
Speaker 1: Cornelius were highly educated aristocrats with grand dreams for the
Speaker 1: future of the Netherlands. Johan in particular was a master
Speaker 1: of political manipulation. He had been elected as the Grand
Speaker 1: Pensionary and oversaw the Dutch Republic mainly Holland. Though the
Speaker 1: people were technically ruled by the House of Orange, it
Speaker 1: was de Witt who pulled the strings behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: He was a man of the republic and constantly at
Speaker 1: odds with the monarchy, believing that the power they held
Speaker 1: should have been transferred to the Dutch leaders instead. DeWitt's
Speaker 1: interests were primarily centered on the shipping and trading economies
Speaker 1: of Holland, which affected and involved the upper class from
Speaker 1: where he had come, not like the more middle class
Speaker 1: focused House of Orange. Meanwhile, William the Second was elected
Speaker 1: as Governor of the Netherlands in sixteen forty seven. He
Speaker 1: held the title for three years until his death in
Speaker 1: sixteen fifty Just over a week after his passing, his
Speaker 1: wife gave birth to an heir, William the third. DeWitt
Speaker 1: immediately saw a problem that needed fixing. The people admired
Speaker 1: the House of Orange. They encouraged the monarchy to elect
Speaker 1: the infant William the Third as governor with the help
Speaker 1: of a regent until he came of age. DeWitt wanted
Speaker 1: to keep the power away from the family by any
Speaker 1: means necessary. Now Coincidentally, at the same time, the Dutch
Speaker 1: and the English Commonwealth were engaged in war. England had
Speaker 1: just liberated itself from King Charles the First by liberating
Speaker 1: the king from his head. DeWitt saw a way to
Speaker 1: make peace with England while also keeping William the Third
Speaker 1: from becoming governor. He penned a treaty between the two
Speaker 1: nations called the Treaty of Westminster, which had a clause
Speaker 1: buried inside it that prohibited William the Third from being
Speaker 1: elected governor. The leader of the English Commonwealth, a man
Speaker 1: named Oliver Cromwell, insisted on this clause, seeing as how
Speaker 1: William the Third was also Charles the First grandson and
Speaker 1: could be a problem for all of them. Later on
Speaker 1: the documents was signed. What DeWitt didn't know was that
Speaker 1: he had also sealed his fate. He worked hard over
Speaker 1: the next several years to have the position of governor
Speaker 1: wiped out. His power and influence grew, as did his party. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: DeWitt's previous political moves came back to haunt him in
Speaker 1: sixteen seventy two. That year, the Dutch Republic found itself
Speaker 1: under attack from France and England. The Republic fell and
Speaker 1: the Orangists took control. And wouldn't you know it, but
Speaker 1: William the Third took over as governor anyway, despite DeWitt's maneuvering.
Speaker 1: After a failed attempt on his life, de Witt resigned
Speaker 1: as Grand Pensionary. His brother Cornelius was arrested by Williams
Speaker 1: forces and sentenced to exile. Before Cornelius was sent out
Speaker 1: of the country, his brother Johan DeWitt wanted to see
Speaker 1: him one last time. He was on his way to
Speaker 1: the jail where they were keeping him. When an angry
Speaker 1: mob appeared. They wanted the soldiers to arrest Johan as well. Instead,
Speaker 1: the guards sort of left and the mob took matters
Speaker 1: into their own hands. They dragged Johan and Cornelius out
Speaker 1: into the open, shot them, and then strung their bodies
Speaker 1: up in front of everyone. However, the brother's story doesn't
Speaker 1: end there. The mob wasn't satisfied with only killing them.
Speaker 1: They felt the two men deserved worse, so a few
Speaker 1: members of the mob removed and eight parts of their bodies.
Speaker 1: And amazingly, even after such a public display of violence,
Speaker 1: none of the participants were ever prosecuted for their crimes,
Speaker 1: including the cannibalism. In fact, William the Third made sure
Speaker 1: that they were all let off. It wasn't the most
Speaker 1: civilized way to punish elected officials, I know, but it
Speaker 1: certainly left the crowd feeling happy and more than a
Speaker 1: little full. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works, I make another award
Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
Speaker 1: and television show and you can learn all about it
Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until
Speaker 1: next time, stay curious. Ye