Benjamin Harrison



""We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.""

- Benjamin Harrison

From Indianapolis, the only president whose grandfather was also president (albeit very briefly) and the only one to be preceded and succeeded by the same man. Also one of the few presidents who lost the popular vote but won a majority of the electoral vote. This was at least partially the result of blatant fraud; though Harrison himself was completely uninvolved, some of his supporters openly bought electoral votes to get him elected. He was America's centennial president, being inaugurated exactly 100 years after George Washington.

As president, he signed the McKinley Tariff (one of the highest in US history) and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. He was also the first president to be recorded on a phonograph.

Electricity was first installed into the White House during Harrison's term, supplementing the gas lights already in use since no one at the time expected electricity to actually replace gas. Harrison and his wife refused to touch the electrical switches for fear of electrocution and left their operation to the White House staff. Two weeks before he lost his re-election bid, his wife died after a long illness. Shortly after, he married a much younger woman. His two adult children, horrified at the thought of their dad remarrying so quickly (and to someone younger than them), refused to attend the wedding.

Has a nice house that you can visit downtown.

He was very charismatic in public but ice cold in private. His great-grandfather, also named Benjamin, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.


 * Amoral Attorney: While an otherwise moral man, he was not above using questionable tactics to win court cases, in one cases managing to seize upon a minor discrepancy in opposing testimony and managing to get it thrown out by sheer rhetoric, just to defend someone accused of corruption, even though the discrepancy had nothing to do with his client's guilt or innocence.
 * Humble Hero: Consciously avoided using his family name to his advantage, citing that all he got from it was a good name, but it was his job to make sure it remained that way.
 * Named After Somebody Famous: His great-grandfather, one of the signers of The Declaration of Independence.
 * Principles Zealot He was a very devout Presbyterian and it colored all his decisions. In fact, he was proudest of the fact he had become an honored elder of his church as a result of such single-minded devotion, a position he held until his death.
 * Walking Techbane: Invoked a belief in this after he got shocked by electricity due to a bad electrical outlet and thus refused to even get near electrical devices for the rest of his life.

For a one-minute summation of his presidency, check out this video.