The "United States President For A Day!" Story

It was an ordinary day. Watching one of my favorite television shows, "Mysteries At The Museum".  Stories that are both interesting and educational.  Had just watched the episode telling about the young couple that moved into a new house and found it to be filled with frightening paranormal events.  They eventually sold the house and gave their story to Jay Anson who then wrote about the house in his book, "The Amityville Horror."  Claimed that it was a true story, but found out later that the owners of the house who sold their story to him had made up just about everything they shared with him.  Well, after that episode of the show ended another began that totally baffled me.  Now, I was certainly not the best history student in high school, but I wasn't the worst either.  So, when I found out that our 12th president of the United States served for only one day, I was floored.  Did most of you know that?  We all know the names of some of our earliest presidents such as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Atchison.  

President David Rice Atchison

Who you may ask is Atchison.  I know I did.  It was in early 1848 that America prepared for a change in administrations in our White House.  Inauguration Day was March 4, 1849 and outgoing president James K. Polk would end his term and Zachary Taylor would be sworn into office.  But, the day happened to be a Sunday and Taylor refused to take the oath on the Sabbath so he and his vice-president wouldn't take office until Monday.  Who would be the 24-hour commander-in-chief?  For as long as I have been studying history, I never knew anything about this.  Neither did my wife!  Missouri Democrat David Rice Atchison had been sworn in as president pro tempore of the Senate on March 2 and according to the 1792 law in effect at the time, the Senate's president pro tempore was directly behind the vice president in line of succession.  Therefore, Atchison would serve a day in between Polk and Taylor.  But, Atchison's term as senator also ended on March 4 and he wouldn't be president pro tempore until March 5.  So now what?  Some stories I read said our presidency was vacant for a day and Atchison never laid claim to the office.  But, "Mysteries At The Museum" told the story and said that Atchison assumed the position of President of the United States for that one day.  

Plaque displayed in Missouri telling of President Atchison.

What did he do that day you may wonder.  He stayed in bed the entire day!  During the day someone (can't believe I don't remember who it was) came, managed to get into his bedroom, and wanted to be given some high-ranking job.  He was chased out of the house.  As the episode ended I looked at my wife and asked her if she had ever heard of Atchison.  Nope!  Wondering if one of my favorite shows had made up the entire episode, I turned to my laptop and found it to be true.  So, why didn't Mr. Berkheimer, or Mr. Kilkuskie or even Mr. Hoover, a few of my history teachers in high school, never tell me about this?  Was I absent that day?  I had to take American History twice in college, since I didn't fare well the first time around, and I never was told about Atchison in either year.  Someone was trying to hide something.  And, I'm going to have to get to the bottom of this mystery.  Oh, yeah, the TV show just did that.  It was another extraordinary day in he life of an ordinary guy.