TIPPECANOE

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/war-1812/battles/tippecanoe

https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/william-henry-harrison

William Henry Harrison was the night president of the United States. He was elected in 1840. He was appointed Governor of the Indiana terrify by John Adams.  On November 7, 1811 in Battle Ground, Indiana, Harrison lead an army of about 1,000 men to attack the Indian Confederacy lead by Tecumseh. Harrison actually lost that battle; he was attached  by the Indians before he could move against them. His men did hold their ground and eventually the Indians ran out of ammunition. The Indians abandoned Prophetstown and Harrison’s men burned it to the ground. Harrison proclaimed that he had won a great victory. He was eventually given the nickname “Tippecanoe” and in 1840 he ran for President with the campaign song: “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” He won.

On inauguration day William Henry Harrison was 68 years old, the oldest U.S. President until Ronald Regan was inaugurated in 1981 when he was 69 years old. Harrison was determined to show that he was still strong and vigorous. He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841, when it was cold and wet. He chose not to wear an overcoat or hat and road on a horse rather than in a carriage. He then gave the longest inaugural address in American history. It took him two hours to read it. He road through the streets in the inaugural parade and attended three inaugural balls that evening.

But Harrison had made a huge mistake. He became deathly ill and died on April 4, 1841. He was the first President to die in office and is still the shortest-serving President tin U.S. History, having been in office only 31 days. Tyler took over as President.

I thought about this while watching Trump give those speeches in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. The temperature was about 30 degrees and Trump was not wearing a hat, but he was wearing gloves. My guess is that he was layered up more than people realize. Everyone else was dressed, appropriately, like Eskimos.

This reminded me of a story told by Mike Holmgren while he was coaching the Green Bay Packers. It was a bitterly cold day in Green Bay. There is a tradition in the NFL where opposing coached meet in the center of the field to shake hands before the game. Holmgren wanted to play with Dave Wannested’s head, so he decided to pretend the weather wasn’t impacting him. Holmgren asked for the thinnest possible Green Bay Packer Jacket, no gloves and not hat. Wannstedt showed up looking like the Michelin man. So, Holmgren decided to double down on this, and unzipped his jacket. But when the got to the center of the field, Holmgren was so cold he literally couldn’t speak and Wannstedt just laughed at him.

It is easy to see why Trump did this. He also wanted to look strong and vigorous, in obvious contrast to the frail looking Joe Biden. So far, this does not seem to have affected Trump’s health. To those of us who grew up in that climate, it was an impressive performance. I just hope he does better than William Henry Harrison. Fortunately, even if Trump got sick, he is surrounded by medical care that was not available in 1841.

We don’t know the results of this election yet, but we sure know who looks like the energizer bunny and who is showing signs of desperation. Democrats are doubling down on COVID, COVID, COVID, but that may be a major mistake. I think Trump is right, a lot of people are sick and tired of every decision being based on COVID. When he said the cure cannot be worse than the disease, a lot of people understand.

The good news is that Tippecanoe did win that election.

TDM